I had planned on doing a post on the Bergader alone, but then I found the Wensleydale on special and knew I needed to do a review on both of those cheeses. As with all the cheeses that I talk about on this blog, these two are NOT made with animal rennet, making it suitable for vegetarians. However, the Bergader keeps being listed as 'not vegetarian' on the internet through several pages, but on the packaging it says that it was made with Microbial rennet.
Bergader Edelpilz:
I find this to be quite interesting, as for some reason it comes swimming a small amount of brine in the packaging, which I assume is primarily used for preservation as the ingredients don't show any additives or preservatives. The cheese is a semi-hard Bavarian blue, with slightly fluffy flesh. The first time I had this I ate it straight out of the packaging and found the brine to be way too distracting. It completely overwhelms the true flavour of the blue cheese and I found it incredibly hard to enjoy. The second time I opened a packet, I made sure to put the cheese on a couple of paper towels to drain the brine and left it at room temperature for about an hour or two to soften it. This produced a MUCH better-tasting cheese, with minimal brine to affect the flavour of the cheese.
This is a creamy cheese which I think would work rather nicely in a lot of potato and pasta dishes. It isn't a very strong blue. It has a lovely mushroomy flavour and I wish I had some walnuts to go with it. Surprisingly enough, this is not a very salty cheese once the brine has been drained properly, and I am pleased about this. This is something I definitely would put on a cheese platter, priced at only $3.30 for 100g at Woolworths Supermarkets.
Maffra Cheese Co's White WensleydaleA little bit of internet research told me I was an idiot for not knowing that Wensleydale was originally produced in the dale of the same name in North Yorkshire, England. However, it is now commercially produced throughout the world. I found this one at Coles Supermarkets discounted by 40% due to it being a week away from its expiry date. Hello, ripe cheese! It was $3.90 for 150g.
So I left this out for about an hour to get to room temperature, and removed the wax - which turned out to be an easier task than I had initially expected. The first thing I noticed was the open and creamy texture which took me by surprise. And then... I was surprised once again thanks to the tangy lemony flavour, as if lemon zest had been added to the recipe. Colour me intrigued! I thought this was a rather nice touch which made it wonderfully compatible for all types of fresh fruit. I had this with a bit of St Dalfour's Four Fruits Spread on crackers, and it was delicious. This is a great summer cheese to go with some crisp apple cider.
I'd buy both of those cheeses again, but if I were you, I would wait till the Wensleydale was on special, because I don't think it's entirely worth the full price of $6.49.
0 comments:
Post a Comment