The Big Five

Description

Want to taste all of our cheeses? The Big Five hamper lets you do just that and will provide you with: 

1/  Renegade Monk, a soft, blue, organic cow’s cheese, drunkenly washed in ale.  It is a multi-award winning cheese, including Supreme Champion at the inaugural Virtual Cheese Awards in 2020, Gold at the Mondial du Fromage in Tours in 2021 and Class Chamion at the British Cheese Awards in 2024.  

Using artisan techniques on a newly developed recipe, Renegade Monk is made from organic, pasteurised cow’s milk while the set curd is then hand washed in organic ale every few days as the cheese matures. Maturation takes no more than four weeks.  

Cheesemaker, Marcus Fergusson, deliberately created a cheese of a style not traditionally found in Britain – but rather a cheese inspired by a range of Continental cheeses. It is most often compared to an Epoisses, but with an added hint of (occasionally visible) blue. 

2/ La Fresca Margarita.  An organic “queso fresco” inspired by our travels in Spain, and Latin America.  It is available Salted and Unsalted.  It’s a lemony, fresh cheese, which is equally good drizzled with honey (as developed by our friends at Durslade Farmshop with their homegrown Somerset honey) and figs (the unsalted version), or used as a filling in a Mexican tacos (the salted one).  It was Supreme Champion at the Virtual Cheese Awards in 2021 and got two stars in the Great Taste Awards 2024. People are telling us it makes the most divine cheesecakes as well.  We say it really is best eaten within two weeks of make, though it will last longer.  

3/  Rebel Nun. The sister cheese to Renegade Monk (pun intended). More Penicillium Roquefortii is used in the recipe and it is washed less often than Renegade Monk, resulting in a more pronounced mineral blue in the taste, with less of the funky washed-rind taste. It is generally perceived as being milder than Renegade Monk – although with the increased quantity of blue culture, this is something of a moot point! Rebel Nun was class champion at the 2022 Artisan Cheese Awards and received two stars at the Great Taste Awards 2024.

4/ Gert Lush is our Somerset version on the classic bloomy white-rinded cheese such as Brie or Camembert. It was awarded a gold at the Artisan Cheese Awards in 2022, gold in the British Cheese Awards 2024 and class champion at the Virtual Cheese Awards 2024.

5/ Lucky Marcel – our newest cheese (and currently not fully branded), Lucky Marcel is our homage to two of our favourite French cheeses, St Felicien and St Marcellin (the name is an Anglicised portmanteau of the two). It is a yeast-ripened, lactic, vermiculated cheese and is delicious eaten fresh when the paste is slightly firmer or, if you choose, leave it a little longer and the interior will become more liquidy and the taste a little stronger. Wild blue moulds sometimes appear on the rind – but they are totally harmless.

The Recommended Retail Price of each of these cheeses is £6-12 depending on where you buy your cheese (hello Mayfair…) so with nexy day delivery the hamper represents excellent value – although you will also receive:

6/  One Pack of Biscuits – with a recommended Retail Price of £2.80.   

We pack all this in an insulated eco-box, with ice-packs – please recycle and re-use where you can.  And post to you for guaranteed next day delivery.  

You can specify a future date you would like this delivered when you order in the Notes section.  We run deliveries from Tuesday – Friday inclusive.