Artisan Cheese from the Book & Bucket - Blue Mouse Review
The Blue Mouse • 23 May 2020
100% Sheep milk, 100% Brilliant
We've got our hands on some fantastic cheese from The Book and Bucket company. Based in Dorset the company hand makes Artisan cheeses from locally sourced sheep milk. The milk is collected and made into cheese on the same day. A great cheese needs a great name, so these cheeses are appropriately named after great writers. The cheeses we introduced to our game of Crackerdash were:
Austen; A creamy feta style cheese.
Hardys; A signature Dorset hard cheese, reminiscent of a mature Manchego.
Orwell; A velvety soft cheese.
Orwell and Wild Garlick; Soft cheese with wild garlick foraged from the Cranbourne Estate.
Shakespeare; A White bloom rind cheese - Brie.
Smokey Burns; A Dorset smoked Halloumi.
This set of cheeses was particularly well received by one team member who has a lactose intolerance. Whilst sheep milk still contains lactose it is more easily digested than cow milk due to the smaller fat globules, which also means it is less likely to cause high cholesterol. Great news for cheese lovers and for those who have to live with the after effects of lactose intolerance.....
Our players were introduced to the cheeses during the game and asked to give their preference by the simple means of awarding 3 points to their favorite cheese, 2 points to the second, and 1point to the third. A bit like Eurovision, only more sensible, non-political and based on quality content!
And with the results in:
1st Place - Shakespeare. In a close fought finish the Brie won through. This creamy cheese had a lovely mellow taste with a slight hint of its origins that made it immediately moorish. With or without accompanying condiments this is a great cheese.
2nd / 3rd - We have a draw! Hardy and Orwell cross the line hand in hand. The Hardy cheese was really good, describing it as a mature Manchego is fairly accurate, although we felt that the hard exterior belied an interior that was slightly softer and with more depth than a Manchego offers. The Orwell - a velvety soft cheese was very well received, with comments of hint of saltiness, melts in the mouth, light and refreshing, great with condiments, all being noted. So we'll give both cheeses second place.
Honary mentions; All the cheeses were fantastic, but it's perhaps a bit unfair to judge the Smokey Burns Hollumi on the basis of eating it cold with crackers. After all if we'd grilled this beauty we may well have seen a different winner! Everyone loved the smokiness, and one comment was that it reminded a cocktail connoisseur of an "old fashioned" (Whiskey cocktail)... seems unlikley! It would also be fair to say that the Austen, a feta type cheese also suffered from being eaten off a cheesboard rather than being part of a light lunch. This cheese would be our "go to" for those summer salads, we've not had better.
All in all it was a great evening, a good competitive game, enhanced with excellent cheeses. If you want to find out more about the Book & Bucket Cheese Company you can find them here: www.thebookandbucketcheesecompany.co.uk
Throughout the summer we'll be visiting Food Fairs, Markets and More.
Having a Cracking time in September.
Meet us at the Cheese & Chilli Festivals in Winchester and Swindon
Six cheeses for a March cheeseboard
Playing Crackerdash at the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company
Enter our competition to win 6 great British cheeses for Christmas. Just grab a fun pic of your game of Crackerdash and post it to our Facebook page. We'll be drawing the winner a couple of weeks before Christmas so we can get a great selection of cheese out to you in time for a festive game of Crackerdash!
Tony Cowling, Director of The Cheese Hut discusses all things cheese with Sarah Church, Director of Crackerdash whilst taking delivery of new Crackerdash "lite" edition games.
Somehow a game to highlight local produce from the south coast morphed into a game showcasing the best local produce from Northumberland! We have to say, having sampled the fare, the locals in Northumberland have it pretty good. The cheese and condiments came from the Northumberland Cheese Company and Northumberland Pantry. Both businesses have easy online ordering and engaging websites, pretty much our "shop windows" in the current limitations imposed by Covid. Delivery was excellent and everything packed securely and attractively. Christmas come early!
The Three C's of Excellence. Crackerdash has three core elements. They are the three C's of excellence; Cheese, Condiments and Crackers! Each one a gastronomical treat. Put them together in a harmonious balance and your taste buds can reach a new level of enlightenment. We've reviewed Cheese, we've reviewed condiments. Now it is time for us to discuss the last piece in the Crackerdash Trinity - the Crackers. On this occasion we introduced Crackers from two Artisan bakers; Peter's Yard and Artisan Biscuits. Peter's Yard crackers are named after their creator (Peter Ljungquist) and his small bakery based in the heart of the Swedish countryside. Passionate to revive traditional Swedish baking methods and recipes he, along with like minded friends, turned to slower, sourdough techniques. Ian Tencor and Wendy Wilson Bett, visiting from England, were deeply impressed with the crackers and began importing to the UK. The great quality of the crackers quickly led to high demand. In order to keep up, production was moved from Sweden to Shipton Mill in England. With an emphasis on original recipes, high quality ingredients, organic flour and milk, along with sixteen hours of sourdough fermentation before use, Peter's Yard crackers deserve to be on any table. Miller's Elements and Harvest crackers are produced by Artisan Biscuits based in the beautiful Derbyshire Peak District. The bakery is a long standing family business which started more than 100 years ago. Keeping a traditional, handmade approach is key to Artisan Biscuits - " made by real people" - it's a philosophy we can't fault. The Miller's Elements range is a "tribute to Earth, Fire, Water... and Ale. The basic building blocks of a life worth living." Peter's Yard Sourdough Smoked Chilli Flatbreads. Although these flatbreads are ideal for dipping they are a great inclusion for the game. Aside from their great taste the long thin shapes makes a nice contrast against the more usual round or square crackers. Not too flavoured to overpower your cheese, these were a big hit with the team. We also had a packet of seeded flatbreads that we didn't use in the game, however, by the next day they had also been devoured. A clear thumbs up for Peter's Yard flatbreads. On a positive note, like most of the crackers in this review they are a pretty healthy nosh. You can overcome the guilt of eating a marvellous high fat cheese in the knowledge it is balanced by a high fibre, low in sugar, low in saturated fat, no artificial colours or preservatives, hand baked cracker! Peter's Yard Sourdough Crispbread. These small round crackers hark back to their origin in Sweden. They have a great snap and crunch with a texture that works really well with the cheese. The simple natural ingredients (organic of course) produce a pleasant savoury taste that will suit most cheeseboards. Miller's Elements Earth These crackers are created using potato as a base. This gives them a crumble rather than a "crunch." Beetroot and spinach are added to the mix to produce an "earthy" taste. One player mentioned they felt healthier just eating the cracker. The addition of Beetroot gives these crackers a deep red colour. Not only do they taste great, but they look fantastic on the plate. The adage "looks as good as it tastes" has been demonstrated to be a real psychological effect, so making your crackers and condiments look good, will actually make them taste better!. Miller's Elements Ale Hail the ale - what's not to like! Rather than using ale to produce the crackers they incorporate the ingredients that go into your pint. Hops, barley, roasted wheat and malt are used to create these savoury crackers. The crackers have that slight ale bitterness and were described by one player to have a "warming taste." Miller's Harvest Three Nut and Three Seed Both of these square crackers are made with a base of stoneground wholemeal flour. The three nuts in the mix are hazelnuts, walnuts and almonds. The nuttiness comes through in the cracker but it is fairly subtle so works well with the cheeseboard. The three seeds in the cracker mix are Poppy, linseed and sesame seeds. The crackers are quite hard so have a satisfying crunch and again the seed taste comes through, one player described as this as "salty" but perhaps that shows there's a variation in peoples taste. In Summary You couldn't go wrong having any of these crackers lined up for a game of Crackerdash. We felt though, that it would be better to mix them in with a wider variety of crackers to introduce them to players just as you'd offer a range of cheeses. Our "go to" from the selection would be one of the Peter's Yard sourdough flatbreads and Miller's Elements Earth. These add great taste and will look good on any plate for a game of Crackerdash. For more information on Peter's Yard and Millers Elements you can click on the buttons below:
Always pay attention! This is particularly true when standing in a fort and demonstrations of ancient military hardware are taking place. There's nothing more unsettling, when a pleasant conversation about cheese is interrupted by a small cannon going off directly behind you. This leads to a quick check of the heart, followed by a check of the trousers - or was it the other way round? We were attending the Dorset Food and Drink "pop-up" Festival, taking place at Nothe Fort in Weymouth. Blessed with fantastic weather and the equally stunning scenery around Weymouth bay this was a great event to visit and support. In particular we were meeting up with Peter and Steve from "The Book And Bucket Cheese Company" to chat seasonal promotions and hear their latest news. NEW CHEESE ALERT! First bit of news, Peter has added a range of cow's cheese to sit alongside the great sheep's cheese already produced. They are; Blyton - a Dorset Brie, Pratchett - a creamy Dorset blue, Huxley - a Halloumi style cheese and Huxley Fire - Holloumi with Dorset Naga Chilli. Happily we kidnapped some of these along with a haul of sheep's cheese so look forward to a tasting session / game of Crackerdash imminently. AWARDS! 2020 is the year that "never was" in many ways, however Peter and Steve somehow managed to gather a host of awards in the few events that did take place. Four Cheeses were awarded Gold standard in the "Taste of the West Awards" and 5 Cheeses managed 6 stars in the 2020 "Great Taste" awards. In addition for a second year running they are finalists in the Dorset Food Drink and Farming Awards - fingers crossed!