The Best Christmas Cheeses 2024
By Edward Hancock
Oct 23, 2024
This year for my Christmas Cheeseboard, I am mixing tradition with innovative which I am really excited about.
Whittling my shortlist down to just five cheeses was tricky, but my final selection includes:
- My 2024 most improved British cheese
- The most awarded cheddar in the world
- A cheese that has bounced back after significant adversity
- A washed rind cheese going from strength to strength
- A seasonal classic blue
First up is my 2024 most improved British cheese, Yorkshire Pecorino Fresco. Mario Olianas has been making this sheep’s milk cheese for a while now, but over the past year it has really come on leaps and bounds. On a recent visit to Otley to visit Mario, I was blown away by the steps he has taken to improve the cheese, and I was so impressed by the end results.
Mario is in a very unique position of having access to local sheep’s milk, all of it coming from just a few miles away each morning. This freshness is crucial in producing a world class fresh pecorino style cheese, the only TRUE pecorino style being made in the UK.
Aged for just a few weeks, It has a wonderful slightly supple texture, and a slightly zingy, milky sweet flavour with a hint of yoghurt tang. It is a perfect way to start a Christmas cheeseboard to revitalise the palate after a rich meal, and get the taste buds ready for the remaining cheeses.
Next up is our hard cheese, and it’s a cheddar this year in the form of Pitchfork, made by the Trethowan brothers in Somerset. Although the newest of the four raw milk, clothbound cheddars made in Somerset, it has taken the world by storm, regularly winning recognition at the premier international cheese awards, and gaining a cult-like following amongst cheddar lovers. Using farmhouse milk, travelling just a few metres from milking parlour to cheese vat, their obsessive ongoing commitment to tiny incremental gains has resulted in a very special cheddar. Aged for a minimum of 1yr, it is farmy, buttery, nutty and creamy all at once. With the most wonderful smooth, lingering, balanced finish. I just had to have this on my cheeseboard this Christmas – and if you have a bottle of red wine open when you’re tasting this (Cabernet Sauvignon ideally) then even better!
Kicking off our two soft cheeses is our brie style Baron Bigod. Fen Farm and Jonny Crickmore made this cheese one of the most famous in the UK by cutting no corners. A raw milk, farmhouse cheese using the milk of Montbeliarde cows, imported from France. The story of the cheese, and its reflection of the terroir and milk quickly made this a rockstar cheese. However, due to unforeseen circumstances entirely unrelated to Fen Farm, they made the decision last year to move to pasteurisation. A huge decision, and one that came with a many complex challenges. Primarily, how to get the cheese back to the same level whilst changing something so significant. For many months, the cheese lost its sparkle. But this year, it has been back to its absolute best, a testament to the ingenuity and skill of the team at Fen Farm. So although Baron Bigod is now a pasteurised cheese, it is back to being arguably the best soft cheese being made in the UK, and perhaps even beyond.
And what is better than a soft, gooey, creamy soft cheese on Christmas Day!
Our second soft cheese is Washington, a cheese we have developed together with Carwyn at Caws Cenarth. As with all my Christmas cheeses it is made using local milk, and then washed in cider. This gives it a beautiful peachy orange rind, and a hit of complex flavour ranging from meaty and bacony to fermented, funky and fruity.
When we get this cheese just right, it has wonderful breakdown in the paste, leaving just a thin chalky layer in the centre.
The flavour, complexity and profile of this cheese is similar to what you might find in a classic French washed-rind cheese like Epoisses or Munster, but with a slightly less sticky rind.
We were absolutely delighted that Washington won 1* at the Great Taste Awards this year, and we are hoping for more success at the World Cheese Awards in November. At its best, this cheese is my favourite cheese in the world, that’s how good it is!
Finally we have the ultimate seasonal cheese for our blue…it’s a Stilton of course!
There are now only 3 remaining Stilton makers in the UK (at the time of writing) and therefore the world! We have blind-taste tested regularly and meticulously over the past 5+ years, and Long Clawson consistently wins when the Stilton’s are put to the test. It is balanced in the bluing, has a wonderful slightly creamy texture as well as the trademark crumble, and carries complex flavours that range from marmite and broth through to peanut and burnt toast.
Stilton is the ultimate seasonal cheese at this time of the year, and there is a reason for that. September (late summer) grass tends to be the best for producing milk for cheesemaking (it is stalky and richer in starch and carbs), and the animals have been on pasture all summer so their digestive systems are well adjusted to the grass. This means the milk they produce in September is A1 for making the best cheese. Stilton is generally matured around 11-12 week, and that takes you to Christmas!
