Cheese Tasting Time

Sorry no photos this time.....and that's because we ate it or I rewaxed the leftovers before I thought about putting it on my blog! The other night when Jennie came home for a surprise Easter visit, we thought we had better have a cheese tasting session. The Pyrenees with mountain pepper, Cotswold and left over Wensleydale were on the chopping board. First cab off the rank was the Mountain Pepper Pyrenees, made in early January so now almost 4 months old. It was very crumbly but the mountain peppers gave it a lovely flavour - big tick of approval. Next the Cotswold, made in March so only just over a month old. This one was flavoured with dried onion and chives which gave it flavour however, the recipe had no salt in it - direct added or via brine so it was a really weird taste. The texture was quite nice - sort of like a gouda but not sure I liked the salt free version. I checked the recipe in Artisan Cheeses that I followed and I hadn't made a mistake, no salt. I wonder if it was a typo as there is no other recipe in the book that is salt-less. The Wensleydale, we first tried in January at one month old so now it is (or rather was) 4 months old -   tick for flavour and texture. I will have to do that one again as we have none left in the cave anymore. The Gremmental is now in the cheese cave having sat out for 3 weeks in a warm room. It didn't explode but those big cracks are still there. Have to wait a few months to see what happens.