Summer Cheese Guide

Summer has officially started, welcoming the beginning of the silly season, sunny barbeques and holidays. Summer is also a fantastic time of the year for cheese, here’s our seasonal guide for the warmer months:

In season:
Locally-made goat’s cheese and creamy cow’s milk cheeses are at their peak at the moment, try Spring View Blue and Holy Goat– two great examples of artisan Aussie cheese.

Festive Entertaining:
If you are planning on entertaining over the festive season, be sure to consider your cheese and beverage pairings, here’s some top tips for popular chilled summer tipples:

• Champagne & Sparkling: Comté and Triple Cream Brie
• Rosé: Goat’s Milk Robiola and Caprino Cremosa with Truffle
• Pinot Grigio: Pecorino Canestrato and Quadrello
• Craft beers: Riverine Blue– a cracking blue vein hand-made with buffalo  milk in the Gippsland region – a must for any festive platter.

We always recommend serving your cheeses at room temperature so the full flavour can be enjoyed – but remember that it won’t take long for your cheese to warm up during summer, usually only 30 – 45 minutes. While your cheese is coming to room temperature, protect if from drying out by covering it with a clean tea towel and a piece of damp paper towel over the top. If your party is going to go for a few hours on a hot day, you can put your cheese platter on top of a container filled with ice to help it stay fresher for longer.

Summer Salad Guide:
We reckon pretty much everything can be enhanced by adding cheese (even martinis, as Beechers Cheese in New York proved a while back). Here’s four of our fave cheeses to add that ‘little something extra’ to your Summer salads:

• Caprinelle: a smooth, firm goat’s cheese that’s delicious in all sorts of salads, from simple mixed leaves to smoked salmon and caper
• Pecorino Calcagno: a great addition to mixed leaf and fresh fig salads, or shave over the top of Carpaccio
• Barilotto: a bit like a creamier version of ricotta salata, this unique cheese is divine on a salad of butter lettuce, roasted peppers and olives
• Truffle pecorino: thinly shave onto a salad of rocket, mixed grains and artichokes

Shopping Tips:
When shopping for cheese during summer, always try to get your cheese back home and into the fridge as soon as you can. Take an insulated bag or esky with an ice pack if you are travelling long distances (or planning a long shopping day) to make sure your cheeses stay at a safe temperature.