I’ve blogged before about the lengths my friends will go to in search of new cheeses for me. My friend Rachel (yes, we have thought about forming a girl band called The Rachels) found this beauty at Waitrose on a recent trip to Dubai.
Hailing from Wales, The Snowdonia Cheese Company has been making contemporary cheese and more traditional types for several years now. This cheese is perhaps their most popular.
They market it as a “cheddar with attitude” and that is very accurate. So sharp it could cut itself, it has what I call a “drawback factor”. That is “ooooooof that’s sharp”.
It’s made from pasteurized cow’s milk with non animal rennet. It’s coated in wax like many cheddars and at our tasting, it’s creamy and smooth but with that bite I described earlier.
There are quite a few Welsh cheeses I am keen to try and this one was top of my list. Wales has a long traditional of great cheeses. the rolling hills and lush pastures obviously lend themselves to dairy farming.
They also take their cheese VERY seriously and cheese was once used as part of divorce settlements under the laws of Welsh ruler Hywel Dda (aka Hywel the Good).
It was decreed by Hywel that cheeses that were washed in brine went to the wife, and cheeses that were hung up went to the husband.
He ruled around AD942 to AD950 and was a man I could have liked. Except perhaps for his Non-Ironic Hipster style beard.
