What to eat in England, and around Britain - Cranberry Cheese, Crumpets And More

 Most people worldwide in the English speaking countries have heard of  Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, served on Sundays in pubs and restaurants in Britain.

On weekdays, try Scotch Eggs, a hard boiled egg hidden inside a meatball, served at lunch time in many pubs

From Scotland, we enjoy Scottish smoked salmon, Scottish whisky, Scottish shortbread in supermarkets.

At tea-time, our supermarkets sell scones, crumpets, and Bakewell tart.

Cheese

Famous, favourite English cheeses are cheddar cheese, and blue Stilton cheese. 

But our family favourite is the Cranberry Cheese from Wensleydale in Yorkshire, sold in supermarkets such as Waitrose in London.

If you haven't ever tried cranberry cheese on toast for a mid-morning snack, try some. If you have tried it before but forgotten about it, try it again and re-discover the delicious flavour and nourishing pick-me-up.   

It is fun for a party, a dinner party, or a mid morning snack or mid-afternoon pick me up. Or just to get your going first thing in the morning.

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The Secrets of Blue Stilton, White Stilton, and colourful dreams

I was dreaming not just white and blue but pink and purple after eating white stilton. Why? Maybe because it contained colourful fruits. But there's more. Read on and you'll find out.

Last weekend I had the joy of discovering a new delicious moreish cheese, a white Stilton with dates and cranberries. I must admit I was not aware of the dates, just that it was absolutely wonderful. What a great dessert, for those like me who like to finish with something sweet. White cheese to my mind contains calcium and cleans the teeth (better than coffee which stains your teeth brown). Finally, anything new amuses me.

I set off to search the internet to find the supplier but up pops handy Wikipedia with all you wish to know and more. (I sometimes pop straight to the SimpleWiki which has the essentials and take less time to read.)

For those who never knew, or forgot to mention it, for foreign friends, Stilton does not come from Stilton, not any more. In fact, you are not allowed to make it in Stilton and call it Stilton!

"Stilton is an English cheese, produced in two varieties: Blue, known for its characteristic strong smell and taste, and the lesser-known White. Both have been granted the status of a protected designation of origin by the European Commission, which requires that only cheese produced in the three counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, and Nottinghamshire and made according to a strict code may be called "Stilton". Thus cheese made in the village of Stilton in Cambridgeshire (from where its name was derived in the 18th century) cannot be so-called."

Wiki also gave information on varying tastes. Plus vivid dreams!Consumption[edit]

"Blueberry White Stilton
Blue Stilton is often eaten with celery or pears. It is also commonly added as a flavouring to vegetable soup, most notably to cream of celery or broccoli.[15] Alternatively it is eaten with various crackers, biscuits and bread. It can also be used to make a blue cheese sauce to be served drizzled over a steak, or can be crumbled over a salad. Traditionally, a barleywine or port are paired with Blue Stilton, but it also goes well with sweet sherry or Madeira wine. The cheese is traditionally eaten at Christmas.[16] The rind of the cheese forms naturally during the aging process, and is perfectly edible, unlike the rind of some other cheeses such as Edam or Port-Salut.

"White Stilton" has not had the Penicillium roqueforti mould introduced into it which would otherwise lead to the blue veining normally associated with Stilton. It is a crumbly, creamy, open textured cheese and is now extensively used as a base for blending with apricot, ginger and citrus or vine fruits to create unique dessert cheeses and has even been used as a flavouring for chocolate.[17]

"Huntsman cheese is made with both Blue Stilton and Double Gloucester.

"A 2005 survey carried out by the British Cheese Board reported that Stilton cheese seemed to cause unusual dreams when eaten before sleep, with 75% of men and 85% of women experiencing "odd and vivid" dreams after eating a 20-gram serving of the cheese half an hour prior to sleeping.[18]"

I had a vivid dream, in colour. When we arrived at our destination, we were not sure which house was our number as it was on the corner. In my dream I went to a wine tasting cocktail party, and all the houses were in bright colours with names to match, such as Amber, Emerald and Magenta and Purple and Fuchsia and Light Pink.

When I woke up I thought what a great idea to have your houses all painted different colours with names to match, so visitors and children can find their way home, or to an event, trades people making deliveries faster, too.

However, you would be obliged to keep your house the same colour. No chaining the white house to the blue house or the black house. Change your house from purple to pink and your visitors and post will all go to the strong address.

Was the Stilton cheese the case of my vivid dream? If so, I must eat some more. (That's my excuse! What's yours?)

Nowadays in addition to the traditional strong-tasting blue cheese there's the white. And now the added fruit version.

Tesco stocks white Stilton. For Christmas you can get more expensive and more interesting cheeses.
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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Buying English Cheeses: Supermarkets, Rippon, Paxton and Whitfield, La Fromagerie

Truffle cheese at La Fromagerie.

England is famous for Stilton and Cheddar; France is famous for Brie and Camembert. You can buy these in most supermarkets in England as well as overseas. But there's lots more to buy in London at speciality cheese shops and from online suppliers.

La Fromagerie

I have already found a great walk-in cheese shop which offers you a teeny taste of any new cheese if you are obviously keep to buy - La Fromagerie.

At La Fromagerie I have tried truffle cheese. (The truffles which are mushrooms, not the chocolate truffles.)
La Fromagerie also stock a solid, dry, full flavoured, crunchy salt French cheese called Comte.

Paxton and Whitfield
Paxton and Whitfield supply lovely wooden cheese boards and expensive cheese knives. Great if you are looking for a gift for a host in London or elsewhere.

The Paxton and Whitfield cheese board with their name on it.

Paxton and Whitfield introduced me to a garlicky soft French cheese, Gaperon d'Avergne. Soft, white, full of flavour. Make sure your friends eat it, too, so that they enjoy it and are breathing the same as you!

Rippon

Now I have discovered yet another shop, Rippon, named after the surname of the two founders. They stock another interesting English cheese, Lord of the Hundreds.

English cheese? What does everybody already know about English cheese? Traditional English cheese from the ubiquitous cows in the green fields of England, which you often see from the motorway driving through England. You also see green fields, and cows, on the train in England, as well as in Wales, and Scotland. Britain also has sheep, and lambs in springtime.

Cheddar

Classic cheddar is the English favourite as you can see from the huge selection of Cheddar crowding out everything else in English supermarkets such as Morrisons which started in the north of England supplying food from farmers in England. No wonder they concentrate on what they were originally famous for, British food. You may associate the name of Cheddar cheese with the place name Cheddar Gorge.

The English supermarkets such as Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco, and Waitrose, now supply mature cheddar, which has a stronger flavour, and mild cheddar.  Grated or shredded cheddar, sold in large, self-sealing plastic bags, is a great topping for baked potatoes in their jackets.

You might also know that Stilton originally came from Stilton, which was not where it was made but the nearest pickup point.

Cheesaholics complain that plastic wrapped cheese is 'sweaty', and take long detours to find a speciality cheese shop. But if you are in London it's not much of a detour to three great cheese shops, La Fromagerie near Baker Street station, Paxton and Whitfeld, or Rippon.

The Rippon cheese shop is in Victoria, London, near Victoria station. They stock Lord of the Hundreds, an unpasteurised cheese.

The name Lord of the Hundreds comes from a Saxon Lord, or tax collector who collected from one hundred parcels of land. So I learned from this website:
http://www.finecheese.co.uk/our-cheeses/lord-of-the-hundreds.html

You can also find this cheese on line at a cheaper price if you shop around to read more about it and compare prices. This site says it's a vegetarian cheese. Hm, vegetarian, not vegan.
http://www.traditionalcheesedairy.co.uk/shop/product.php?xProd=7&xSec=14

R i p p o n Cheese, London SW1V 1SW.
(Sorry - I had to separate the letters. I don't believe it - spellcheck has turned the name into the more poplar word Nipon! That means Japan.)

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker. 

Eating English Cheese, Buying Cheese In England, Paired with Wines

  In the nineteen eighties we went to France on holiday and were amazed to be offered an entire trolley of cheese, with cheese from cows on top and goat cheese underneath.
   (The French eat cheese after the main meat course, finishing with something sweet. Dessert, double S, after the service.)
  Traditionally in England you would drink a sherry before the meal such as Harveys Bristol Cream. (You could even have a sherry party, serving only sherry, bread and cheese. It was a stand up party. I soon found I could not stand up after drinking sherry.)

   In England on special occasions in restaurants I was sometimes persuaded to drink sweet muscat at the end of the meal with dessert.
   My favourite sweet wine is now Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise. This wonderful wine has a perfume and strong flavour.

  But nowadays the cheese board as an alternative is becoming increasingly common in British restaurants.
   In England you eat cheese at the end of a meal, after dessert.  The English system was eat the (strong) cheese (stilton) when you pass the Port.

   If you want to try English cheddar, supermarkets stock many varieties. So many cheddars, at the exclusion of other English and French and foreign cheeses, that a member of my family wrote a complaint.
   Other well known English cheeses are the blue Stilton, and red Leicester.



From Wales we get Caerphilly.
   Most UK supermarkets stock quite a few cheeses. You may have to ask an assistant to help you look for them. Popular cheeses are Dutch Edam, with its distinctive red wax covering, and Gouda.


The favourite French cheeses in England are Brie and Camembert.

 From Italy we enjoy Parmesan.
    Cream cheese is dominated by Philadelphia from the USA, now available in the larger supermarkets in savoury flavours such as chives. A recent addition is sweet cream cheese - chocolate flavour!

  Waitrose supermarket has recipe leaflets and a plasticised pamphlet on varieties of cheeses from different countries.


  For In London, however, if you want a speciality cheese shop, you can find a few. From Baker street tube station you can walk across the road outside Madame Tussauds and find La Fromagerie.
   Fromage is French for cheese. So Fromagerie is cheese-seller, like the French word patisserie.
   My favourite French hard cheese is Comte which has a crunchy, salty effect. You can also try and buy goat cheeses.

    Near Piccadilly and Green park there's Paxton and Whitfield. Their shop also sells cheese boards which make good souvenirs or gifts. And cheese knives.

   In Borough Market there's another cheese shop offering tastings.

Angela Lansbury is a travel writer and photographer and speaker.
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