Something Different: Three Different Cheese You Must Try!

Greetings, foodie friends!

With this post I want to shine the spotlight on some fantastic cheeses which I feel don't get the attention they deserve. Everyone knows such favourites as cheddar, parmesan and brie but there is a whole world of flavour out there and I want to discuss three of my favourites.

In choosing my cheeses, I have tried to pick ones which are a little unusual but not so rare as you need to go to horrendous lengths to get them. If this means you already know about them I apologise in advance for the vexatious time you might experience reading the rest of my piece. There is nothing worse than an flush-faced guide ‘introducing’ you to the path you travel down to get to work everyday.

Anyway, for those who don't know I present three wizard cheeses which you should definitely try now!

Red Leicester

A mature red leicester is a thing of beauty. Crumbly, salty and tangy, this hard orange cheese is as fantastic raw as it is melted. It tastes REALLY good melted on granary bread with pickle but can generally be used as an interesting alternative to cheddar as they are both salty and have a similar consistency whether at room temperature or melted.

Taleggio

This cheese is truly magical. Combining the strength of stilton with the consistency of a really soft camembert, taleggio is rather disconcerting to look at, surrounded as it with an orange rind sprinkled liberally with mould. Honestly, this is fine and does not need to be removed.

Tangy with pleasing herby undertones, Taleggio is a fantastic lunch cheese as it is both the perfect counterpoint to sweet fruit such as figs and the perfect complement to salty olives. It is pretty strong, so really stands out when smeared on bread or crackers even in small quantities.

Taleggio also melts surprisingly well. I frequently use it in pasta and risotto dishes, where it completely dissolves into creamy loveliness without loosing any of its strength.

Jarlsberg

Jarlsberg is a hard Norwegian cheese with a rubbery rather than crumbly texture. The flavour is exceedingly nutty and lacks the sharp tang of many cheeses, giving it a fabulous fresh quality in the eating. It is wonderful eaten raw but I also very much enjoy baking with it. Its flavour brings a clean, meadowy taste to breads and muffins as opposed to the salty heaviness or, frankly, blandness given by many other cheeses (I'm looking at you edam!).

Well, there they are, three cheese which are not in the mainstream psyche but which I just adore. But that's just me - which are your favourites? And, if you've had any experience of the above selection, what do you think of them? Leave a post in the comments below and we can talk cheese until we're blue (veined) in the face!

New Product Review - Waitrose Cremeux du Jura

The Hungry Seagull flies into new territory this week. I shall be reviewing a new food product, something I hope will become a regular feature on my blog.

So, fromage lovers rejoice! Waitrose has released a new cheese. I picked this up in Waitrose's Brighton store, keen to try something new.

Cremeux du Jura is a soft cow's milk cheese with an edible rind, similar to camembert. It is presented in a wooden box surrounded by a spruce hoop (inedible!) and this particular brand is pasteurised so nobody need fret about nasties lurking inside.

To taste, the cheese has a fresh, creamy character. Most of the flavour is in the slightly chewy rind while the centre is smoother than yoghurt and twice as dense. Its strength develops the longer it is open, with little flavour on the first day growing to a noticeable tang on the second.

The taste is a level up from earthy, it is woody. It reminds me of the smell of damp shrubbery on a warm autumn's day. Yet it is a subtle taste. This is a cheese which needs to be enjoyed on its own rather than be hurled into risotto. Not that it would hurt a risotto - I'm sure it would add a delicious creaminess - but the subtle flavours would be overpowered even by leeks. Even by leeks.

I feel this cheese would work best either for lunch, with good bread, salty olives and sweet fruit, or on an after-dinner cheeseboard with crackers and grapes. In other words, occasions when the cheese is the star and its subtleties can be appreciated.

In terms of price, the cheese is fairly expensive. At just under £6 a pop, it is certainly not a lump of cheap cheddar. Although not as pricey as many of the offerings from specialist cheese shops, it is still not a casual purchase and is, perhaps, one best avoided by any but the connoisseur.

That said, for the connoisseur, or at least the committed cheese lover, Cremeux du Jura is a great quality, super-creamy delight with a distinctive woody tang and is well worth trying.