Mmm … cheese. I’ll take quality cheese over chocolate any day of the week. There are three main places to check out in the Hunter Valley if you share my delight in dairy. Although I must admit, my enthusiasm for cheese looks positively tepid in comparison to Anastasia’s - I was really pleased to see her try everything she was offered; blue, goat’s milk, soft, hard, she’ll try anything.
The Smelly Cheese Shop - is my least favourite of the three. I was only inside the store very briefly this year as our visit coincided with my children being overtired and hungry. From what I recall of previous visits, they seemed to specialise in imported hard cheeses.
The Hunter Valley Cheese Co. - is located next to McGuigan’s Cellar Door. They do a cheese talk once or twice a day, which is pretty interesting, and they have a pretty good range of cheeses (both cow and goat’s milk) to be sampled. I really like their hard blue, especially with quince paste; but the standout this time round was definitely their Brie. Just fantastic; oozy ripe deliciousness! You also must try the ‘Potted and Ported Blue’ - it’s crazy intense, but oh so good.
Binnorie Dairy - is probably my favourite, purely for the unique softer cheeses they have available. Anastasia particularly liked the marinated fettas - they offer both a goat’s milk and a cow’s milk fetta, and she enjoyed both. Their brie is nothing on the HV Cheese Co., but as they have only been making it for a month or so, that may change. My favourites are the ashed goat’s cheese, and the labna, which is a yogurt-based cheese marinated in olive oil, rosemary, garlic and chilli. However, if I have to pick one absolute standout, I can’t go past the ‘Duetto’, which is a gorgeous, creamy blend of marscapone and gorgonzola that simply melts in the mouth. Yum!
Coming next … The Wine Wrap-Up, Hunter Highlights and The Things That Really Matter …
If I comment, this post should stay here and not disappear AGAIN!
So, to something related - I think we finally have a good answer to the Brie/Camembert debate!
You should so be a food reviewer…
Yes all those wonderful cheeses! Who can resist. It’s a shame that more people don’t try their own home cheesemaking–especially since the cost of cheese in the supermarket is astronomical and not all that tasty anyway.
Thanks Sam - although, I’m not sure words such as ‘deliciousness’ are kosher
Still being paid to eat good food does have a certain appeal …
@AODG - I have intended for aaages to make my own cheese, but I got distracted by coffee paraphenalia. One day I will get around to it. I agree re: supermarket cheese, and indeed we rarely buy cheese from mass-producing big companies these days.
I’m quite partial to the washed rind cheese from HV Cheese Co. They also have a vintage chevre that is full-on.
Now that I’m working flat out in the city, I don’t know when I’ll get a holiday.
Oh yeah, the washed rind is fantastic. Can’t believe we forgot about it! The vintage chevre is indeed intense, perhaps a little too much so for me