Meet my Swiss family: Paulette, Jill, Jose and Cyril. Last Saturday they were all cheese experts.
The evening was so nice and warm as we sat down at a table with good wine, various nuts, dried fruits, crackers, bread, some meat and, of course great cheese! The table looked delicious, cheese so tasty and wine so tempting and we couldn't wait to try it all so it was very hard to resist a while longer to take some pictures ;-) Each of those proud-of-Swiss-cheese Swiss was so impatient to finally find out why people get all so excited with that British cheese! As you can see on the photos we had 6 of them: Red Leicester, Cornish Yarg, Swaledale Goat, two cheddars, Montgomery and Organic Godminster and, of course, Stilton!
Those cheeses are imported to Switzerland from British farms by
British Cheese Centre and represent very nicely the wide range of delicious cheeses produced there. Nobody can describe them better than Michael from British Cheese Centre, so before I tell you what my dear Jurassien say about them, hear it from an Englishman in Zürich!
Red Leicester: original British orange cheese with natural colors of Annatto. It is marked with orange because it used to be confused with cheddar even in Great Britain! (note: remember that real cheddars are not orange, some producers confused cheddar with the kind of cheeses that is coloured orange and made their cheddar orange too!)
Cornish Yarg: milky, soft cheese wrapped in nettles. A breakfast cheese.
Swaledale Goat: semi-hard goat cheese, slightly sweet, not too overpowering in taste.
Stilton: Hmm… describing this cheese is not easy at all… Let`s just say it is the king of cheeses!
Godminster Organic Cheddar: creamy, modern style cheese covered with wax which keeps the flavours inside. Slightly sweet and fruity. Michael admitted he doesn't really like it but he can understand why many people do!
Montgomery Cheddar: nutty cheddar cheese, considered one of the best cheddars (note:I confirm!:-))
You know Switzerland is known for those delicious cheeses right ? Most popular here are hard cheeses with a very strong characteristic taste and smell, such as Gruyere, that melt in your mouth. What everyone definitely agreed on after tasting British cheeses is that their consistence and texture is ``funny``. Some of those cheeses melt like butter, others melt and crumble a bit but it is a mystery to me, why my four Swiss cheese experts found it so distinct! They all also strongly agreed on the fact that the British cheeses are very good but also very different from Swiss cheeses.
We started with Cornish Yarg. While concentrating and trying to name their sensations they all agreed it is soft and creamy, characteristic but quite bitter.
Second one was Red Leicester. They all liked it but it was hard to come up with right word to describe it. But well, when it comes to tastes we all get quite creative and Jill found her experience of Red Leicester correctly described with ``sunny flavor`` (ooh!) while Jose called it ``crunchy``. Hmm. I would not find a good way to describe it either, except for saying it is delicious! Not too strong, but with a characteristic taste. Personally, one of my favourites!
What about Godminster? ``It is so strong`` (at this moment I had to make sure if they all really tasted the Godminster cheddar!) ``Its too creamy, couldn't eat too much of this one``. ``Too creamy`` they said! I thought the cheese is mild and delicate not only in texture but also in taste. This was very funny for me because I think it is harder to eat more of something strong rather than creamy and mild, what do you think? I started to wonder, if Swiss people eating mostly strong, hard cheeses have reversed experience and what is strong for Swiss is mild for others and the other way round! I don’t know, go I`m going crazy here!
Fourth one was StiltonTraditional. As mentioned, it is hard to describe it, it is very characteristic but you have to know that this version is stronger in taste than Stilton Organic from the same producers. But apparently not for Swiss people. They all liked it very much (no wonder) also claiming that it is not too strong (that confirms my Godminster-hypothesis about Swiss taste-buds!). Stilton is quite strong but in a good way, and Swiss, apparently, are not afraid of cheeses which have individual specific character and make a statement!
Swaledale goat was next. Goat cheeses are characteristic and not everyone likes them, also among our cheese-tasting group. This time, however, the impression this goat cheese made was very good! Even no goat-lovers liked it because it is not too strong, even though you can feel that it is a goat cheese. While tasting Swaledale I also heard words ``dry`` and ``light`` few times. I had a feeling that this cheese will change some opinions about goat cheeses for better.
Mmmmmmmmmmm Montgomery Cheddar… so good! I`m trying to be professional here but with some good cheeses my emotions take over. So, anyway, what did Gruyere-lovers think ? They thought it resembles Parmesan in texture. But just in texture, because the taste is very characteristic. Nutty, as Mike said. Mmmmm… Sorry, I cant concentrate…
``So which is your favourite?`` I asked and I got the answer:
My reflection is that, even if we compare the same or similar kind of cheese, produced in two different regions, the location makes a big difference. Paulette, Jill, Jose and Cyril would not mistake British and Swiss cheese for sure, even if farmers in Great Britain tried to produce a cheese resembling Swiss Gruyere. After all, I guess it is true that the grass tastes different for cows in Switzerland, France or Great Britain!
You should all treat yourself with an evening like that every now and then. The cheeses were great and they made our Saturday evening so pleasant, our minds relaxed and our senses so happy! Thank you British Cheese Centre!