Moorland Monster

Botton Village is a Camphill  Village Trust that adheres to a Steiner philosophy. They farm biodynamically and are a holistic community providing opportunities and living for 70+ residents with learning disabilities (often Aspergers, autism, etc.). The community has four farms which supply it, one being a dairy farm which has 46 traditional Dairy Shorthorn cows (a Northern breed, renowned for giving rich milk), feeding on the diverse, rich biodynamic (organic) pasture. Farmed un-intensively these animals have long lives and are only milked once per day. The milk goes on to be made into a range of cheeses (and Yogurt) at Botton Creamery in the community, and is also sold as raw milk.
The most recent cheese to be developed there is a Yorkshire ‘Munster’ style. Based on French and German recipes, Alastair uses cultures from Germany (often used to make Limburger) and makes a soft cheese that is then repeatedly washed on the outside over four weeks to give it it’s dark orange hue and robust flavours.

Nutritional Data (typical values, per 100g):
Energy 1679kj/405kcal
Fat 32.1g
(of which saturates) 19.8g
Carbohydrates 6.2g
(of which sugars) 0.1g
Fibre 0.1g
Protein 23.7g
Salt 2.1g

Weight: 150g+.

What weight to buy?
100g of cheese per person for consumption after a meal.  For comparison, 250g is similar in size to standard pack of butter.

Cheese care and shelf life:
The cheese you receive will have been cut fresh for you from a large truckle on the day of dispatch, to ensure it will be at its best!  At The Courtyard Dairy there’s no pre-cutting and vac-packing or waxing, and that’s guaranteed!
To ensure your amazing cheese stays at its best, please follow this care advice:
Storage-wise, a fridge is a mixed blessing because although a fridge is cold and will prevent your cheese from spoiling quickly, it can taint the cheese and make it dry out quickly.  To prevent this, the best thing is to wrap your cheese tightly in waxed paper (if you need more you can buy it here), and then store the wrapped packages in a plastic box inside the fridge.
Remove your cheese from the fridge in enough time for it to warm up to room temperature before you eat it (at least one hour) – this will really help bring the flavours out, but leave it wrapped until you are ready to serve it (unwrapped cheese dries out faster than wrapped cheese).
If you don’t eat your cheese all in one go, re-wrap it and store it in the fridge again.  Then, when you next want some, give the cut edges a ‘clean’: take a flat bladed knife and give the cut cheese faces a gentle scrape all over to remove the gloss that has formed .
Your cheese is at its best if eaten within twelve days although it will last a little longer before it loses its full complexity of flavours – so try to eat it up sooner rather than later!