This post is to boost Ned Palmer author of Cheesemakers History of the British Isles, Cheesemongers Tour de France, Cheesemongers Compendium of British & Irish Cheeses; a genuinely wonderful, warm and brilliantly clever guy - and his curated cheese business The Cheese Tasting Company; and share the feedback I got from his very insightful and expert critique of my cheeses.
I'd intended to do a small dinner at the Travellers Club Library for a visiting friend/cheese dignitary (just our two families at her request - I had dancing elephants, orangutans with trombones and other pomp and circumstance in mind as befitted her status) and had asked Ned if he might give a talk/tasting on the history of the British Isles and its cheeses and join us for the evening. For reasons beyond anyone's control, it fell through as the other couple had to return home with some urgency. Ned generously changed the arrangements and gave Jo, I and our three boys his talk at our home, and further agreed to taste and critique my cheeses at the same time. The opportunity to get an informed and honest critique of my cheeses from someone in the know was a priceless opportunity, and Ned didn't disappoint on any level.
It was a unique and thought provoking experience. Ned is eloquent, passionate and has a deep and fascinating perspective on cheese, it's place in history as well as a wealth of anecdotes about the cheese-making and mongering community in the UK and abroad. We went from Neolithic to Roman, Edwardian, post-War, Modern and Avant-garde cheeses, tasting examples made in those styles with intent, and guided by a discussion on the time, tools, processes, and restrictions of each era. An absorbing, illuminating and delicious journey.
I forgot to take pictures unfortunately as I was flapping about logistics, so I'm posting a montage of online images of each of his cheeses and the photos he took of my boards. His selections were tremendous. If you get a chance, absolutely give them a try. The Yoredale, Brightwell and Spenwood were our favourites (I'm in Berkshire; and no we're not called "hunts"; so I'm going to be a little biased on that last one).
If you have the opportunity to attend or commission a talk by Ned, I'd urge you to do so. There's cheese tasting, and then there is the incomparable journey of intentionally tasting cheese led by an expert historian and cheesemonger on how and why each cheese tastes as it does, where it comes from, and how those cheeses are relate to each other and to who we are today. Ned is also an expert oenologist and his wine pairings were uncanny. It was an evening of eye-opening discovery.
If you can't do either, definitely read the books: they're learned, light-hearted, transporting, and engrossing; that is how I every enjoyably learnt of Ned in the first place, I promise they won't disappoint.
On to my cheeses: Ned went through most of them. He was very flattering overall, even though I felt these recent ones have fallen far short of my zenith. He was a little astonished at how far a hobbyist could come in 18 months, though you guys, having seen my lows, know better. He loved the Crottin, and thought some of the territorials as well as Todds (u/Best_Reality_78) Coconut Gouda were "smashing", though he'd have liked to taste more coconut in the latter. The pressed lactic goats milk was delicious but claggy, and he suggested changing it to a goats milk Tomme to preserve the flavour profile but make easier eating.
The Flor Azul, he pointed out had a soapy finish which slighlty spoiled a really terrific initial flavour. This is down to insufficiently wide piercing and an attempt to "Stilton" the cheese by closing the piercings, and accidentally halting beta-carboxylization in the lipolysis. Knowing that it's there, I was able to track down the cause and will now be able to fix it. The sherry and natural rinded Caciotta he was quite taken with while pointing out they weren't actually Caciotta and the Sao Jorge he was kindly able to describe in more detail so I can do the next one so it actually resembles a cheese I've never tried in person.
He also concurred that I'm over-acidifying curds and under-expelling whey. Something I suspected strongly, and the scale of which was confirmed by our recent holiday to Piedmont in Italy, where I got to try every day cheeses like Crescenza, Primo Sale and Caciotta. The flavouring is very delicate and gentle and the Caciotta is extremely elastic. Style-wise very different from my intensely lactic and fudgy productions. I need to stir more vigorously and frequently due to the nature of the milk I'm using (homogenized, pasteurised) and so need to take longer and run lower innoculation rates.
YMMV, but my major takeaway is that you most likely already know whats wrong with your cheeses, and how to make them better, sometimes you just need a reason to look critically.
Sorry this is long-winded and only peripherally cheese-making related. It sort of sits between r/cheese and r/cheesemaking so I might post on both. I'm sure the mods will set me right if I'm crossing any lines.
And hopefully I'll get a chance to host my pals again in the future and share some of this experience with them too.
