Great British Food Awards 2025

Buying good cheese 1 Always ask to taste before you buy: A good cheesemonger will be happy to give you a sliver, and it ensures you’re buying cheese at its best. 2 Look for seasonality: Like fruit and vegetables, cheeses have peak seasons when they taste extraordinary (Vacherin Mont d’Or in winter, for example, or fresh goat’s cheese in spring). We are coming into a wonderful season for cheese. 3 Go beyond the supermarket: Seek out independent cheesemongers or farmers’ markets; you’ll find small-batch, raw milk cheeses with more depth and character. 4 Check the provenance: The best cheeses have a clear sense of place, whether it’s a raw milk clothbound cheddar from Somerset or a pecorino matured in clay from Tuscany. 5 Buy little and often: Cheese is a living product, so rather than stockpiling, buy in smaller quantities and let your cheesemonger cut fresh pieces for you. Creating the perfect cheeseboard On a dream cheeseboard, I always recommend including a variety of styles to keep things balanced and interesting. For me that means • A hard cheese, for structure and depth; something nutty or crystalline. • A soft cheese - creamy and rich, this is perfect for spreading. • A blue cheese to bring boldness and a savoury edge. • A goat’s or a washed rind (stinky) cheese for brightness or funk, depending on the mood. • And then, to finish, I love adding an indulgent showstopper – perhaps a truffle cheese, or something unusual like a cheese you can pour champagne into. It creates a little moment of theatre and gives people something they may not have tried before. Say CHEESE GBF Awards judge and cheese expert MorganMcGlynn Carr shares her top tips on buying and choosing cheese Morgan is the owner of Muswell Hill Cheese Shop, a Sunday Brunch presenter, author of The Complete Cheese Pairing Cookbook andWorld Cheese judge. This year, she judged the Cheese category of the Great British Food Awards, too. greatbr i t ishfoodawards.com 35