In order to make sure your fabulous cheese tastes at its very best on Christmas Day, it’s advisable to do a couple of things: Sometime around the 21st-23rd December, ‘clean’ and re-wrap your cheese To keep it as fresh as possible, give your cheese a quick scrape on all over the cut faces with a clean sharp flat-bladed knife (as shown) to remove any ‘gloss’ or any surface mould, then re-wrap tightly, ideally in fresh greaseproof or wax paper or cling film. Store your cheese in the fridge Keep it wrapped in fresh greaseproof or wax paper or cling film and either leave within the delivery box (closed) in the fridge, or transfer it to a sealable plastic container with a layer of kitchen towel or a ‘jiffy’ cloth at the bottom. Serve your cheese at room temperature Remove it from the fridge a few hours before the big reveal! Your cheese will taste at its best within 10 days form delivery, if you haven’t finished it by then…   Find out more fascinating facts about cheese – simply sign up to The Courtyard Dairy monthly newsletter for regular exciting offers and interesting info from the cheese-world.  Sign up here.

How do you match beers with cheese? Does it really work? And is beer as good as, or better than, wine or port with cheese? There are certainly particular styles of cheese that benefit from pairing with beer rather than wine but the reverse is also true. The ascendancy of craft beer, introducing a much wider spectrum of flavours, has given cheese lovers a lot more to play with when choosing what to drink with their cheese. John Kelly knows a few things about beer having been heavily involved with the early importing of American-style IPAs (bringing Sierra Nevada to these shores!) that have now become a mainstay of the current beer revolution. He went on to become managing director of Kirkstall Brewery, and is one half of the Yorkshire beer-power couple (his wife, Christa Sandquist, is operations manager at the brilliant brewer Magic Rock). So it seemed appropriate that The Courtyard Dairy should ask John to find the perfect match for each style of cheese they offer. “There are no hard and fast rules, so no-one should ever feel embarrassed because they decide they like a certain beer with a particular style of cheese. There are, however, a few…

What should I be drinking with my cheese?  It’s the age-old question whenever the cheese board is pulled out… Well, with two Michelin stars, five AA Rosettes and many other accolades including ‘Restaurant of the Year 2019’ (National Restaurant Awards) the team at Moor Hall know a few things about matching food and wine.  So it seemed appropriate that The Courtyard Dairy should ask Moor Hall’s Head Sommelier, Ben Robinson, to find the perfect match for each style of cheese. “It is a question I get asked daily, and unfortunately, there is no straightforward answer. There are, however, a few simple rules that will allow you to get the most enjoyment out of your cheese.” “Firstly, I propose you approach the topic with an open mind and consider that the tradition of red wine with cheese is, usually, a terrible idea! Bear that in mind and you can’t go too far wrong. As with all food and wine pairing, first you must decide what is going to be the star of the show.  If you want the cheese to stand out, you must select a wine with a little less character that will allow the cheese to shine.  If the…

With interest reviving in food in the last twenty years, two particular industries in the UK have flourished: artisan cheese and craft beer.  And what better way to enjoy these two classic British foodstuffs, by sampling them together!

Cheese is often associated and matched to wine.  Yet beer’s naturally hoppiness and crispness can….