The big cheese on the board

 

Andy Swinscoe, cheese refiner and purveyor

A couple of weeks ago an email popped into my inbox from Andy Swinscoe. He had heard about our exhibition on Yorkshire Food and People at the Gallery on the Green, Settle next year and wrote "I have just opened a specialist cheese shop just outside Settle after working in the industry for some of the most famous cheese mongers in France and England and would like to help with the exhibition in any way I can. Thanks, Andy Swinscoe, The Courtyard Dairy, Settle." 

 

I called Andy and within seconds I knew he had an extraordinary knowledge of fine cheese and his shop was worth a visit. 

 

Its hard to believe Andy is only 26 years old. He seems to have packed so much into his life already. Born just over the Yorkshire border in Appleby, Andy studied Culinary Arts and Hospitality at Sheffield Hallam University and then went to work at the famously grand Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh. It was here he met his partner Kathy Bull and his interest in cheese was tickled as he spent several months looking after the cheese trolley. He went on to work at Paxton & Whitfield cheese mongers to the Queen on Jermyn Street, London and from there was awarded a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship to fund an apprenticeship at the Saint Haon le Châtel caves in the Loire region of France. He spent every weekend during his eight month stay there visiting cheese makers and learning everything he could about how to make and care for cheese. 

The Courtyard Dairy, Settle is housed in a converted stone barn. As soon as a customer walks in through the door Andy pares slithers of cheese from one of the handsome truckles and proffers samples for tasting. As a slither is placed, communion like, on a warm tongue it melts to release wonderful aromas. As the sensation hits your brain you are in danger of becoming hooked. Nothing tastes so good as Andy's perfectly ripened cheese.

 

Dale End Cheddar

I tasted Dale End Cheddar made in Botton Village, North Yorkshire by Alastair Pearson – two sample made 7 days apart. One on 8^th July and the other on 15^th July. I did not realise the difference a few days can make to the flavour of cheese. The weather, the grass, the time of day cows are milked all effect the flavour. Both samples were equally pleasant but the younger was more buttery and less 'grainy'. Alastair only has 46 shorthorn cows and produces one of Yorskhire's finest cheeses.

Interestingly the milk of shorthorn cows is one of the best for cheese making. This breed of cow does not produce a lot of milk but the quality of the butter fat is superb and ideal for this purpose.  

 

Andy stocks a carefully chosen selection of 28 cheeses - twenty regular and eight that change according to their availability and the season. Most are made from unpasteurised milk. 

I adored the Reserve Gruyere de Jura with a rich butterscotch flavour which Andy refers to as "one of my ten mile cheeses because you can still taste them after driving ten miles from the farm on which they were made." 

I fell in love with Corra Linn from Scotland – a Manchego style cheese full of herbacious flavours and made from the milk of the Lacaune sheep, famous for use in making Roquefort cheese. Its lovely heathery flavour would match a fragrant heather honey really well. The cheese is made by Selina Errington and named after Corra Linn, the highest waterfall in the magnificent Clyde Falls. 

Red Leicester

Andy has an engaging manner and a good tutor. I learned so much about cheese in just a couple of hours. For example, that half of all Stilton made is sold in the run up to Christmas and the aging of the cheese is controlled by inoculating the cheese with mold later and holding it at lower temperature for longer compared with other blue cheeses with more year round appeal. 

Or that some cheese is made using bacteria in the atmosphere, rather like sour dough bread. Some French cheese makers ripen cheese in oak where the bacteria naturally present in the wood is used to mature the cheese. Another good example of this is the distinctive character of Roquefort is derived from Penicillium roquefort which is found in the soil of the caves.

One final question I did have for Andy was "Could he explain why he is described as a cheese refiner?" "A refiner is someone who know how cheese matures and how to look after cheese to optimise its quality and taste." "Of course" I thought to myself as I recalled the number of times I have bought or tasted cheese that has not been stored or looked after well. Few people who sell cheese deserve the title of "Cheese refiner" but the young Andy Swinscoe certainly does. 

Read my article about Andy and the Courtyard Dairy in the Yorkshire Post and get some great tips on how to create the perfect cheeseboard and make the best ever twice baked cheese souffle. The Big Cheese on the Board

To find the Courtyard Dairy: follow the A65 to Settle and just before the turn off to Settle on the right you will see a large sign on the left for the Courtyard www.thecourtyarddairy.co.uk

A well chosen cheeseboard. Think about the order you eat cheese from clean and mild to strong and blue

 

Kathy Bull, Andy's partner using a cheese iron to sample the cheese for ripeness.

 

Taking samples of cheese to assess ripening is referred to as ironing.