Would a breakfast cheese-tasting encourage more students to throw off their duvets for 9am lectures? It’s hard to say for sure, but for those attending the Academy of Cheese’s one-day Associate course, this is how the learning day begins.
A group of around 20 cheese fanciers, myself among them, gather within the perfumed fug of cheesemonger Paxton & Whitfield, one of the academy’s 10 training partners spread across the UK. Outside, commuters stride along Jermyn Street scanning their phones, while we scan the name tags of the flagship store’s 150 cheeses reverently. Paxton’s Hero Hirsh, one of our teachers for the day, asks us which we would like to taste.
Launched in 2017, the not-for-profit Academy of Cheese is the brainchild of cheesemaker Mary Quicke. The irrepressible Quicke – a grandee of British artisan cheese, whose company, Quicke’s Cheese, produces award-winning clothbound cheddars – first conceived the idea while on a cheese-judging visit to the US. Witnessing the excitement of the cohort primed to sit the American Cheese Society’s Certified Cheese Professional exam, Quicke was inspired.
“After the exam, I saw that excitement transferred to cheese stalls, mongers, in restaurants with a cheese sommelier selling their heart out,” Quicke recalls. “I realised that from cheesemaking to retail, the exam was upping the game.”
CHEESE REVOLUTION
Denne historien er fra May 2020-utgaven av The Field.
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Denne historien er fra May 2020-utgaven av The Field.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Going over old ground
Forget modern tractors and minimum tillage - there is something glorious about the sight of farmer, horse and vintage plough in perfect harmony
Return of the natives
There is nothing as satisfying as creating a magical miniature woodland or conservation hedgerow using our native trees - and now is the best time to start.
Tagging the Cornish tunny
Enormous Atlantic bluefin tuna are once again making waves in UK waters almost a century after their showstopping appearance in the North Sea
In it for the long haul
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Don't play it by ear
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Back to base-ics
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Stand and deliver
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Heaven is a High Four
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