insideSUSSEX Magazine Issue 16 - June 2016 | Page 61

FOOD+DRINK

Sweet dreams
are made of cheese...
As a nation, we chomp our way through some 700,000 tonnes of cheese every year, although
what cheese we’re eating and where it’s made is not something fans of fromage take lightly. Recent
years have seen a significant surge in the amount of cheese lovers who are opting to buy varieties
produced by independent cheese makers across their own county, not least in Sussex - many
varieties local to our glorious county won medals at last year’s British Cheese Awards, including
those produced by Alsop and Walker in Mayfield, and High Weald Dairy in Haywards Heath.

Alsop and Walker

High Weald Dairy

Originally searching for a site on which to open a beef restaurant in London,
Nic Walker and Arthur Alsop chanced upon a dairy for sale in Mayfield, a
large village in the East Sussex countryside. Teaming their farming trade
and cheffing experience, they bought the dairy and started to make cheese.
Today, they are one of Sussex’s most acclaimed cheesemakers and have
developed an exciting range of unusual, creative and innovative cheeses.

Makers of one of Sussex’s best-loved cheeses, Brighton Blue, High Weald
Dairy are based in Horsted Keynes in the High Weald of Sussex, and
make a range of artisan cheeses using pasteurised cow, sheep and goat’s
milk, much of it organic. The bulk of the milk used is supplied by local
farms, although the organic sheep milk is delivered weekly from Dorset.
Sheep milk is very nutritious, with twice the goodness of other milks and
is very easily digested, making it ideal for those intolerant to cow’s milk.
It also happens to make delicious cheese such as Duddleswell, a mature
cheddar-style cheese; Sussex Slipcote, a soft sheep’s milk cheese with
a fresh lemony flavour; and 100 percent sheep’s milk cheese, Halloumi,
which is delicious when grilled or dry fried in slices.

Having always been motivated by the idea of an ‘ultimate cheeseboard’
containing a selection of soft, hard and blue cheeses, their range includes
milder varieties and much stronger flavours for those who like their
cheese to pack a punch.
Nic’s Kitchen is a fantastic melting cheese with cracked black pepper
running through it; The Mayfield is entirely unusual in that it’s the first
whole cheese in the UK with natural eyes in it similar to Swiss cheese;
Arthur’s Spice Road has a fragrant hit of cumin and cloves; and Sussex
Crumble is a creamy cheese with slight citrus undertones and a hint of
nut in an edible rind.

Several cheeses are made from organic cow’s milk, including Brighton
Blue, a creamy, mellow blue cheese; Saint Giles, which is similar to a
continental Port Salut-style cheese; and the very popular Ashdown
Forester’s, a really tasty cheese that’s smoked over oak shavings.
If you fancy yourself as a budding cheesemaker, High Weald Dairy also
run very hands-on, small-scale cheesemaking courses several times
a month, where students learn to turn milk into three different types of
cheese on the day, including a cheddar-style cheese that needs to be
taken home and matured for up to six months until ready.

Learning to understand and make allowances for ever-changing maturing
conditions and differences in the milks from which they make their
cheese, which can vary according to the weather and different feeds,
Alsop and Walker find their knowledge is evolving all the time - as is the
taste and texture of their cheeses - and it’s this that sets them apart as a
truly artisan, independent producer.

High Weald Dairy cheeses can be found in in all good farm shops in
Sussex and Kent.

Alsop and Walker
Coles Hall Barns
Five Ashes
Mayfield
East Sussex
TN21 6JH

High Weald Dairy
Tremains Farm
Horsted Keynes
West Sussex
RH17 7EA

01825 831810
www.alsopandwalker.co.uk

01825 791636
www.highwealddary.co.uk

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