This week is British Cheese Week, so I thought I would look further as I love cheese at all the local, organic and small production cheeses that are so readily available around the UK and Ireland. In fact, one of my best friends is dating a girl whose family makes Gubbeen cheese in southwest Ireland, and whenever they visit they always bring a cheese — I think good local cheeses are the new wine and chocolates of dinner-warming gifts. I have noticed more and more people choosing cheese over desserts and bringing them more to dinner parties.
Looking into cheese, I discovered organic cheese offers the same benefits as non-organic cheese, with healthy levels of calcium and protein that we expect. However, organic tends to have more Omega-3 fatty acid and more antioxidants through vitamin E, beta-carotene and lutein. In addition to the benefits of eating organic, both animals and the environment benefit, with milk coming from well-treated animals and traditional farming methods using no pesticides and chemicals. Recently, I discovered a new goats cheese called Little Wallop, simply named after the hit or punch you feel when you smell a good ripe cheese. The other interesting thing about Little Wallop is that it is produced by Alex James and Juliet Harbutt. So what, you may ask? This cheese is closer to rock ‘n roll than you think, as Alex is the bass player from the UK band Blur. Having passion for cheese for a long time, he has been known to call cheese “sexy” and “the new rock and roll” and decided he wanted to make his own. So he teamed up with Juliet Harbutt and some cheese people to create the Little Wallop.
I was not a huge fan of Blur when they first started, but got into them during their past few albums, so perhaps the cheese has helped the song writing. Who knows? When Alex and Juliet got together they realised the cheese they were going to create had to be good as press stories starting appearing talking about Alex’s cheese. In a stroke of genius, they persuaded champion cheese-maker Marion Conisbee-Smith to help them develop the product. They worked in her kitchen at home to come up with a winner. Little Wallop is a goats’ cheese, washed in Somerset cider brandy and wrapped in vine leaves. As Alex put his heart and soul into creating music with Blur, he also has done so with his cheese and the ultimate accolade was winning a silver medal at the British Cheese Awards.
The cheese is a mild goat’s cheese but with an apple hint and kick at the end. I really like it especially as summer is now turning to autumn and the nights are getting colder. This year, a sister cheese ‘Fairleigh Wallop No 2′ won the top prize in the British Cheese Awards for Best Goat Cheese. As the competition judges over 800 different cheeses, this was incredible for a man and cheese so new to the market. the family of ‘Wallop’ Cheese are available in select cheese and food shops around the UK and some restaurants. Other cheeses they are looking to create and make include an Indie Cheese called Blue Monday, which continues the move from music to cheese for Alex. Catch Alex’s cheese diary podcasts which followed him in the making of the first Wallop.