Visiting the home of Cheddar

Rory Church • 8 March 2023

Playing Crackerdash at the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company

  It felt like a natural thing to do - play Crackerdash, "The Cheese Lover's Board Game," in the home of Cheddar. A little research led us to the wonderful Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company. The business is the only producer of Cheddar Cheese actually based in Cheddar itself. Luckily for us the ever enthusiastic Emma Hills at the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company was happy to host us and to participate in playing Crackerdash.

  "Anything that involves eating cheese and I'm in!" Emma confirmed, which is a sentiment we can all get behind. We wended our way from Southampton to Cheddar via Salisbury (there are no fast routes to the Southwest from Southampton,  motorways cease to exist on the South Coast at Bournemouth at which point you return to the 1960's).
  Our route took us through the Mendip Hills, an area of outstanding natural beauty. Sadly the fog had found us for the last half of the journey ensuring we could only see 100 yards in any direction. The return journey though, was clear, and we can confirm that a visit to the Mendip Hills is a rewarding drive in itself.

  Descending into Cheddar we left the morning fog behind and arrived at the home of Cheddar Cheese. The dairy is based in the heart of Cheddar, an attractive stone building with a welcoming shop facing the street. Inside there's a great range of produce that you'd expect from better delicatessens along with - you guessed it... plenty of varieties of Cheddar Cheese. All of which can be tried at the well stocked tasting bar. Knowledgeable staff will be happy to discuss the individual cheeses so you can learn as you munch.

  We met Emma and were given a tour of the dairy, (visitors can also book the tour). The dairy receives a delivery of locally produced, unpasteurised milk every morning, and then the cheese making process begins. You can watch the whole procedure through large windows in the dairy. It is a fantastic way to understand the elements required to create an authentic Cheddar cheese. Once the Cheddars are made, they are placed into the cheese store to mature, each of these large round truckles can weigh 25KG or more, (little known fact - most international strongmen started out working in dairies, carting large cheeses about and benefiting from strong bones through extra calcium through eating cheese).

   Our next consideration was where to set up and play Crackerdash. Originally, we'd wondered if we could have played and filmed in the Cheddar Gorge Caves, where some of the cheese is matured in a natural underground cheese store. Sadly, the Longleat estate who owns the caves suggested a small fee (about 3 yrs worth of cheese for us) might be appropriate - so we passed on that idea and set up in front of the cheese store in the dairy itself, which to be fair was far more convenient and a great backdrop for the game. Emma kindly produced a selection of Cheddars (Cave Matured, Vintage, Mellow, Cider Garlick & Chives, Oak Smoked and Tomato & Red Onion) for the game. Along with some crackers, locally produced Pickles from Rose Farm, and their own amazing cheese straws we were ready to go.

  We were joined in the game by Emma's colleague, Frazer. He decided, an invite to play Crackerdash and dig into their own fabulous cheese and crackers would be a lunch break well spent! We wholeheartedly agreed and have to say these authentic cheddars hit the spot. The cave matured cheddar (12 months) is worth a special mention with it's smooth texture and well rounded flavour, but any of the cheeses would be a great addition to a cheeseboard.

  After a round or two of Crackerdash it was time to pack everything away and take our leave (and the remaining cheese - big thanks to Emma!) Before we left, we took a look at Cheddar and the route up to the gorge. This area is really focused on meeting the needs of visitors to the gorge, so there's plenty of eateries, shops and exhibitions leading into the caves. The shops are separated by sparkling mill ponds that run through the middle of the village. We were slightly surprised to see a robust looking goat wander across the road. We discovered that this is one of the few places in England where feral goats run free. Driving out through the gorge we spotted lots of these fellows clinging to the side of the gorge and happily browsing on the vegetation that only they could reach. It is well worth driving along the gorge itself, as the cliffs rise to 450ft on either side, making it a very dramatic landscape, infused with stories of our own prehistoric ancestors. Cheddar man was the name given to Britain's oldest whole human skeleton (circa 9,000 years matured) that was found within the gorge's caves. One can only wonder what he'd think about, knowing that there were large cheddar rounds now stored in those same caves - probably "where's my Crackerdash game?"

Where to find us Summer of 2024

by Rory Church • 24 June 2024
Throughout the summer we'll be visiting Food Fairs, Markets and More.

September Events

by Rory Church • 2 September 2023
Having a Cracking time in September.

Cheese & Chilli Festival

by Rory Church • 31 March 2023
Meet us at the Cheese & Chilli Festivals in Winchester and Swindon

The Cheeseboard - March

by Rory Church • 27 March 2023
Six cheeses for a March cheeseboard

Post a pic - win 6 British Cheeses for Xmas

by Rory Church • 12 June 2021
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!

Crackerdash Lite Edition goes to Brighton

by Rory Church • 2 April 2021
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. 

Northumberland heads south

by Crackerdash • 27 December 2020
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!

We're going Crackers!

by Crackerdash • 24 November 2020
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:

The Dorset Food and Drink Festival

by Rory Church • 28 September 2020
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!

Artisan Cheese - A local voyage of discovery

by Rory Church • 17 July 2020
One of the great things about Crackerdash is that whilst the game stays the same, the cheese and condiments will vary. So there is always something new to experience! Consequently we naturally move along the line of cheese exploration. Starting with supermarkets (nothing wrong here), moving to online orders, visiting delis and local markets, through to full on food tours, tasting sessions and specialist cheese mongers. On this occasion we were keeping our cheese expedition local, visiting the farmer’s market in Petersfield, Hampshire. It would be fair to say that in the same way a wine has a “Terroir” associating taste with the local environmental factors, Cheese is subject to the same conditions. Along with accounting for all the dark arts of cheese making the cheese maker also has to contend with their environment. Different livestock will produce widely different milk yields, with very different structures and fat content. The quality of milk will depend on the landscape, how lush or dry the pasture is, what grazing is available amongst other factors, all of which can determine what cheese can (or cannot) be made locally. So local markets are a great way to get an insight into the agricultural strengths of the region. As an aside, it does seem unfair that the term for a cheese maker is simply “cheese maker!” If you specialise in the sale of cheese you’re a Cheese Monger, if you age the cheese you’re an “Affineur.” Surely taking everything into account above the cheese maker is deserving of a far more grandiose title… Magician, Mage, Artiste de Cheese… who knows! Whilst our sights were set on artisan cheeses and condiments we were soon weighed down by numerous other products. Smoked trout pate, venison bacon, specialty sausages and pork pies, the list goes on. Sarah, my wife and fellow Crackerdash Director, observing the increasing size of my shopping bag complained, “we’ll never get through all that!” Which just goes to show that after more than 25 years of marriage she still underestimates my capabilities. It is quite easy to spend money at a farmer’s market. As a shopping experience it is great to be able to talk directly with artisan producers, understand the provenance of the food and support some of those businesses that have been most affected by the recent lockdown. So I felt fully justified in adding a pack of venison kebabs to my haul and moving on along the smorgasbord of stalls. Our first cheese discovery was the Sussex Charmer, and what a discovery! The stall was manned by the equally charming Angus Fraser who led us through the cheese and butter on display. The Sussex Charmer originated when two family farms, one producing cheddar (The Harrison family) and one producing an Italian style hard cheese (The Bookham family) combined their cheese making talents to produce the Sussex Charmer. This unique product has gone on to win Gold at the International Cheese Awards no less than 8 times in recent years! Following our game of Crackerdash later in the day, there was a little “Charmer” left over, which I was looking forward to. I discovered though, that an unnamed person with lactose intolerance had weighed up the great taste of the Sussex Charmer against the downside of intolerance and decided taste won the day. They had noshed the remainder ahead of me! So alongside all the awards that this cheese has accrued it can be said that the great taste of the Sussex Charmer literally “trumps” lactose intolerance… no small accolade. Aside from the Sussex Charmer we also came away with Bookham and Harrisons’ “Twineham Grange.” This is an Italian Style hard cheese that is suitable for vegetarians. Having used it to replace the Parmesan in a Carbonara it ticked all the boxes, and it’s great to see a local UK provider producing such a fantastic alternative, we’ll be back for more! Our next cheese stop was with Beau farms who hail from Tadley in Hampshire. They specialise in goats cheese, producing a range consisting of Brie, Soft Cheese and award winning Gouda. Having kept goats in the past Sarah was quickly enjoying a discussion about Saanens, Anglo Nubians and her history with goats. Sadly we arrived late in the day and all the soft cheese had been sold - always the best form of quality assurance! We left with a plain Gouda (nothing plain about it!) and a version with some chilli added which was enough to give a nice tingle, but not have one rushing for a glass of milk. Both cheeses were excellent and we’ll be back (early in the day) to ensure we procure some of the soft cheese and Brie next time. Sadly I forgot to ask the goats cheese question that has been bugging me for some time. I’ve been told that the strong goaty taste in cheese, that some people find unpleasant occurs when a Billy goat has been kept with the herd. This affects the hormones and consequently the milk. I’ve also been informed that the harder the cheese is worked during the processing phase the stronger the goat flavour is produced in the cheese. Perhaps both are valid, but if you know the science please do drop me a line! You can find more info on Bookham and Harrison Farms here: https://www.bookhamharrison.co.uk More info on Beau Farm and their goats cheese is at: https://beaufarm.co.uk/ And watch out for news and updates from Angus Fraser’s Local Food and drink Tours; https://www.facebook.com/localfoodanddrinktours
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