CHEESE OF THE DAY: COULOMMIERS

A French cheese, Coulommiers is the less well known cousin of Brie (despite being produced for longer). It does have many of the same characteristics of Brie - being soft, creamy & buttery, but this had a slightly more lively fruity flavour to it. This particular piece from Coeur de Lion came in an individual bitesise portion - nice cheese chomp on the move! Mmmmmmm.

UPCOMING CHEESE EVENTS

So its nearly that time of year again - The Great British Cheese Festival!!! A must in the diary of any real cheese fanatic! Held in the grounds of Cardiff Castle on the 22nd & 23rd September, so it'll soon be upon us. Having been before I can highly reccomend it, there are cheese masterclasses you can attend, sooooo many amazing British cheeses to try & buy, even a cider and beer festival tent is included so after all that cheese you can wet your whistle. for further info and tickets click here: www.greatbritishcheesefestival.co.uk


Back home in Manchester - there is a cheese event coming up as part of the Manchester Food & Drink festival. This is run by local cider producers The Moss Cider Project. Held at Common on Tuesday the 25th September, this promises to be a splendid evening of eating cheese and drinking cider!

For an idea of this event here is a video of the last cheese & cider event they held: http://vimeo.com/24315392

The Mighty Cheeseboard will be attending both these events and bringing you a full write up of the goings on and cheeses sampled.



*** Please note online tickets for the Cheese and Cider night at common has now SOLD OUT - tickets are still available directly from Common on Edge Street in the Northern Quarter ***

CELEBRICHEESE: KRIST NOVOSELIC

Krist Novoselic played bass alongside Dave Grohl and Kurt Cobain in one of the most important bands of the last 30 years..... Nirvana.  Most Rock & Roll hero's have a vice of some kind, be it drugs, booze or whatever...... seems that with Krist its a nice piece of Manchego! Here at the Mighty Cheeseboard we heartily agree - one of our all time favourite cheeses! (I can feel a Manchego Cheese of the Day feature coming up soon!). Krist also likes cheese from the Island of Pag.
Here is a clip of Nirvana (featuring Krist) in action http://youtu.be/x6XBlkvTmv8 - Enjoy!

CHEESE OF THE DAY DOUBLE BILL: MATURE CHEDDAR & RED LEICESTER

Today I tackle 2 of the big boys of British cheese - a Mature Cheddar & Rinded Red Leicester.

We'll start with the Cheddar - this particular piece is from Green's of Glastonbury and is described as a mature farmhouse cheddar "From the Land where Cheddar Began!" - its been matured for 12 months (the "Vintage" that Green's make is 15-18 months) - being the most popular cheese in the UK and the second most popular cheese in the USA - most people will know the taste of cheddar, but this one has a full flavour with bit of a tang and ever so slightly sweet. A very tasty mature cheddar!

On to the Red Leicester - for this one I purchased a Farmhouse Rinded Red Leicester described as mature, rich & nutty, it is made by our good friends at Butlers cheeses (see our review of their wonderful Blacksticks Blue: http://www.themightycheeseboard.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/cheese-of-day-butlers-blacksticks-blue.html). Another of the very popular cheeses in the UK, it is not dissimilar to Cheddar, but is more mellow in flavour with a slightly nutty aftertaste, and a very different colouring (a strong orange/red achieved by the addition of Annato during manufacture) - hence its name of Red Leicester.

Two classic cheeses - both full of flavour and very tasty - with fine examples such as these, I think they fully deserve their popularity in the world of cheese.

CHEESE OF THE DAY: JARLSBERG

Like the Swiss cheese Emmental and the Dutch Cheese Leerdammer, Jarlsberg (a Norweigan cheese) is characterised by its large holes and sweet, nutty flavour. The cheese has a yellow, shiny surface and is usually coated in a yellow wax. Originally originating from the County of Jarlsberg (hence the name) which is about 80km south of Oslo from around 1855. About 100 years later this cheese was researched and developed by the Agricultural University of Norway into the cheese we know now - commercial production of Jarlsberg began in 1960 & has remained a popular cheese eversince.

CHEESETUBE #6

I think The Mighty Cheeseboard has found its anthem!!! Tim Minchin - you sir - are a genius! This is the best song ever!!!!

CHEESE OF THE DAY: BUTLERS BLACKSTICKS BLUE

"A taste of the unexpected" says Butlers cheese (makers of Blacksticks Blue) and it is indeed! A smooth and creamy blue cheese with an Amber colour - not only does it taste fantastic, but its colour would liven up any cheeseboard. In the words of celebrity chef Simon Rimmer, it's "undoubtedly the daddy of all blue cheeses, heaven!" - well Mr Rimmer - the Mighty Cheeseboard agrees!