The cheeses that I love: Ned Palmer

Cheesemonger Ned Palmer this year published his third book, A Cheesemonger’s Tour De France. Here he reveals which cheeses would make it onto his dream board.

1. Cheddar, Montgomery’s Cheese

I think that if you say Cheddar is one of our most generous gifts to humanity, people might consider you a bit odd – especially if they’ve only had that plastic-wrapped block Cheddar.  Proper Cheddar, the type I love, is the clothbound variety. It would kill me to try and pick a favourite, but I guess it would be Montgomery’s if you really forced me to. Or Keen’s. I love how intense it is. Super savoury with a bite. And then you’ve got Pitchfork, which is refined and delicate. Monty sits somewhere in the middle of those. It’s got a lovely colour, a really deep and earthy flavour – the perfect example of Cheddar.

Montgomery’s has that lovely history behind it. I really appreciate its provenance. Thinking about why I love Cheddar so much, I’d say it’s because of the delicious complexity it has – something I really seek out in cheese. Also, it’s balanced and versatile. You can have it in a sandwich, or a ploughman’s, it makes a great cheese sauce. I think of it as a glorious jewel of the cheeseboard. I love the expression people get on their face when they try really good Cheddar like this for the first time!

2. Gorwydd Caerphilly, Trethowan Brothers

I’ve chosen this partly because Todd (one of the brothers) is the reason I’m a cheesemonger. I was between jobs in 2000 and he asked me to come and sell cheese on Borough Market. A couple of months later he got me a job at Neal’s Yard Dairy. There I found a true love for territorials, which are a uniquely British style. They have real restraint. They’re not all showy. But the more you get into cheese, the more you realise how good territorials are. It’s important to get people to see we have this very special product here. Gorwydd is a favourite because it’s totally unlike any supermarket Caerphilly. It has three different textures – that crumbly fresh centre, then the creamy breakdown around that, and the rind. It’s magic.

3. Parmesan

When I really think about the cheeses that are important to me, I have to include Parmesan. I want it for risottos and pasta and so much more. I like it at 24 months when it’s almost fudgy, a bit moist and has that lovely pineapple flavour and crunch. At 36 months, personally, I think it’s gone a bit too far. I want a balance of flavour in my Parmesan. Something I can shave to have with a crispy pair, or alongside a glass of Prosecco.

4. Feta

It has to be real, barrel-aged feta. Made with mixed milk from sheep and goats it has more piquancy and bite. It’s lovely and sharp. I think Feta is one of those cheeses where the PDO works. PDO Feta is always going to be perfect. But if I can get to Maltby & Greek, their cheeses are amazing. They have a 12-month Feta which is just so intense.

5. Comte

I choose this for the same reason as Cheddar - because it’s absolutely delicious, straightforward and versatile. Also, Comte and ham sandwiches are the best thing ever! Comte is amazing. It just lends itself to melting, with that lovely elastic texture. I go for a 24-month version. It’s fruity and sweet. It’s a can’t-live-without cheese for me.

6. Ossau-Iraty

What really fascinates me is that this is a universal style of cheese to the Mediterranean. These types are really ancient. So, Homer mentions Polyphemus the Cyclops is a cheesemaker, and the description in The Odyssey is so clear. You know he’s making a hard-pressed cheese in the style of Ossau, Pecorino or Manchego, thousands of years ago. I think that’s so cool. I love this cheese for its sweet fruity flavour. For me, hard sheep’s milk cheeses need to have a tropical fruit note to them. And this is the main style that I want.

7. Munster

I realised recently washed rind cheeses are my favourite style. I can’t live without them and their funky, intimate, edgy flavour and luxurious texture. I do see them as the naughty cheese of the cheeseboard, or the ‘problem child’. If I were to choose one it would be Munster because it’s so endearingly mental. As it ages its become more florally and orangey-pink and strong, but it’s the paler ones I think that tend to be the most freaky. Sometimes you’ll get a grapefruit soda flavour, or a grapey wine flavour. How can that be in a cheese?

8. Stilton, Colston Bassett and Cropwell Bishop

Always Colston Bassett, but also recently I’m enjoying Cropwell Bishop a lot. The way they’ve worked on ripening their cheese and managing O2 levels in their cheesemaking rooms (being a bit geeky) gives everything I love in a Stilton. It’s the creamy texture and complexity of Stilton that does it for me. It’s got malted biscuits, and umami, and a 70s bubblegum flavour. You get all of that in these cheeses.

9. Crottin

When I have a Crottin, I don’t want to taste the goatiness. I want it to be there, but I don’t want to think it’s too goaty. This cheese is all about balance. I love the softness of texture and the rind. There are different ages, and six distinct styles of affinage or ages. You can have a really really young Crottin, fresh without the rind, and then they’re matured on in earthenware pots. I think Crottin gets its name from horse or animal dung.

If you look at the marketing it will tell you it’s the name of a watering hole in the local dialect, but when I was there and went to see it I found it means ‘little pot’ and when you look at old Crottin, the final age, they are like little brown lumps – it’s a peasant cheese, and I consider this a kind of robust, rustic humour. Age is something British consumers don’t seem to be as alive to in cheese. You don’t see British cheesemongers selling the same cheese in different ages apart from perhaps a couple of ages of Comte, Parmesan or Cheddar. Whereas in France you’ll see five Crottins and nine identical-looking Tommes that are all different.

10. Brie de Meaux, Fromagerie Donge

Baron Bigod is excellent. I love it. But the Donge Brie is amazing. It’s so perfect for me. The colour of the paste is a beautiful gold. And the cheeses are fat, with lovely rumpled rinds and flecks of orangey-pink. It goes so well with a glass of Champagne because a good Brie has fresh, yeasty notes. When I was in Brie country for my book I found they have it with rose jam.