‘I tried Ilchester’s Christmas cheeses
Christmas is a time for friends, family – and in our house at least – cheese. It’s one of our favourite foods and can be found in most of our meals but to be honest we do usually stick to the main varieties such as Cheddar, Lancashire and Cheshire with the odd bits of Brie and Stilton thrown in. However, when it comes to Christmas[1], it is a time we push the boat out and like to try some of the festive alternatives – especially on Christmas Eve when our supper is made up of as many varieties as we can squeeze onto our serving plates.
So when I was offered the chance to review some of leading cheese producer Ilchester’s festive flavours I was happy to give them a go. I invited my friend along to do the job with me – and we decided to make the most of the experience by following a set of rules as we tasted each one. We started with a small amount of cheese on its own, then followed it with some on a plain cracker to see what it was like both ways.
The new cheeses have been launched in time for Christmas. There are a total of five of them – each with a different festive flavour. Four come in the Ilchester Festive Selection Box[2] which is available from Iceland or Heron for GBP5.
These are the Ilchester Red Leicester Cheese with Cracked Black Pepper; Ilchester Cheddar Cheese with Apple Onion and Sage; Ilchester Wensleydale Cheese with Cranberries and Ilchester Smoke Flavoured Cheddar Cheese.
Ilchester Wensleydale Cheese with Spiced Citrus Fruits and Brandy (L), Ilchester Smoke Flavoured Cheddar Cheese, Ilchester Cheddar Cheese with Apple Onion and Sage (top L-R); Ilchester Red Leicester Cheese with Cracked Black Pepper; Ilchester Wensleydale Cheese with Cranberries (bottom L-R)
Then there is the Ilchester Wensleydale Cheese with Spiced Citrus Fruits and Brandy. The cheese is available from Morrisons[3] priced at GBP1.35 for 100g. We decided to start with the Wensleydale with Spiced Citrus Fruits and Brandy and straight away thought we had found our favourite before even trying the others.
This was rich and crumbly with a strong taste of oranges and brandy which made me think a bit of Cointreau. It was delicious both alone and on the cracker – and something pretty unique as neither myself nor my friend had tasted anything like it before. It was definitely going to be on my shopping list for Christmas Eve.
We then tried the Red Leicester with Cracked Black Pepper and again we both stopped in our tracks. The cheese was smooth and creamy and then just as you got used to it came a pop of black pepper. While the first cheese remained my favourite after much deliberation this one headed into the top spot for my friend.
We then moved on to the Smoke Flavour Cheddar Cheese. Now while I like smokey cheeses my friend doesn’t – however, she was quick to admit this one changed her mind. Again it was rich and creamy and while it had a clear smokey flavour which I found quite strong, she said she felt it was on the mild side.
It just goes to show two people can have completely different taste experiences when it comes to trying different foods.
Ilchester Wensleydale Cheese with Spiced Citrus Fruits and Brandy
So once again we both liked it – especially on a cracker – however this time it failed to challenge our top picks so far. With two left to go, we thought we’d go for familiarity next with the Wensleydale with cranberries. This was less exciting by far than the other three tried so far and while tasty its flavour wasn’t as exciting as the others – not that it stopped us polishing off two lots of it just to make sure!
If it had been the only cheese we had tasted it would have definitely gained higher marks but by now we both felt we had been spoiled and our expectation levels were very high. But just as we thought it was over bar the shouting we turned to the last offering. Neither of us was expecting much from the Cheddar Cheese with Apple, Onion and Sage but boy were we wrong.
Ilchester Festive Selection, which features four cheeses
We both started with a small amount eaten on its own and there was silence apart from the odd “mmmm”.
The cheese was smooth, rich and creamy but what we found amazing was how we could taste each individual ingredient on our palates. We first got the sage, rapidly followed by onion and apple. We both commented on it and as my friend said as we found ourselves deep in conversation about how you could taste the layers of flavour: “I feel like I’m on Masterchef – there are so many flavours and we can taste them all.”
In fact, it was so amazing that we both immediately put it to top spot in our list – and googled to see if it could be bought individually.
Sadly it doesn’t appear to be but then I suppose that means we’ll just have to eat more of the other four flavours as well and to be honest, all were so good that will definitely not be a hardship.