The cheeses that I love: James Grant

As part of our series, which sees cheesemongers and cheese specialists across the UK unveil the cheeses they love to eat most, Speciality Food chats to James Grant of No2 Pound Street.

Lancashire cheese, Mrs Kirkham’s
I love this because it has very unique, clean, yoghurty, buttery notes. Its longevity is incredible. It’s got that lingering taste. I always say it’s a cheese that gives me a hug if I’m a bit sad. I’ll sit down with a piece of this and be really happy. 

Sparkenhoe Red Leicester, Leicestershire Handmade Cheese Co
Sparkenhoe Red Leicester is incredibly nutty, rich and strong. It’s the perfect melting cheese in a toastie as well. Its lovely earthiness floats my boat. And I love the story behind it – the fact the Clarkes worked so hard to find the most original, old cottage recipe, putting it to where it is today. They’ve done really well putting a very very territorial cheese back on the map where 10 to 11 years ago it was nowhere near the map.

Blackmount, Errington Cheese
This is the most beautiful pyramid of goats’ cheese, made with milk from their single herd. It’s a really rich, unctuous, peppery-on-the-rind cheese with a lovely halo of creaminesss under the rind, and citrussy cheesecake clagginess as you bite into it. It’s gorgeous.

Rachel, White Lake Cheese
Roger Longman’s cheeses are amazing. I think the one that’s had the biggest impact on my customers is Rachel, his goats’ cheese. It’s a Gouda make, which he doesn’t coat with any wax. It’s got this caramel sweetness to it. I’ve convinced so many people who say they don’t like goats’ cheese to try this, and they say it’s amazing. I don’t remember a day when we haven’t had it in the shop. It’s a crazy good cheese.

Biggar Blue, Errington Cheese
A really lovely goats’ cheese, seasonal of course. It’s absolutely gorgeous. Really rich, creamy, delicate, moussy and herbaceous. If you can get hold of it it’s just sublime. Like Rachel, people who say they can’t eat goats’ cheese have tried this and come back for more.

Keen’s Extra Mature Cheddar
This offers a whole spectrum of flavours, from kind of meaty and Bovrilly on the rind, to horseradish, to butter, to candied orange peel. It’s just a brilliant cheese with a great acidity and balance. It’s incredibly ‘Keen’s’ - there’s no other Cheddar like it. If you put Keen’s, Montgomery’s, Pitchfork and Westcombe together – the four Somerset PDOs – out of those four the easiest one to tell as Cheddar is Keen’s. Westcombe is gentle and delicious, Montgomery’s is slightly fudgy, and Pitchfork is a good all-rounder. For me, it’s got to be Keen’s.

Fiore Pecorino and Leeds Blue, Yorkshire Pecorino
Mario Olianas’ Pecorino is incredible. The Fiore Pecorino, the hard one, is really sweet, caramelly, and sheepy all at the same time. He’s very Italian in everything he does, and very passionate about his cheese. It’s so good. I also love the Leeds Blue – a sheep’s milk blue cheese. It’s a bit like clotted cream with blue running through it. When it’s on point it’s just perfect. Such a great cheese.

Duckett’s Caerphilly, Westcombe Dairy
Made at Westcombe by Tom Carver, this is an outstanding Caerphilly which is beautifully cellared on the outside with moulds, a lovely halo underneath, and a citrussy twang in the paste. It’s got a lovely story. The Duckett family handed the recipe over to Westcombe when Chris Duckett wasn’t well. They inherited this cheese and carried it on for him, and they’ve now got a new ageing room for it. They’re working hard to make it famous and it’s such a brilliant cheese.

Young Buck, Mike’s Fancy Cheese
A brilliant raw milk Stilton style cheese. It’s seriously on point and absolutely gorgeous. When you cut into it you get some golden pockets of whey coming through. It’s just a crazy brilliant cheese. I’d work at it like a story cheese, eating the rind, then the paste and the blue, with the syrupy fats coming out. It’s a nice one with a glass of Port or Porter. A rich Guinness style beer goes very well with it.

Golden Cenarth, Caws Cenarth
Carwyn is a legend cheesemaker – such a nice man. He creates all his own stuff in his dairy, and builds his own machines. Golden Cenarth is one I like to put in the oven. I used to give it to my kids when they were smaller, served with grissini sticks, and they’d have these big smiles on their faces as they were digging into it. It is a lovely Christmas cheese. You don’t need Vacherin, have this instead.

Loch Arthur Farmhouse Cheese, Loch Arthur Camphill Community
This Cheddar style cheese needs to be put on the map. Barry is just such a brilliant guy. The work and passion that goes into this cheese is incredible. It’s a community where people with learning disabilities work, and Barry said when we went up there he’d never done a day’s work in his life, which made me kind of emotional. We had lunch with him and it was one of those spiritual kind of moments. Everything they’re doing is just so perfect, from being in tune with the elements and looking after the animals, down to using the proper forks when they’re putting in the hay. It was just gorgeous to watch. That’s definitely a cheese you need to take the time to enjoy.

Baron Bigod, Fen Farm Dairy
Baron Bigod is incredible. It has brassica notes on the rind, some Brussels sprouts and white cabbage. You don’t even know there’s a rind until you bite into this delicious, soft heavenly cheese. It’s just bloody brilliant.