Kentish & British artisan cheese
Cheesemakers of Canterbury bring the finest British artisanal cheeses to their counter at The Goods Shed. The best handmade cheeses, almost all of them unpasteurised, and all made with enormous love and care. On a typical day there will be more than 40 cheeses on offer.
Christmas News
Last Christmas we made a note of all those things you asked for and we did not have. So this winter here are the goodies you said you wanted most…
Gift vouchers; you wanted to give friends and family some cheese, but didn’t know exactly what they would want – or when. Now you can give them a gift token, available in £5 steps, so they can make the decision on what, how much and when. All you get is their gratitude.
Little cheese presents with a bit of fun to them – it’s Christmas for heaven’s sake! So this year we have plenty of indulgent goodies: cheeses with fruit, with booze, with herbs, even Christmas pudding shaped cheeses for those last minute presents when going out to supper.
Camembert bakers: just about the most requested present. We’ve tracked some a baker that we are happy to have in the kitchen, and hope you are too. We like it so much _ we’ve made a camembert to fit it.
Log baker: made to take a little goat log cheese and make it even gooier and???
Slate cheese boards. You’ve seen the one your cheese ends up on on the counter with the sturdy rope handles? We will have them on sale this Christmas.
Christmas Orders
want to get your order in early? Click on the link to our Christmas list, choose what you want, bring in your order, plus deposit for 50% of the estimated cost, and we will have it packed and ready for you on the day you request. One more job ticked off and out of the way.
We continue to snuffle through the ever growing choice of great cheeses now being made. The great thing about The Goods Shed is that it is not really a shop, more a meeting place to trade ideas as much as produce. So we take our new cheeses around to the chefs, to the Bottle Shop, to Clive at Press Wines, for their ideas on what food and drink it might go with. A thumbs up all round and it gets a place in the counters. Sometimes it’s a wonderfully unexpected matching that makes it shine. And often it’s our customers who make those discoveries, coming in with recipes and suggestions. So, those that have made it recently include:
Burwash Rose: a rind washed cheese to replace that now defunct Alderwood. Washed in rose water, it does make the mouth water.
Lyburn 3-year-old. An experiment from the people who make the 8-month-old Old Winchester Gouda. This is a glorious experiment: crumbly, nibbly, fruity. After this wheel goes we wait to see if the experiment is repeated – which will take another three years…
Fremlin’s Kentish Log: Debbie Vernon’s latest fresh goat cheese came in a few months ago and is still giving people the vapours with its lush, young, generous, happy taste. Grab it when it’s there: [production is limited.
Red Ashmore: remember the experiment with an Ashmore farmhouse flavoured with beetroot and left for 18 months? It’s coming back, but, just for Christmas, we are releasing a five-month old version. It will be brighter, more beetrooty, and blindingly obvious to spot.
Ashmore Mustard: always a success at farmers’ markets, so, at last, we bring it to the counter here. Gain, it is an Ashmore farmhouse, with added mustard grains.
Waterloo: from the people who make Wigmore, the ewe’s soft cheese that reminds you of a brie with attitude, this is made with Jersey cow’s milk. This runny butter and cheddar to get an idea of its heady richness.
Shropshire Blue: we brought this in for a trial earlier this year, and have never dared leave it out since. A natural plant dye is responsible for the glorious orange colour, but not for that creamy, spicy flavour.
Harbourne Blue: It was a News of the World hack who begged us to get hold of this remarkable beauty. War, gentle, with a quiet depth – just about everything you would never associate with the late NoW.
Bluebell: from Steve and Karen Reynolds who make the Kentish Blue. This is a creamy, camembert-style blue for those who fancy an artisan version of camberzola.
Cobnut biscuits flavoured with Ancient Ashmore. Shortbread biscuits with Kentish cobnuts and our oldest cheese. A bang-on match for that first round of bubbly at any party.
BUY UNPASTEURISED CHEESES
Almost all our cheeses are unpasteurised. This stems from a belief that the flavour of the milk owes so much to what the cows eat and drink; and that pasteurisation destroys those subtle flavours that make all the difference. It’s the dairy version of “terroir”: the cheese should reflect the land on which the cows live. That, in turn, demands the highest hygiene standards, and the best care of the herd, so everyone wins. For matter of fact advice on the safety of unpasteurised cheese go to http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthydiet/nutritionessentials/milkanddairy under the Pregnant section. It’s a Food Standards Agency site.
PS: we are always looking for more great pasteurised cheeses for those whose diet demands them.
KENTISH CHEESES
Over a dozen of the cheeses on display are Kentish. Jane Bowyer and her team make a variety of hard and soft cow’s cheeses and two goat’s cheeses. She also makes the only unpasteurised butter in Kent.
Variety
Get the best of old favourites: Colston Bassett and Cropwell Bishop Stiltons. Try something new in a blue like the barnyard blowsiness of Blue Dunsyre and the more delicate Kentish Blue.
Because real cheeses vary with the seasons and the weather, it’s best to taste before you buy. Almost all our cheeses can be tasted on site, giving you the chance to judge for yourself just how good they are.
Discover the extraordinary freshness of Single Gloucester; the rich creaminess of Flower Marie; the vivid flavours of Shaggy’s Beard.
Try our own Ashmore Farmhouse or Ancient against the best of cheddars: Montgomery, or Vintage Lincolnshire Poacher.
Browse your way from Kent to Cumbria, Lancashire to Lanarkshire, Dargate to Dorking. Rediscover old favourites such as Lancashire, Red Cheshire and Red Leicestershire as they should taste when made with care and integrity.
Find something new. Taste the wonders of Wigmore, the crumbly Croglin. Unwrap the mushroomy mellow Tunworth from Hampshire.
Cheesemakers of Canterbury Artisan Cheeses
We can offer the best because we, too, are artisanal cheesemakers. At our dairies at Dargate and Hastingleigh we produce a range of cow’s and goat’s cheeses; Ashmore Farmhouse is a punchy hard cow’s cheese, while our Ancient sees that flavour mellow and deepen. Canterbury Cobble is a semi-hard, rinded cheese that is instantly yummy. For lovers of softer cheeses we have Chaucer’s camembert-style and Bowyer’s brie-style, both made at our soft cheese dairy at Hastingleigh. Meanwhile our Billy Goat Gruff is a real farmyard goat’s cheese to balance the more delicate taste of our Kelly’s Canterbury Goat.
Our full range of British Artisan Cheeses
HARD CHEESES
“Robin and Carla Betts farm in the valleys above Wrotham, where they make their Winterdale Shaw cheddar. The Betts, lucky devils, live on the North Downs, so were able to carve the perfect ripening cellar out of the chalk. An ideal set-up that produces a superb cheese.”
Mrs Appleby’s Double Gloucester, and Red Cheshire, Sparkenhoe Red Leicester, Mrs Kirkham’s Lancashire, Winterdale Shaw and Winterdale Shaw smoked, Montgomery, Isle of Mull, Vintage Lincolnshire Poacher, Ashmore Farmhouse, Ancient and Smoked, Smart’s Single Gloucester, Gorwydd Caerphilly, and long-time guest cheeses De Witt’s two-year-old Gouda, and farmhouse-made Abondance.
SEMI SOFT CHEESES
Canterbury Cobble, Sharpham Rustic, Alderwood.
SOFT CHEESES
Tunworth, Gold Hill, Chaucer’s camembert-style, Bowyer’s brie-style, Win Green.
GOAT’S CHEESES
We get out goat’s milk from Debbie Vernon’s herd near Sittingbourne. She makes the Ellie’s Dairy line of soft goat’s cheeses. She spends eight hours a day just milking her 200-strong herd. That’s before she makes the cheese and gets out selling it. She also has the smartest fluffy goat-shaped handbag.
“Ellie’s Dairy, natural, with herbs, and with chillies, Shaggy’s Beard, Norsworthy, Billy Goat Gruff, Kelly’s Canterbury Goat, Golden Cross Log, Golden Cross Chabis, Allerdale.”
SHEEP’S CHEESES
Flower Marie, Wigmore, Lord of the Hundreds, Croglin.
BLUE CHEESES
“Steve and Karen Reynolds make their Kentish Blue from the milk of their own herd of Holstein Friesians at Staplehurst. So the milk travels just a couple of metres from the milking parlour to the cheese vat, and arrives at the perfect temperature for cheese-making. And now they have produced Bluebell, a soft, camembert-like blue.”
Blue Lanark (sheep’s), Blue Dunsyre, Harbourne Blue (goat’s) Kentish Blue, Stichelton, Colston Bassett, Cropwell Bishop, Blue Vinny and Bluebell
Wholesale Cheese Supplier in Kent
We also sell to pubs, restaurants and shops wanting to offer top quality Kentish cheeses as an extra attraction for their customers. Come and discuss your ideal cheeseboard, and we will deliver on a regular basis. Cheesemakers of Canterbury give the expert service you can only find from people who make cheese themselves. Talk to counter manager George Ward for advice on mixing and matching cheeses, how much to get for a supper party, and what is at its best when. Look out for guest cheeses, new cheeses, and firm favourites.