The bite
Learning through taste, terroir and truth.
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HERO CHEESE Ewe-Blu-Ty
Where Curiosity Became Craft
Some cheesemakers inherit generations of family knowledge. Others spend years learning in famous dairies. For Peter at Book & Bucket Cheese, it all began with something much simpler: a book and a bucket.
Managing a dairy producing yoghurt, Peter became increasingly frustrated watching surplus sheep's milk being frozen, knowing the quality would never be quite the same once thawed. Rather than accept waste, he decided to teach himself cheesemaking. Armed with books, advice from respected mentors including Charlie Turnbull and Ken McFarland, and plenty of determination, he started experimenting.
"The rest is bucket science," they joked.
The People’s Cheese 2026
Nearly 500 People Came Together to Judge Britain’s Best New Cheese
The People’s Cheese 2026 Heats at Chiswick Cheese Market
Something very special happened on May 17th at Chiswick Cheese Market.
Nearly 500 members of the public joined us for the heats of People’s Cheese, our search for Britain and Ireland’s Best New Cheese, and what unfolded was one of the most exciting, emotional and fiercely close competitions we’ve ever hosted.
Supported brilliantly by Chiswick Cheese Market, the day saw hundreds of people tasting, debating, discussing and championing real cheese made by real people. This wasn’t a panel of industry judges hidden behind closed doors. This was the public deciding. Farmers, food lovers, chefs, families, cheesemongers and curious first timers all taking part together.
And the response was overwhelming.
In fact, demand was so high that we ran out of voting slips twice.
Throughout the day we hosted three separate heats, each showcasing very different styles of cheese. We began with softer, more delicate cheeses before moving into harder and washed rind styles. The final heat celebrated blues and flavoured cheeses and every single tasting sparked passionate discussion amongst the crowd.
What became immediately clear was just how close the competition was.
Across all categories, many cheeses were separated by only one or two percent. The standard was extraordinary and choosing the finalists became incredibly tense right until the final count.
After hundreds upon hundreds of votes were cast, four cheeses emerged as this year’s finalists.
HERO CHEESE St Helena
In a quiet corner of Norfolk, St Helena emerges not as a product of force, but of restraint. Born from a moment of inspiration in the Auvergne, where market tables in Saint Nectaire sparked an idea, this cheese is a study in minimal intervention and maximum attention. It is milk led, raw, and alive, guided rather than controlled.
CORK & CURD Tavo Pinot Grigio
This is not your average Pinot Grigio from the Veneto. It is a varietally true example of this often misunderstood grape. A member of the extended Pinot family of grape varieties, Pinot Gris (Grigio) is a pink-skinned mutation of Pinot Noir. The two grape varieties are indistinguishable in the vineyard right up until veraison.
HERO CHEESE: Yoredale
From Finance to Farmhouse: The Curlew Dairy Story. This month we meet Ben Spence of Curlew Dairy, the maker reviving raw-milk Wensleydale in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales. His cheese, Yoredale, is lactic, buttery and bright, capturing the true flavour of place and the quiet craft of real farmhouse cheesemaking.
CHEESE CHAT Jake Goldstein
If you’ve ever launched a food business at the “silly” end of the year, you’ll know the mix of adrenaline and mild chaos Jake is living on right now. Primrose Creamery is new, the make room still smells of fresh paint, and the recipes are moving from bench-top trials to proper batches. But inside that newness is an old-school idea: cheeses that change with the milk, with the weather, with the day. As Jake puts it, “a winemaker has a vintage every year; a cheesemaker has a vintage every day.” It’s the north star for Primrose, listen to the milk, make what the milk wants, and let the seasons be visible in the rind.
HERO CHEESE: Meeny Hill Goat
Introducing our first ever hero cheese from Northern Ireland - the hard, rich and mild mannered Meeny Hill Goat from Dart Mountain in Co. Derry.
The ‘Queen of Cheddar’ at 70
As Mary Quicke MBE has celebrated her 70th birthday recently, we asked her about her significant contribution to cheese, food and farming, and what’s now at the top of her to-do list.
CHALLENGE THE CHEESEMONGER: Indie Füde
Keith Kendrick taps into cheesemonger wisdom with a special order. This time, we’re with Johnny McDowell from Indie Füde in Northern Ireland.
HERO CHEESE: Lanark Blue
Made with raw ewe’s milk, Lanark Blue was the first ever cheese produced by legendary Scottish cheesemakers, Errington Cheese, over 40 years ago.
CHEESE TRAVELS: Pick & Cheese, Berlin
Having opened the world’s first cheese conveyor belt restaurant in 2019, when Pick & cheese London took its place at the heart of Seven Dials Market, cheese-centric restaurateur, Mathew Carver has now exported the concept to Germany.
WINE PAIRING: Shilling X Touraine Sauvignon
Our resident wine expert, Katherine Dart from Grape & Nectar, takes us through her pairing suggestions for June’s hero cheese - Shilling by White Lake Cheese.
HERO CHEESE: Shilling
One of the latest creations from relentless innovator and goat’s cheese superstar, Roger Longman at White Lake Cheese, Shilling is a West Country take on Crottin - a Loire Valley classic.
CHEESE TRAVELS: Rolling Cheese, Helsinki
Located along the historic Museokatu in the Etu-Töölö district of Helsinki, Rolling Cheese - founded by Finnish-British couple, Nelli and Peter Steer - stands alone as the only bricks-and-mortar cheese shop in Finland.
WINE PAIRING: Seven Sisters X Figgie Daniel
Our resident wine expert, Katherine Dart from Grape & Nectar, takes us through her pairing suggestions for May’s hero cheese - Seven Sisters by High Weald Dairy.
HERO CHEESE: Seven Sisters
Named after the Seven Sisters chalk cliffs in East Sussex, this is a buttery and unctuous semi-soft sheep’s milk cheese, coated in a layer of nutritious seaweed, sustainably harvested on the Hebridean coastline. Bold, but beautifully balanced, Seven Sisters is a perfect introduction to High Weald Dairy.
Affineur of the Year 2025
Affineur of the Year is set to return on Tuesday 3 June, with the Academy of Cheese once again inviting cheese lovers and cheese pros to come together in a joyous celebration of cheese aging craft. We caught up with Tracey Colley to find out more.
Choosing the slow path
On a patch of earth near the village of Graffham in West Sussex, cheese is being made in harmony with the land, its soil and the animals who graze upon it. Katie Forman and Brett Sacks founded Slow Grown Farm in 2021, and with a clean slate to work with, they’ve designed everything to do better by the environment, better by their animals and better by cheese lovers. We chatted with Brett, to find out more.
CHALLENGE THE CHEESEMONGER: Calder Cheesehouse
Keith Kendrick taps into cheesemonger wisdom with a special order. This time, we’re with Jay Hickson at Calder Cheesehouse in West Yorkshire.
HERO CHEESE: Kingcott Blue
Made in Kent with raw milk from the Reynolds’ happy herd of VikingReds, Kingcott Blue is a lightly veined, semi-soft blue cheese, with a smooth blue flavour profile. Getting stronger with age, the cheese develops from delicate and creamy to a little more powerful and punchy over a matter of weeks.