Cranborne Blue Cheese wins Great Taste Award
Cranborne Blue Cheese, a cow’s milk cheese produced by The Book and Bucket Cheese Company has recently achieved the highest rating of 3 stars in The Great Taste Awards. This is the highest award given and was awarded to less than 2% of entries.
The awards are the world’s largest and most trusted food and drink accreditation scheme, helping to encourage confidence and commercial success for quality food and drink businesses.
The Book and Bucket’s signature Dorset hard cheese, Hardy’s, was also recognised by the awards. This was another highlight as this sheep’s milk cheese was the very first product developed by the company.
The judges highly complimentary comments were as follows:
Cranborne Blue – 3 Star Rating
A handsome looking cheese with a slightly erratic and uneven veining combined with a gently tangy aroma. There is a most enjoyable, gentle flavour here, a touch stronger by the rind. This is the sort of cheese that gets finished off when it is brought to the table. Some tang, some sweetness, a little vibrancy from the blue. The salt level is spot on. All too easy to eat!
Firm to cut, this is creamy and has a wonderful variation of colour. It has a sound depth of flavour with some sharpness and lactic acidity, but is hardly mild – more complex, with those lovely farmyard flavours.
The rind is lovely and clean, the moulding is gentle. This is a crowd pleaser – pleasantly mild and creamy. Gentle lactic acidity. This is a young cheese and would develop as it matures. but for now it is quite delicious.
We love the freshness of the lingering milk and the creaminess of the cheese; the blueing is sound. The cheese is rich and creamy and delivers everything we could ask for.
There’s an appealing craggy grey exterior rind to this cheese, which has a pale ivory paste and blue veining. The cheese offers aromas of pasture and spiciness. The paste has a slight acid tone and the blueing is delicate yet palpable. A delightful balance exists between the creamy milkiness and the spice. A session cheese.
Hardy’s – 1 Star Rating
This handsome cheese with eye-catching rind is both crumbly and creamy, with a fresh and bright flavour. Delicate but moreish, this has the sort of texture and flavour which would make us eat a lot of it.
A very attractive cheese with a yellow ochre rind and a chalky white paste, this slices well. It is a little crumbly in the centre, dry on the palate to start with but as it warms, some very good milky notes develop. The lactic tang is mellow – the whole cheese is delicate, yet the finish is creamy and quite long.
This cheese has a stunning appearance. The rind is beautifully presented with a good variety of moulds and flora growing atop.
The Book & Bucket Cheese Company is a valued tenant of the Cranborne Estate and is a member of both Dorset Food & Drink and Hampshire Fare.
