Stithians is coming (and not a fat goose in sight!)
Our special edition Stithians cheeses
Whilst we know it is far too early for most of us to be talking about Christmas, we cheesemakers have to think ahead – six to eight weeks ahead as far as our limited edition Stithians cheese is concerned. This winter, we’re going to be selling it in 900g baby truckles direct from our dairy online shop so we’re already in production (with a strict ban on whistling festive tunes in place until December).
Affectionately known as ‘Naked Yarg’, Stithians is made to the same recipe as Yarg but left to mature without being wrapped in leaves resulting in a fresh, young cheese with lemony hints. A semi hard cheese, it has creamy, delicate taste that makes it a delicious and versatile cheese for sharing. We also make Stithians in larger wheels, leaving them to mature for much longer which creates a harder cheese with deeper flavours and more farmhouse in nature.
We will be adding the baby Stithians to our shop page soon!
How to make the perfect lunchbox
Back to work, school, real life – it’s a drag after all that relaxed outdoor living. Experts say you can keep the holiday feeling going by employing the same habits you enjoyed over the summer. If you are anything like us, that means simple, good food with little or no preparation. Think picnic. Apple, Yarg, a chunk of good bread – job done (oh, and young children love to boast that they eat nettles for lunch!)
Stithians – as good as it’s always been
We’re busy making our Stithians cheese in the dairy at the moment (not to say we aren’t equally busy with Yarg and Kern production!) and it struck us that some of you might not be as familiar with it as you are our other cheeses.
This isn’t because it’s new – in fact, it’s a recipe that goes back almost as long as Lynher Dairies itself does – but because we only make it from time to time as a Limited Edition treat. Named after our local village, it’s a lovely fresh semi hard cheese that gains a great depth of flavour as it matures.
Some of you are already in the know, but if you aren’t and would like to try it this winter, do ask at your local deli. We’ll do our best to point them in the right direction to secure a truckle or two.
It’s not ready yet, but think pumpkins, bonfire nights and twinkly street lights and you’ll be about right!
Gold, silver and bronze!
We’re delighted with our latest haul of awards from the Great Taste Awards 2018.
Three stars for Kern, our long maturing black waxed farmhouse cheese, a silver for our nettled Yarg and a bronze for Wild Garlic.
These wins come hot on the back of another three at this year’s British Cheese Awards, again for all three cheeses, Take another bow, please, Lynher cheesemakers!
A Yarg kind of summer…
We have long been on a campaign to banish plastic cheese from the British picnic …and the British barbecue come to that. It really has no place when a cheese as delicious and easy to get hold of as Yarg is available.
Its low melting point makes it an ideal cheese to melt over burgers, and as far as popping a slice between two pieces of home made bread goes, why wouldn’t you?
We’ve been building an extensive database of stockists so if you are having any difficulty finding Yarg in your area, wherever in the UK that might be, give us a ring at the dairy on 01872 870789 or email us at sales@lynherdairies.co.uk and we will point you in the right direction.
If it’s a large party you’re planning, then buy a whole truckle or two of nettled or wild garlic straight from our dairy, by going to our Shop page. They sit too prettily on a cheeseboard to go unnoticed.
Enjoy the sunshine!
Gold, Gold, Silver, Bronze!
Nope, not a child’s playground skipping game but our latest haul of awards from the British Cheese Awards 2018.
Our nettled Yarg won not one but two Golds – one for the traditional recipe and the other for the vegetarian variety. Wild Garlic scooped a silver and our new cheese Kern was awarded a bronze. Take a bow, please, Lynher cheesemakers!
The British Cheese Awards are held in Somerset at the Royal Bath and West show ground, and showcase more than a thousand cheeses from all over the UK.
What does it take to be a cheese judge?
Lynher Dairies owner Catherine Mead and dairy Director Dane Hopkins both know the answer to that often asked question, having judged at both national and international level. Their senses for a great cheese are well honed!
Now chair of the Specialist Cheese Association, Catherine’s knowledge of the many different cheesemaking processes is invaluable.
“Taste, texture, aroma and appearance are four good places to start when it comes to considering a good cheese,” she explains. “A great artisan cheese has to tick all boxes. Flavour is obvious, but texture plays an important part in the enjoyment. Smell too – in some cases, the smellier the better. And not all cheeses are breathtakingly pretty, but for us, a naturally occurring mould is a beautiful thing!”
A little birdie tells us…
Yarg comes wrapped in waxed paper
Maybe not a little birdie but a spot of market research has revealed something we didn’t realise and that is that quite a lot of you have heard of Yarg and would like to try it but don’t know where to go to buy it. This is a terrible state of affairs!
Yarg is actually widely stocked in the UK, from delis and fine food shops to local farm shops and Michelin starred restaurants. If it isn’t offered by your favourite artisan cheese seller, then please do ask someone behind the counter to get some in! We sell to wholesalers up and down the country so can help with supply. Yarg can also be found in Waitrose and other selected stores.
Please call us at the dairy on 01872 870789 or email us at sales@lynherdairies.co.uk if you need any further help.
Look out for us at food fairs and agricultural shows too. And if you want a beautiful baby truckle (around 900g) as soon as possible, then simply go to our Shop page, place an order and we will do the rest.
If you go down to the woods today…
…you might well see swathes of glossy, green wild garlic leaves but you probably won’t see any of our Lynher Dairies leaf-picking team at work because we forage in out-of-the-way places where we know the best leaves will have grown untouched, and mostly unseen, by human activity. We can’t use torn or trodden-on leaves, nor do we want anything that might have been exposed to any traffic fumes or other pollutants so we really do have to hike off into the great Cornish beyond. But we need to hurry – the wild garlic loses its beautiful deep colour all too quickly, and once the flowers arrive, we’ve had it.
This winter (as we all know!) has been a long and cold one, and that has an effect on the leaves we pick. Size matters, with nettle leaves in particular. Too small a leaf and the traditional concentric circle our skilled nettlers employ to wrap our Yargs in is impossible. Gathering thousands of the very best leaves in what is a fairly tight time scale is no easy task.
We owe Nature a great deal, but let’s hear it for our pickers too!
Who do you love enough?
January is all about making heart-shaped Yargs for Valentine’s Day here at the dairy. Each heart takes 5-6 weeks to mature so we have to start thinking romantically much earlier than the rest – but time is fast running out even for you. Last orders by Feb 11th please (but maybe don’t leave it that long…). Visit our shop page to secure your heart’s desire!