Gorgonzola, the grandaddy of all European blue cheeses made from cows milk and its cousin cave ripened Tallegio, which until recently was one of Italy’s great soft cheese secrets. Cheese authority Will Studd travels to Northern Italy to see how and where these fascinating cheeses are created. He visits Lombardy, and the maze of underground cellars in the town of Novara where more than 70% of Gorgonzola is matured.
The Poitou region is the original home of many of the famous goat cheeses of France and for this episode of Cheese Slices, Will Studd journeys to the village of Sainte Maure de Touraine to attend the annual Goats Cheese fair. In the Judge’s Hall he finds out what to look for in a perfect chevre, as well as witnessing an unusual inthronisation ceremony. After visiting a typical goat dairy and a battlefield near Poitiers which changed the course of French history, Will tours the largest goat cheese dairy in France. There he explains the difference between St Maure, the most popular goat cheese in France today, and its ancestor Sainte Maure de Touraine
Parmigiano Reggiano is the undisputed king of Italian cheese and is still made by hand the old fashioned way in giant copper cauldrons. Will Studd explains the extraordinary steps taken to control production of this wonderful cheese, and witnesses its birth, a process that is nothing short of magical. Filmed in the beautiful countryside near Parma in Reggio Emilia, Will meets the Biemme family who have been making benchmark cheese for four generations, and visits the farm and maturation rooms to see how this cheese is matured by robots before being graded by a stagionatura. Then it’s off to investigate the thousand year old Grana Padano and learn why it’s different to its famous cousin, as well as the correct definition of parmesan.
Pecorino is one of the most ancient of all European cheeses, and in this episode Will Studd explains the different types before travelling to Tuscany to visit the ‘Il Forteto’ dairy. Formed by a group of social reformers in the 70's, this cooperative has since grown to become one of the largest producers of Pecorino Toscano DOP. After ‘Il Forteto’ it’s off to the town of Bra in Piedmont where ‘Slow Food’ hold the world largest specialist cheese festival every two years, on this occasion they are celebrating traditional shepherd’s cheeses. We learn why raw milk cheese is crucial to ‘Slow Food’ and the importance of protecting biodiversity for future generations.
Camembert is a potent symbol of French cheese making and is copied all over the world. If you want the real thing, look no further than traditional Normandy Camembert which is made under strict AOC rules from unpasteurised milk. Will Studd visits the tiny village of Camembert where it all began, and the nearby dairy of Monsieur Durand who is now the last ‘fermier’ or farmhouse producer in the region. Then it’s off to the beaches of Normandy and the Cooperative of Isigny St Mere, one of the most respected producers of traditional AOC Camembert in France. Will explains the important difference between camembert and its ancient cousin brie and pops into the cheese shop of Monsieur Roland Barthlemy in Paris, a famous affineur who supplies the Elysee Palace.
The world’s most copied cheese is Cheddar which originally came from the green countryside of Somerset in England. In this episode, Will Studd travels to meet the last two farm producers of cloth bound cheddar in the county that still make cheese from raw milk by hand. How it is made, and the all important cheddaring process is explained, before we visit a local cider maker and the famous gorge and caves of Cheddar. Then it’s time to cut and grade the cheese with Randolph Hodgson of Neals Yard Dairy fame at London’s Borough Market.
The Irish have made cheese since Celtic times but, surprisingly, it’s only in the past decade that cheese makers have revived this ancient art, producing some very exciting cheeses. Join Will as he explores the spectacularly rugged south-west coast and tries some of the more unusual varieties, discovering along the way that despite the renaissance, huge challenges lie ahead for cheese makers who want to use raw milk.
Comté Gruyere is one of the most popular cheeses in France, and has been for around 700 years! It is also the most important cheese made under the strict French appellation system. In this episode, Will traces the important link between farmer, cheese maker and affineur (ripener) before visiting the old fort of Saint Antoine, where 60,000 crusty wheels are matured underground. Then it’s off to a small farm to discover how Comté’s close cousin, Morbier, acquired its black stripe.
Until recently, many of Spain’s traditional cheeses were unknown outside their homeland. Will travels to the land of Don Quixote to look at the rich ewe’s milk cheese Manchego before visiting a cheese fair in the medieval city of Trujillo to savour Queso de la Serena, made with ewe’s milk and set with thistles. Then he drives to the magnificent Picos Europa mountains to look at cave-ripened Cabrales and Valdeon.
The inestimable Roquefort, with a history dating back to Roman times, is the most popular blue cheese in France. Up till today, blue cheeses throughout the world still rely on moulds originating in the region’s limestone caves. Will travels to a typical hillside dairy to look at the region’s unique breed of milking ewes before visiting the area’s famous caves, where he is inducted into the Grand Order of Roquefort in a special ceremony.
In its short history, Australia has developed an enviable reputation for its efficient pasture-based dairy system and significant exports of cheddar, butter and skimmed milk. Over the past two decades a small group of passionate cheese makers have introduced a unique range of farmhouse cheeses using cow, goat, sheep and buffalo milk. In this episode, Will travels across the continent to meet five fascinating cheese pioneers.
The United States is a world leader in the production of industrial cheeses. But over the past decade, there has been a significant change in consumer awareness and a growing appreciation for traditional foods with a distinct local identity. Will visits New York’s finest cheese shops before visiting Vermont to meet a new generation of American cheese makers, dedicated to creating an exciting and distinctive range of farmstead cheeses
For two centuries, Stilton has been known as the King of English Cheese, and it has never been copied elsewhere. Nor has it ever been made in Stilton, despite its name! In this episode, Will visits Quenby Hall, where Stilton was invented, and he investigates how it’s made and the origins of its outstanding reputation. Then he’s off to the annual British Cheese Awards to see which cheese maker will be crowned the best producer of English blue cheese.
The Basque people boast the oldest language in Europe – and one of its most ancient cheeses. Will visits the pretty village of Espelette, famous for its red peppers, before travelling into the mountains to one of the few remaining traditional shepherd huts where the ewes are still milked by hand. The region’s ewe’s milk cheese goes by many names, including Ossau Iraty in France and Idiazabal in Spain. Will explains the differences and gets a few lessons on what it really means to be Basque
In the United States, artisan and farmhouse cheeses have been at the forefront of a growing consumer backlash against bland mass-produced foods. Will travels to Northern California to find out more about this exciting movement from those responsible and, after a tour of San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, he drives north, calling in on artisan cheese makers. Will also catches up with one of the last traditional producers of Monterey Dry Jack, California’s oldest and best-known cheese
The ancient Greeks regarded cheese as the food of the gods. Little wonder, then, that Greece has the world’s highest per capita rate of cheese consumption. Will travels to the rugged coast of Northern Greece to learn how wooden barrels play an essential role in maturing traditional Feta and how Manouri, an ancient whey cheese, is made. Then it’s time for some hand-rolled filo pastry and homemade pita pies, followed by a trip to the largest Greek isle to sample some local cheese delicacies
The rugged plateau of Massif Central and Auvergne is famous for its rich green pastures and its six benchmark AOC French cheeses. Three semi-hard varieties date back to the 12th century and Will explores the differences between them while visiting a disused railway tunnel, where more than 3000 cheeses are now matured. Then it’s off to a cow fair, where the locals celebrate the annual transhumance (seasonal livestock migration), the village of St Nectaire and a troglodyte dwelling where cheese is still matured on rye straw mats.
The Netherlands is the second largest European cheese exporter after France, yet it’s famous for just two cheeses, Edam and Gouda. Will visits the town of Edam to see what the cheese looks like before it is covered in red wax, then attends a Slow Food show in Rotterdam, where he discovers interesting traditional cheeses the Dutch keep for themselves. After learning how real farmhouse Gouda and its cousins are made, Will travels to the beautiful island of Texel to look at a cheese that was once coloured green with sheep droppings.
There is nothing like the evocative smell of washed rind cheeses to bring back memories of a visit to France. Will travels to the misty Vosges Mountains of Alsace, the undulating green countryside of Normandy and the pretty village of Epoisse in Burgundy to look at four benchmark monastic cheeses: Munster, Pont l’Eveque, Livarot and Epoisse. These luscious stinky cheeses have a long history but until recently were threatened with extinction. Their growing resurgence is due largely to the vision and hard work of a few passionate dairy owners.
Will visits influential cheese retailer Neal's Yard Dairy in London, where cheese champion Randolph Hodgson explains how English traditional farmhouse cheese was saved from extinction. Then it's off to the Midlands to look at some of the survivors. After shooting a 'dodgy' cheese in Lancashire, Will drops in on one of the last producers of farmhouse Cheshire, before heading to Wensleydale, made famous by Wallace and Gromit. Finally, he looks at a controversial raw milk blue cheese called Stichelton, and why its success threatens to change the way Stilton is made
Despite being close neighbours, these two large islands in the Mediterranean have distinctly different cheese traditions. While sampling Corsica's renowned Brocciu, a soft ewe's milk cheese, Will is introduced to a traditional cheese covered with maggots. After a short ferry ride and a drive into the beautiful mountains of Sardinia, he uncovers an ancient curd cheese matured in a goat’s stomach before exploring authentic Pecorino Fiore Sardo, an exceptional cheese hand-made by shepherds then smoked over an open fire.
The Canadian province of Quebec is undergoing a cheese-making revival. Will visits Quebec to find out whether the original French settlers have influenced this renaissance. After finding the oldest traditional cheese still made in North America, he visits pretty Ile-aux-Grues in the St Lawrence River to learn how a commodity cheddar producer is adapting to the changing market. Then Will heads to Montreal to visit a Benedictine monastery making Quebec’s oldest blue cheese , and a singing ‘shepherd‘, before heading for the local markets, where he meets some of the main players in the burgeoning new cheese movement
Until recently, Portugal's traditional ewe’s milk cheeses were rarely found outside the country. Will travels to the rugged mountains of the north to find out more about the king of Portuguese cheeses, Serra da Estrela. Dating back to pre-Roman times, this ancient cheese is still made from ewe’s milk and curdled with the juice of cardoon thistles. After travelling south to look at some of its close cousins, Will then travels to the ruggedly beautiful island of Sao Jorge in the Azores to learn about the benchmark cheeses of “little Switzerland”.
Will journeys to Italy's picturesque Campania region to look at stretched curd cheeses and finds it hard to resist the lingering flavour and sensual texture of buffalo cheese made from raw milk. After learning about Italy’s oldest ewe’s milk cheese, which is matured in a terracotta jar, Will gets a lesson from a Countess in how to make the perfect wood-fired pizza. He then heads to the coast to look at Cacio Cavallo, a traditional stretched curd cheese made with cow’s milk, before visiting the underground maturation rooms of Casa Madaio where the finest examples are aged.
This upper Midwest state is famous for its ‘cheese heads’ and proudly declares itself America’s Dairyland because it produces more cheese than any other state in the USA.But since the 1950s, most of the original traditional cheese types have been replaced by bland and predictable mass-produced Swiss and Cheddar. Will visits several of the exciting new farmstead cheese producers, including Upland's Cheese Company, before meeting Willi Lehner at Bleu Mont Dairy to see how he ripens cheese in an underground cave. Finally, Will heads for the hills to look at Hidden Springs Creamery,where a new organic ewe’s milk cheese is being made with the help of local Amish farmers.
Squeaky, salty haloumi is one of the world's best-loved grilled cheeses. However most of it is now mass produced using cows milk. Will travels to the island of Cyprus to see how traditional Haloumi is still made from a mixture of goat and ewe’s milk. After discovering a fresh, mild whey cheese called Anari, he then visits one of the last farm producers still making Haloumi the old fashioned way from raw milk. Finally, Will checks out some unusual ways to cook this delicious cheese in his home town of Melbourne.
Will's cheese tour takes him across the United States to look at artisanal cheese in regions not normally associated with specialist cheese. Will learns first hand about the challenges of making farmstead washed-rind cheese in Virginia before meeting up with his old friend Ari at Zingerman's Creamery in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Then it’s a drive to Indiana to meet American goats cheese pioneer Judy Schad of Capriole dairy where he is encouraged to find a new way to enjoy Bourbon. After a brief stop at Saxelby Cheesemongers' stall at New York City's public market on the Lower East Side, Will travels to Oregon to discover the fascinating story behind Rogue River Blue, one of the oldest raw milk blue cheeses in the US.
If the name “Brie” conjures up images of a mild creamy flat cheese covered with a pure white mould, chances are you have never experienced authentic Brie from Brie. Will visits the Ile de France region to learn more about the benchmarks of the style, Brie de Meaux and Brie de Melun, before visiting Brie's close cousin, Chaource, in the Champagne region. He then travels to the underground caves of Hervé Mons to find out how this respected affineur selects and matures cheese to its optimum before calling in to see Pascal Beillevaire to get a few tips from the largest specialist cheese retailer in France.
Do the Japanese like cheese? In this one-hour special episode of Cheese Slices, Will travels to Japan with leading Australian chef Tetsuya Wakuda to find the answer to that burning question. Starting with a visit to Tokyo’s leading cheese shop, Fermier, he looks at the extraordinary range available at the a well known Tokyo department store before heading off to Shimizu Farm at Nagano to see how a traditional mountain cheese is made. Next stop is Yoshida Farm, where Will and Tetsuya (Tets) try their hand at cheese-making before throwing a party where Tets and friends demonstrate new ways to cook with cheese, Japanese style. Finally, Will visits an award-winning farmhouse dairy on the island of Hokkaido where washed rind cheese is carefully matured in purpose built underground cellars
Will travels to the spectacular fjords of Norway to look at rare skimmed milk cheeses dating back to Viking times and he also samples Ghetost, an ancient sweet brown caramel cheese remarkably similar to fudge.
Will looks at the many flavours of Sicilian Pecorino, and visits one of the last farmhouse dairies making a saffron-flavoured cheese from ewe's milk, before finding himself in a Dickensian cheese-maturing room that is several centuries behind the times.
The Danish dairy industry produces more blue cheese than any country in the world. Will travels to the island of Bornholm to see how Danablu is made, before heading to Copenhagen to look at more interesting cheese varieties.
Scotland is not renowned for good cheese, but in the rugged rolling highland country Will unearths an ancient sour cream ‘chieftains’ cheese called Caboc.
No Italian region boasts as many traditional cheeses as Piedmont.
Many people think the only traditional cheese made in Wales is mild young crumbly Caerphilly, but they’re wrong.
Will travels to Provence in the south of France to try Banon, a traditional benchmark goat's milk cheese wrapped in dried chestnut leaves. He also discovers an ancient cheese called Brousse du Rove, which is rarely seen outside the region.
After travelling to the Alps to look at a seasonal mountain cheese called Bergkase, Will visits a small biodynamic farm to discover how Germany's most popular fresh cheese, Quark, is made.
Will invites his friend Tetsuya Wakuda to accompany him on a tour of Tasmania and to demonstrate a few of his unusual recipe ideas with the local dairy produce. New artisan cheesemakers who have proudly put the country back on this one-hour special features: Bruny Island cheese and wood-fired oysters; artisan cider produced from heritage apples; handmade cultured butter from Elgaar Farm; John Bignell's blue cheese and leatherwood honey; King Island cream and lobster; Heidi Raclette ... and even a wasabi- flavoured cheese.
