GrumpyGrapefruit, were you on World Radio Switzerland just the other day talking about British cheese in CH?

(Funny how you swung by Cham and saw me and the dog, and I switch on the radio and heard whom was probably you.)

I'm going to have to swing by your place sometime and check it out and have my American palatte properly educated apropos cheddar. There are some good artisanal cheese makers in the Pacific Northwest and one of them makes a chipotle cheddar that I love. (looks like they dust the curds with chipotle powder before making the cheese out of it or somrthing). I know. That's probably a sin or something.

Mr Grapefruit! I've got a question for you:

I seem to have acquired several kilos of cheese, which, while being aromatic, delicious and very pleasing to the eye, is taking up so much room in the fridge that I have to climb in round the back with crampons just to get at the salad cream.

As you can imagine, since no meal is complete without a good dollop of salad cream, I'm rather keen to organise the storage of my cheese more effectively, creating some space to ensure easier access through the door, like normal people.

Would you recommend, therefore, that I freeze the cheese? You know, a couple of weeks in the freezer, then out for a quick defrost before serving it up to my guests with a few walnuts and figs...

What do you reckon?

Mr Grapefruit,
The lovely cheese disappeared quickly, and now I am out of that wonderful Brandy butter. When are you coming to the French part of Switzerland ? pretty please with cheese sprinkles on top ?

You make cheese into a fairy tale

Great interview

We brought home yummy cheese from the expat-expo. But we have no idea what the Irish one is called.

Except that it will be soon called "gone". One month until Luzern Christmas market and more cheese.

I'm not grumpygrapefruit but,

You can't freeze cheese. I recommend you eat it. Failing that, put it in cloth or wax paper, into the cupboard, and eat soon. Also salad cream is a moody cross between salad dressing and mayo and is not recommended.

I beg to differ.
You can indeed freeze cheese - but I believe whole chunks crumble when you thaw them. I've never tried it.

However, I always have small packets of grated cheese to go onto spaghetti dishes in my deep freeze and I usually have one or two large packets of grated cheese for fondue too - not to mention the Mozzarella I keep in case I want to make a pizza sometime.

It's not a habit for the purists and I sure wouldn't do it with my precious Shropshire Blue but with Swiss Fondue cheese it works fine.

__________________
Longbyt

That is indeed what happens in my experience, and I would certainly not recommend freezing cheese of the quality that Mr Grapefruit sells. It would be an absolute tragedy.

Michael is in Luzern this Saturday (21) at Vintage and Vine in Kauffmannweg 17 just off the Pilatusstrasse from 1pm to 4pm if you need to replenish stocks...

Crikey, where's all this talk about freezing cheese come from? A very good customer of mine told me yesterday that she was told by a work colleague that I freeze my cheese, apparently you can tell because my cheese is "crumbly". This will happen, much like a wet porous rock will crumble apart after freezing. We're not sure where this colleague got this from but we intend to find out.

Can I state here that we never freeze cheese, we have a massive walk-in cold room and an old cheese maturing cave under the mountain in Sargans and we have no need to ever resort to freezing (and if we did we wouldn't sell it afterwards but use it for our own sauces). Clearly I have upset the person who started this rumour either with bad service or a piece of inferior cheese. I just wish that person had come to me with their complaint rather than starting this damaging rumour as I always replace cheese that people don't like (even if it is in perfect condition but just not to their taste) with something more suitable for them.

If anyone tells any of you that I do freeze cheese, please put them right and tell them to get in touch with me.

So, Mr Breakfast. You can actually freeze cheese (in terms of food safety) but as I say above, you do ruin the structure of the cheese (although the taste is usually not affected so can be used for cooking). May I suggest that you squirt your salad cream into ice cube trays and freeze those portions to free room in your fridge for the more important curdy delights? When you are ready to use, plop a couple of cream cubes in a ramekin and thaw out in a bain-marie into which a little rose water has been added (organic preferably). Once thawed throw in the bin as being good for nothing.

Thanks so much. Can I use that quote? No more bookings in the French part at the mo, we will be in Bern on Sunday Dec 6th if that's not too far from you. I'll post an event here later this week for that day.

The cheese is called Shandrum from Co Cork, a medium pressed cows milk cheese. It is very nice and I will try to get more in the spring. I do have about 1 Kg left and will bring it to Vintage & Vine on Saturday, if you want some I'll put your name on a piece!

As well as being at Vintage & Vine in Luzern on Saturday afternoon (with lots of great wine to taste), I will be at the Britshop in Root on the Saturday morning so you can pick up some Stilton and Shropshire as well as the Godminsters and Black Bombers that Britshop stock. Their new warehouse is like a mini supermarket so you can also take home lots of other food from home.

Finally, the Zürich HB market tomorrow from 10.00 - 20.00 is the last one this year before the Christmas market starts. Plenty of Stilton & Shropshire as well as Black Bombers on offer. The market starts again mid January when we will be moving to a bigger corner plot and we will then have permission to sell real ale in the station from Spiffing Ales and the Rappi Bier Factory. Thanks again to everyone here for making the market a great success for us!

If Mr Dougal finds it difficult to choose between exquisite high-quality imported cheese and super-sized jars of Migros Budget salad cream, might I suggest that he consider the simple and obvious option of purchasing a second refrigerator or replace his with a larger one. One should never have to wrestle with such dilemmas when it comes to food.

Sorry, I seem to have missed these posts...

Thanks for coming into Jelmoli and glad you like our stuff (and really, I don't try to sell, I guess my enthusiasm and the quality of the product has that effect). It was a very good day, Jelmoli ordered what they thought would last them a month. We sold 70% of it in 2 days so they are quite happy!

End of May or June next year we will have a permanent market at the new Viadukt. 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Next to us will be Spiffing Ales and the Pie Shop and a guy selling Highland Beef. The management are calling our group of stalls "The British Aisle"

Don't forget also that our best sellers will be in Jelmoli all the time and I will be in store 2 days a month to promote the cheeses, we also plan to keep on the HB Market stall, not sure how we will manage yet though.

That was me and you can hear it again on the link that Nicky posted (the radio button is just under the video). I have to say that 3 minute live radio interview was the most nerve racking thing I have done.

I'm guessing Chipotle is some sort of chilli? There are chilli flavoured cheeses (the Red Devil is a chilli version of our Black Bomber that I import for one customer here) - it's not really my thing, I would rather have the real cheddar cheese with some chilli sauce or jam on the side, then at least you know what is going into it. We haven't been down to Ticino yet but we would love to, let me know if you hear of any events or venues that we could talk to and we'll be there.

when do you recon the christmas hamper type things will be ready?

Do you still have any of that chilli cheese knocking around?

Yes, I have just about stopped aching now

Mr Grapefruit

I guess that some people just don't understand cheese and don't understand that it is people like you who DON'T cut corners and DON'T compromise on quality that are always going to be the successful retailers.

Long Live the British Cheese Company and all who taste its wonderful cheese

Dear Mr Grapefruit

I trust you are well, and that your boat race is back to normal; I
also hope you have learned your lesson and invested in some good
boots for the winter, possibly also a helmet.

I would like to say that I was horrified (as you clearly also were), at
the very idea of Cheese Abuse in freezers. Suffice to say, we know
where they live, and they better watch their step in future...

...as should you, in the wee, dark, slippy hours of tomorrow morning. I
look forward to purchasing some cheesy comestibles from you on the
morrow, which would be tricky if you hospitalise yourself beforehand.

Please ensure that a plentiful supply of Venuzuelan beaver cheese is
available, due to its burgeoning popularity; like many here, I prefer the
non-voting, non-praying, non-fighting, silent varieties...

Yours sincerely
W Jeem, esq.
.

I can't think of anything worst than a beaver smelling of cheese...

.

It's healing nicely thanks, just a battle scar across a smile line which I have been told will be a puller to the ladies once the bruising has gone. The GF, on hearing this, offered to break my nose to compensate for the extra pulling power. So far I have been quick in ducking when she enters the room but cannot guarantee that my nose will indeed stay intact for ever.

Mr Grapefruit has asked me to mention the fact that he will be at the Orell Fussli English Bookshop (Zurich, Rennweg/Bahnhofstrasse) with his delicious cheeses today until 17.00, if you are looking for a piece of dairy delight to keep you going until the Rapperswil Christmas market starts on the 11th...

He apologises for not posting this information himself, as he has been unable to get onto the internet recently on account of several maritime adventures and a furious race to reach Switzerland before it closed last night. I'm sure he'll share the full story soon, and if not, I'll be sure to make something up for him.

So, to conclude: Cheese, today, at Orell Fussli! Mmmmm!

Don't miss it!