Greetings!
Christmas is a crazy time in this business and - much as we like having lots of orders - it's also quite nice to be in the altogether calmer waters of 2009. Now we can get onto a few things which had dropped off the bottom of the list - weeding out the filing cabinet, oiling the hinges on the shed door, speaking to our families, that sort of thing. Soon it will be Spring and we may - by means of an Eccles Cake on a bit of fishing line - entice James out of the gloomy Underground Cheese Store for his annual few moments in the sun.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Read on, dear reader, for a Valentines-Related Nudge, an Intriguingly Named Cheese Cake, and an Account of my trip to Crediton.
Special Offer!
Through February we're celebrating the cheeses of near-neighbours Quickes and Norsworthy. Starting on Mon 2nd, order any of their cheeses and get 25% off. Just enter the code QUNOWHO during checkout.
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My Love is like a Red, Red Cheese*
 I know, I know. Photographing the Two Hearts box with red roses is - well - it's just cheesy. But what could I do? Photographer Bim and head stylist Annie pushed me into a corner and insisted.
"No, no," I said - "it's all about the cheese. Our customers are sophisticated people of great good taste who want to give their loved one a tangy Godminster Cheddar and a sm-o-o-o-o-th White Heart for Valentines Day. They're not going to be taken in by all that nonsense. It's my business and I say the roses have to go." And as you can see, when I make a decision, It stays made!
The Two Hearts box is £25: order now and specify 13th Feb for delivery. Roses not included.
* With apologies to Robbie Burns. But we'd like to wish him a Happy 250th Birthday all the same!
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Close Encounter of the Cheese Kind
I can't escape the thought that the Eighty-Eight - our black-and-white cake - resembles a spaceship! One thing's for sure, this cake as decorated by Annie is a superbly dramatic thing, and much more of a self-conscious design statement than her usual approach.
We'd had a few people saying their wedding had a black and white theme so this is our response. The black cheeses - all waxed - are Snowdonia Black Bomber cheddar and Devon's own Curworthy. The white ones are Cambazola, Duckett's Caerphilly, Somerset Camembert and Gevrik.
This would suit 90-100, but if you need a bigger or smaller version let me know and we'll see what we can do.
Now the big question: why's it called the Eighty-Eight?
Answers on a postcard to ian@thecheeseshed.com please ...
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My Quicke Trip to Crediton ...
Or Newton St Cyres, to be precise. This is where you'll find Home Farm and Quickes Traditional, the famous cheddar makers. My visit was to pick some wedding cheese and I had a tour of the dairy thrown in. Big Cheese Mary Quicke was away in Peru (do they make cheese there?) so right-hand-man Stuart showed me round.
Quickes is one of the larger hand-made cheesemakers, with about 10 people involved on the cheese side (there's also the dairy farm which provides all their milk), but nonetheless this is still a true artisan process, and I witnessed the makers draining and salting the curds prior to it's being pressed into truckles. After that it's one to two years of maturing wrapped in muslin - in the photo you can see the diffremce between a 6 month cheddar (top) and one made on 4th Jan this year. During the maturing process the cheeses still get constant attention and regular turning, all in pursuit of Mary's aim to produce 'world class cheese'.
The Cheese Shed has their Extra Mature (18 month), Vintage (2 year) and Smoked Cheddars, along with a Double Gloucester and a gorgeous Hard Goats Cheese. Special offer running in Feb - see above!
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... and Beyond: the Norsworthy Kingdom of Goats
Leaving Quickes I headed north to Crediton and on into the country, passing signs for Posbury and Gunstone - place names which crop up in Dave Johnson's cheeses.
Arriving at Norsworthy itself, there was a surprise. When you think of the Devon countryside it brings to mind wooded valleys and high hedges along narrow lanes, not - Dartmoor excepted - wide open spaces. But as I got out of the Figaro my jaw just dropped. Dave Johnson's farm has the most stunning view north-east towards Exmoor. And with the sun out (no, it really was) this was an amazing sight.
Dave, originally from Durham and still with the accent to match, was a cowman who married a Devon girl and did contract milking work round and about. Sometime in the late 90s he milked a herd of goats and thus began the process which led to a herd of 180 and a growing list of fine cheeses, now to be seen cropping up in shops like Paxton & Whitfield along with restaurants such as The Ivy and Michael Caines' Gidleigh Park. Having said that, Quickes and Norsworthy are - in terms of size - very much at opposite ends of the artisan cheese spectrum: what both share is a complete commitment to a quality product.
After discovering that given half a chance, goats will eat your trousers, I gave a wide berth to a dog the size of a small bison, and we headed for the dairy where Dave explained the Dutch 'washed curd' method he uses, and showed me his latest creations - soft log-shaped numbers called Tillerton (mould-ripened) and Chelwood Ash (ash coated). Look out for these on the site soon. In the meantime, see the top of this newsletter for our February special offer on all the Norsworthy cheeses.
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