More than 10 years after launching the brie-style Baron Bigod, Suffolk cheesemaker Fen Farm Dairy is taking inspiration from France once again with a new cheese.
Rædwald is a new seasonal washed rind cheese, which is similar to the famous PDO-protected Haute-Savoie cheese Reblochon, that is used to make Tartiflette.
The cheese is named after an Anglo-Saxon king who may have once worn the famous mask found at the Sutton Hoo burial mound in Suffolk. It will only be available between January and March when there is a surplus of rich winter milk from the farm’s herd of Montbeliarde cows.
It follows in the footsteps of the hugely popular Baron Bigod, which is based on Brie de Meaux and was launched when the Bungay-based farm started making cheese in 2013.
Like Reblochon, Rædwald will be packaged with wooden disks on either side to protect the rind and will even carry a green logo similar to the ones seen on French cheese to denote ‘fermier’ (farmhouse) production.
“I learned from Baron Bigod that cheesemongers like a clear, strong story,” said Fen Farm co-owner Jonny Crickmore. “We’ve tasted Reblochon in the Savoie that has been incredible, but we haven’t found one that has been as good back in the UK.”
The pasteurised cheese, which weighs 1.2kg (more than twice the size of Reblochon), is washed twice in brine to create a bronze-coloured rind over its 4-5 week maturing period. It can be served on a cheeseboard or in hot dishes, such as Tartiflette, said Crickmore.
“It’s one of my favourite dishes, so we’ve come up with our own version called Bungayflette, with hot, stretchy Rædwald and potatoes.”
Cheese for cooking has been a big trend in supermarkets recently with sales of baking cheeses, especially camembert, growing rapidly. Tesco reported earlier this year that it had seen a 500% increase in sales of baking cheeses since Covid, a trend that Crickmore said could benefit both Baron Bigod and the new cheese, although he made it clear he intends to remain loyal to the independent trade.
“We could sell to a big supermarket, but we don’t want to sell out beyond the existing customers we already have who have a similar mindset to us,” said Crickmore. “By launching the new cheese it means we can hopefully grow with the people we already supply.
This article first appeared in the December edition of Fine Food Digest
