The Most Exciting Cheese Shed Newsletter In The World. Ever!

April 2010

Greetings!

Life's not all cheese, cheese, cheese. I have in one week been to see Eurydice at the Edinburgh Traverse, a Diane Arbus exhibition, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, and Birmingham Royal Ballet's Sleeping Beauty. And yes, I would like a medal.

Now you're probably wondering whether I took James to any of these? Well, no, I didn't actually. Yes, I could in theory have tapped out a message to him on the pipes. He could have heard it, down in our Underground Cheese Store. And maybe, just maybe, we could have taken him along, and it would all have been ok. I agree, that is possible.

But look, I went to the ballet, he stayed down there, counting the cheese. It's done now. And frankly I think it's for the best.

Special Offer!

Following my visit to Bodmin Moor, this month it's Cornish Blue (see below) which is available at half price. Just order before the end of Sun 18th April from this page.

TCS on Facebook

Don't forget we have a presence on Facebook. This was moribund for quite some time, but I have now prodded it into life. Do sign up as a 'fan', and suggest it to your friends. I'm using it for all sorts of things with a view to keeping people in touch between newsletters, and just generally having a bit of fun.

Tugurium Abundat Caseo!

Please don't ask me for any sort of logical reason why The Cheese Shed should have produced a badge in latin. But here it is, bearing it's motto: The Shed Abounds With Cheese. A thing of great beauty, and widely coveted on the streets of Bovey Tracey. You can have one by a) ordering some cheese, or b) lunging forward to grab mine whilst I'm preoccupied with a macaroon or Tunnocks Caramel Log Wafer.

The Cornish Blue Story

Cornish Blue cheese is made in a pretty special place. Upton Cross is on the south-eastern corner of Bodmin Moor, a bleak and beautiful landscape of hills, heath and tors, studded all over with old mine workings, and the yellow flashes of gorse flowers on every side.* Philip and Carol Stansfield moved here from Cheshire in 1994. But they didn't come just for the landscape: Philip needed to leave the family farm and set up on his own, and at that time Cornish farms were good value.

But then the milk price dropped - from 24p a litre to 15p. Carol's physiotherapy practice helped ... but at that price dairying just wasn't sustainable. A list of possibilities (yoghourt? ice cream?) was reduced to one - cheese - and so began a period of careful research. What they discovered in 2000 was that there were only 18 blue cheeses made in the UK, and none of these was a soft, mild variety. A gap had been found.

It took a year to develop the recipe and get it right. Making it, trying it, changing it (one one thing at a time!), until it worked. Cornish Blue went on sale in 2001: "It changed our lives", Phil says. Sales really took off in 2004, and especially after a spectacular double whammy two years later, when they won Best English Cheese and Best Blue Cheese at the British Cheese Awards.

In retrospect, their timing was perfect. Cornish Blue was developed when there were still gaps in the market (they're harder to find now), and went into production just ahead of the huge surge of interest in British artisan cheese that still continues. Phil and Carol found themselves well placed to take advantage of this. They've never looked back, and Cornish Blue goes from strength to strength, with one-and-a-half tons being made very week by a team of five.

Phil looks out over a thriving cheese scene, but still thinks there's an education job to be done - making more people aware of British cheeses beyond Stilton and Cheddar. The very successful Cornish Blue will remain their core product, though there are plans to resurrect Beast of Bodmin (!) a washed rind cheese.

* A larger selection of photos is on the Cheese Shed's Facebook page: look for the Cornish Blue album. Incidentally. one shows the dramatic tor called The Cheesewring, just up the road from Knowle Farm, and which features on the Cornish Blue label.

Win This Book ...

Food writer Jenny Linford got in touch with us when she was putting this book together. We helped her get to grips with the Westcountry cheese field and supplied a lot of different types for her to try. Great British Cheeses is now out, and publishers Dorling Kindersley have a couple to give away to Cheese Shed customers. We'll be picking names from a hat, so if you'd like to be in the running, email me before the end of 11 May.

... Or This Cornish Selection

Wilco, the eccentric mastermind behind Readers Sheds, has been a great supporter of ours. He's running a draw right now - two winners will each receive one of our Cornish Selections. Follow this link to enter.