Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses - Blue Mouse Review
Crackerdash • 28 June 2020
A taste of Lancashire comes south.
Butlers Blacksticks Blue, (in reality a creamy orange cheese, dotted and streaked with blue), looks as fantastic on the cheeseboard as it tastes in the mouth. It had starred in an earlier game of Crackerdash, and just as one bite leads to two, one cheese can lead to another. In this case another five great cheeses. Having noted that Blacksticks Blue was a product of Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses we decided to investigate further. In the true spirit of a Crackerdash cheese adventure we hopped onto the internet, took a virtual ride up to Lancashire, discovered the Butlers family history, grabbed some treasure, lobbed it into our cart, flashed the plastic and then turned off the laptop and made a cup of tea. OK, Indiana Jones it was not!
We'd definitely recommend a visit as this Lancashire family business have some real treasures courtesy of their innovation and dedication - not forgetting the contribution from their own cows and goats. You can find them here: www.butlerscheeses.co.uk
A quick delivery was confirmed when a knock at the door revealed a package from the North, (We're based in Southampton so most things come from the North!) Butlers put their love into making cheese, but also into the delivery of their cheese. A neat cardboard box, printed with inviting statements, "a taste of the unexpected" affirmed we were indeed on a cheese adventure. Opening the box the cheeses were nestled amongst wood shavings, used for sustainable packaging. It was difficult not to dive straight in, but Crackerdash is a game of etiquette, and noshing the cheese ahead of the game would be a serious faux pas!
Our six cheeses were:
Blacksticks Blue, this cheese is widely available and can be purchased from most supermarkets, and rightly so. It has a fantastic creamy texture with a taste of blue coming through that is the perfect strength to convert anyone not sure about blue cheese into fans, whilst giving those who like their blue cheese enough of a hit to keep coming back for more. If you've not tried this yet pick one up on your next trip to the shops, you won't be disappointed!
2 x Lancashire Cheeses, Mrs Butler's and the more mature Trotter Hill. These Lancashire cheeses are separated by the time they spent maturing. Mrs Butlers, (one of the original family recipes) is matured for between 3 to 5 months, Trotter Hill is matured for a minimum of 12 months. The extra time takes the mild and creamy cheese and adds more tanginess and gives it a crumble to the texture.
Button Mill, this is a small soft cheese with a white rind. It is produced in tiny artisan basins in small batches, so a lot of love goes into this unique and individual cheese over it's 12 days manufacture.
Beacon Blue - Goats cheese. Butlers describe Beacon Blue as "silvery like the moon, silky smooth, creamy and fresh on the tongue," and who are we to argue! We're excited to have a blue goats cheese on the board and if looks are anything to go by we're expecting great things.
Ravens Oak, another goats cheese. This time a small white soft cheese with a delicate white rind. Whilst we used the cheese for Crackerdash as it had arrived, we've noticed that a recommendation is to bake the cheese as you would a camembert. Our boards can take up to 140 degrees so this would have been a great option for the game.
We had plenty of condiments lined up alongside the cheese and a variety of crackers, so we were good to go and introduce the team to some new cheeses. As usual we used the Eurovision points system, albeit with no favoritism and 1st, 2nd and 3rd place were awarded as follow:
1st, Button Mill. This little gem arrived on the Crackerdash board in amazing condition, as though a life long "Affineur" had prepared and placed the cheese just for us. (As we venture on our own cheese journey we're learning more appropriate terminology, for those that may not know an Affineur is a person whose status is just below a "head of state" in that they oversee the aging of the cheese and are consequently indispensable!) The delicate flavor and perfect soft consistency won everyone over, so this small champion takes the win.
2nd, Beacon Blue. Butlers description of this cheese was spot on, smooth and creamy with a gentle taste of blue we could keep coming back for more.
3rd, Blacksticks Blue. Just pipped by "un point" the blue cheeses had a strong showing. This is one of our favorites but on this occasion Beacon Blue just sneaked ahead.
And the good news... There are more great looking cheeses from Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses for us to investigate, so watch out in future reviews for Stratford Blue, Kidderton Ash, Burland Bloom, Rothbury Red, Crumbly Lancashire, Goosnargh Gold and Inglewhite Goats cheese.
The adventure continues........
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!