This week’s Cheese of the Week is Quicke’s Oak-Smoked Cheddar. I love smoked cheese and it’s great to come across one of the few that is naturally produced.
What type of cheese is it?
A pasteurised grass-fed cow’s milk clothbound cheddar, oak smoked with oak chips from trees grown on the Quickes estate in Devon. Large wheels of 12-15 month old cheese selected for a particular flavour profile are cut down to smaller pieces so that the smoke can penetrate the cheese. They are then cold smoked for 4 hours.
What flavours does it have?
An exquisitely smokey, mature farmhouse cheddar that offers outstanding depth of flavour. Sensuously smoky taste, followed by a wonderful creaminess with spicy caramel notes. The smoke also colours the cheese a pale golden brown.
What would you drink with it?
I would drink it with a rich, dark chocolate stout or porter as the sweet notes would be an ideal complement to the cheese. A Sadlers Ale Mud City Stout or Vocation Naughty and Nice Stout would be perfect. I’d also be tempted to try it with a Rauchbier as I love smoke flavours but it might be a little much for most people! If you must have wine then a Pinot Noir would probably work.
How would you serve it?
This has enough flavour to stand on its own and makes a great addition to a cheeseboard. It also adds a wonderful flavour dimension to a macaroni cheese with leeks.
Where does the name come from?
This cheese name is very much what you see is what you get!
Who makes it?
This cheese is made by Quickes. The Quicke family from Devon has been farming at Home Farm, near Newton St Cyres in Devon for over 400 years.
Milk for production comes from their own cows. The mostly Friesian herd are rotationally grazed for ten months of the year across 290 acres of rich pasture, which results in very high quality milk that makes wonderful cheese.
Available from https://www.quickes.co.uk/collections