As most chefs are, I am a big lover of cheese. This obsession, I would guess started with those little plastic wrapped Kraft cheese slices that I used to eat as a child, blindly thinking that it was actually cheese.

Then came the culinary education and the lightbulb went off, that all we see in here is not what it truly is. Companies like Cowgirl Creamery (in NorCal) were able to get great, heirloom cheeses to chefs like myself in the bay area, opening up doors to tastes and cheeses we could only imagine.

Farmhouse cheddar is one of my favorite cheeses. Partly because it resembles nothing of the cheddar cheese I ate as a child. Gone is the funky yellow/orangeish color, the pasteurized milk and lame flavor profile. Farmhouse cheddars are a traditional English cheddar that, much like the wines of France, have their own PDO or protected destination of origin. Like sparkling wines from regions other that the Champagne region cannot use the term Champagne, the PDO limits the use of the term West Country Farmhouse Cheddar, the true name of this cheese. WCFC are only produced in the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall in Southwestern England.

The cheese that I am so infatuated with is Keen’s Cheddar, Neal’s Yard. This cheese is made entirely by hand, using raw milk from their own herd 250 Friesian cows in Somerset, England. The cheese I picked up in the image above is a very dry, ultra-sharp cheddar that had a crisp, nutty flavor along with some more traditional cheddar flavors. Keen’s makes other types of cheddar and is known as makers of creamy cheeses, but the cheddar I found is over the top. Full of flavor and aged for over a year, this is, IMO the cheese to beat.

Want to get your hands on some of this great cheese? Follow this link to the online store and buy 8 ounces for your next party and really blow your guests mind!

Buy Keen’s Cheddar Here!

chefRob