A world tour of cheese

As you might have noticed, we love cheese. Whether we are eating slices on crackers, washing it down with wine or just eating it in a chunk straight out of the wax. We adore cheese!

Even if you are preparing to head off on a round-the-world tour, you don’t have to forgo the creamy-tasting stuff. An overseas trip could provide you with the ideal opportunity to sample many cheese varieties that you might have had little chance of tasting on your own shores.

However, getting to sink your teeth into the top cheese for countries in various parts of the world can also depend on you knowing where exactly to look. For this reason, you might want to print off this article and squeeze it into your suitcase as you prepare for truly cosmopolitan cheese…

France

If you start your trip from the UK, where our own farm and shop are both based, you wouldn’t have to wait long after arriving in Calais to find Normandy. This is where the famed Camembert cheese was originally made in the north-western French commune of the same name.

According to local legend, Camembert cheese was first produced by the farmer Marie Harel in 1791, just two years after the onset of the French Revolution. Aptly enough, local custom also says that, in making this cheese, she acted on the advice of a priest from the Brie area.

That historic part of northern France also gave its name to a well-known type of French cheese. A soft, pale-coloured cheese that has a solid claim to being the best French cheese.

Italy

Even if you have never visited Italy, you have probably tucked into more than a few pizzas topped with mozzarella, a type of cheese traditional to southern Italy. However, why not visit a working mozzarella farm on the Quattro Portoni Caseificio estate in the Italian city of Bergamo?

On this estate that is ironically in the country’s north, you can taste a fresh ball of this dairy delight. The milk for this cheese is sourced from the Italian Mediterranean buffalo. This cheese can taste especially succulent alongside a tomato and basil salad lashed with extra virgin olive oil.

While you are in the north of the country, another Italian cheese hotspot worth checking out is Parma. PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) rules mean that the famous Parmigiano Reggiano cheese can’t be officially deemed as such unless its milk is from cows fed on Parma’s grass and hay.

Switzerland

If you like your cheese to taste nuttier, you might want to add the Swiss canton of Fribourg to your itinerary. This is where the Le Gruyère Premier Cru cheese is matured in a humid atmosphere over a 14-month period. It’s also given a rusty brown rind, one of its trademark features.

The touch of this Gruyère cheese’s semi-soft texture on your lips is so luxurious.  You could feel as though you are sampling cheese at its most pristinely crafted. Perhaps the true “national cheese” of Switzerland, however, is Emmentaler cheese.

Given the holes that famously perforate this cheese, you probably won’t struggle to spot it in its native region of Emmental. During your stay in Switzerland, you could even pick up some Godminster cheese. We routinely export our products to this country.

The Netherlands

What is the best Dutch cheese? There are some pretty strong contenders. However, we would especially single out Kanterkaas, another kind of cheese the making of which is subject to PDO rules. These are EU rules which ensure that only products truly originating from a certain region are, in commerce, identified as such.

PDO rules permit the traditional production of Kanterklaas in just two Dutch provinces, Westerkwartier and Friesland. Here it is flavoured with cumin.

You could be on a roll in more ways than one. Head to the Cheese Market near Gouda CityHall to pick up a wheel! Here, you can enjoy a broad choice of Gouda cheeses, including Graskaas. Also, the much older Overjarig, often recognisable by its black outer rind.

Australia

It would be fair dinkum to say that perusing the cheeses available in Australia can be arduous. There are certainly lots of them to choose from. It doesn’t help that the Aussies have often looked across the sea for inspiration when making their cheeses.

As a result, you might struggle to find much cheese that seems uniquely Australian. However, the country’s cheese is arguably charming exactly because of its variety. It certainly opens up exciting opportunities for taste testing!

Particularly notable cheeses available in Australia include Montefiore Trecce, which is milky and mild in flavour. Additionally, pure whey ricotta, a melt-in-the-mouth sensation.  The Oceania country is another territory in which we sell cheeses, so why not stop by one of our resellers while you are there?

South Africa

Another of the 26 countries globally where Godminster cheese is available, South Africa also has plenty of home-grown cheeses.

Consider the mild and creamy cheese Kwaito, the name of which derives from the Isicamtho language. Other interesting examples of South African cheese include the Dalewood Huguenot, a semi-hard cheese originating from the Cape Winelands.

Our website is available wherever in the world you have access to the Internet, allowing you to easily browse the range of Godminster cheeses that we offer.