Ewe's Milk Cheese and Wine!

I'll begin with a visit I made to a sheep farmer with my brother over 20 years ago, when we visited the Bergerie d'Acremont (website) in the Ardennes (above). We were treated to an array of excellent ewe's/sheep's milk cheeses, including a wonderful hard cheese and a brie-like cheese, some of which I later bought. It was mature, the rest of the people on my train home must have wondered where the aroma was coming from! 😉 Anyway, I bought 4 of the 5 ewe's milk cheeses available on my last visit to Penbuckles (website), bottom image. I'll begin this with the wine accompanying my cheese tasting. From Italy's Biscardo winery near Verona (website), their 13.5% Neropasso, made from partially dried Corvina, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, a deep ruby red wine with a cherry and plum fruity aroma and taste, slightly spicy, smooth and rich, and so easy to drink accompanying the cheese, recommended! 👍

So, to the cheeses, starting with bottom left in my photograph, the Sussex Ewe, which is made by Alsop & Walker 'Artisan Cheese Maskers' (who call this 'Ewe Eat Me' - website), who are based in Mayfield, near Heathfield. It's really nice and tasty, a harder cheese with a slightly nutty flavour that brought a little chill to my cheeks, nice one! Going anticlockwise in the photograph, so bottom right, is the Wigmore, from Village Maid of Berkshire I do believe (website), a brie-like softer cheese, creamy with a very mild slightly sweet taste, and VERY easy to eat! 😁

So, to the last 2 cheeses starting with, in the top right of the photograph, from the more local The Traditional Cheese Dairy at Waldron in East Sussex (website) and their Lord of the Hundreds. A harder ewe's milk cheese, with a slightly nutty taste, quite strong and flavoursome, and again that chill to the cheeks I get from a more mature cheese, I really liked this! 😁 My final cheese, top left in the photograph, was from Devon, the Ticklemore Cheese Company (website), and their Beenleigh Blue. This blue cheese is lighter and sweeter than most blue cheeses I've tasted, but certainly has plenty of flavour, a little creamy, and yet again I got that nice wee chill in my cheeks, nice one! An overall pleasant 'tasting' with a bit more reported at my other blog. 👍

Some Still Closed BUT Some Opening...

Good to see the Bottle of Hastings premises has been taken over (and the same website address!) by another Wine Bar (and coffee) Shop, Hastings Wine & Coffee, 91-92 Queens Road TN34 1RL (website). I shall write more after a visit, plus about buying wine in Hastings, including Penbuckles, which shall also be coming into another blog soon!

Interesting that apparently unsellable building's frontages are being decorated, for example Debenhams (above) and the St Mary in the Castle Restaurant. I recently mentioned that Peacocks closed down 5 years ago (blog), but all that's happened since was immediate redecoration, some other work was done (?), and the doorway was boarded up when a couple of tents set up residence there; I do understand why it was boarded up, and it has happened elsewhere, but is this really the way to sort out housing problems, just push them away?

Hastings Ketchup!?!

I'd never heard of it before, but a text message from Brigitte, an old friend, had me promising to take a bottle up to her and her husband's hotel/bar next time I visit. She had seen a television programme with celebrity chef James Martin using Hastings Lemon Ketchup, so I looked into where I could find some, and it wasn't easy. Indeed, I missed about 3 'brews' worth, as hundreds were seeking out Hastings Ketchup, I was told that a couple had come down from London just to buy some, but were unlucky! It can be bought in Hastings, eg at Penbuckles in the High Street, or at Rock a Nore Fisheries, though today is announced on Amazon as being sold out! But I now have a couple of bottles...   

    

Graham Ainsley, the local resident behind Hastings Ketchup Company, explains why he developed the condiment in 2013, “I was having local fish and chips with my sons and I really fancied lemon with it. I asked the guy in the shop if he had any lemon ketchup and he replied ‘it doesn’t exist’, and it gave me the idea that I could do it myself.”

A mixture of lemons and root ginger, blended with spices, Graham admits there can be misconceptions about the sauce. “People expect it to be sweet or like a lemon curd but it isn’t as the spices add something different to it. I love lemons and wanted it to taste of lemons, but the mix of spice and ginger adds a nice taste dimension.”

Apparently, it can work well with many dishes, as well as with fish & chips, including fish and chicken dishes, spinach soup, halloumi, and with vegetables as an accompaniment, but I'll let Brigitte's husband serve up my first meal with it, as he is a chef, cheers Tom!   

Hastings Ketchup Company website.