I'm cheesey! (Leicester cheese)

Member Name: Bryn Pearson

Product:	Leicester cheese
Date:	02/09/03 (196 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: looks good, tastes good

Disadvantages: none

Red Leicester is one of our traditional cheeses, and a very good cheese it is too - versatile, affordable and not too hard to get your hands on.

Leicester is a red cheese. In practise this means it tends to be a sort of orangey colour. I gather the process for maknig it is much akin to the techniques that give us Cheddar, and this is not surprising, for the Leicester cheese is, in terms of taste, very much like Cheddar. There are subtle differences, which anyone with a delicate cheese orrientated palate will identify. Generally speaking, it tends to be a tad less salty than Cheddar. While Cheddar comes in a broad spectrum of strengths, the red Leicester you'll find in most shops tends to be relatively mild. If you can get a farm Leicester or one from a small producer, you will find ( as is almost always the case) that it's a very differrent expereince. For most of us though, it depends on the supermarket.

If you go through the pre-packaged cheese section of your local supermarket, you will see that there are yellow cheese (allegedly Cheddar) and orange cheeses (allegedly red Leicester more often than not.) If you like bland cheese that tastes faintly of salt and of nothnig else, but doesn't cost much, have one of these. The orange ones are a different colour and frankly that's about all there is in it. These are not proper cheeses. They are lifeless factory pieces.

Wander to the deli counter and you'll get something a bit more promising. These aren't going to be state of the art cheeses either, but they aren't bad. Red leicster is quite a common cheese, it's easy enough to find and it tends to be priced quite reasonably. (Sainsburys are often selling it off cheap at my local, and I've been getting it for £2 per kilo, which is very cheap indeed, normally it's about twice that, which even so makes it a cheaper cheese).

Leicester is a hard cheese, but its not rock like, squeeze it and it'l
l give, role it into little balls in your fingers if you get the urge. It isn't especially crumbly, it has a creamy delicate flavour and is not an acquired taste. If you like simple cheeses that aren't going to challenge you, this one is a safe bet. (If you only like weird cheese with things growing on the rinds and a distinct hint of sheep, then this is probably going to be too ordinary for you!). Normally this cheese won't have a rind on it, but if you keep it too long it does start growing little white moulds, which I wouldn't recomend. It'll happily keep in your fridge for over a week though, it's not a tempermental cheese. That said, it does, like most cheeses, do better if it doesn't get to warm, as it will melt, go limp and sweat out its fats, none of which improve the texture or flavour. Wrap it carefully before storing it in the fridge or it dries out dreadfully and becomes quite grim.

Eating options - this is where Red Leicester really comes into its own - it is a very versatile cheese. It's easy to slice so it makes a good sandwich, going well with salads, pickels, mustard or whatever else takes your fancy. It's got enough flavour to make a nice cheese with biscuits after meal snack. It grates easily so you can sprinkle it over salad, pasta, soup etc to good effect. With the bright orangey colour, its a great way of adding colour to meals - it makes an excellent cheese sauce and is very good if you want to brighten up cauliflower cheese or macaroni cheese. It is a very easy cheese to cook with and will give you good results.

The bright colour is a real bonus when feeding children.

On the whole, a very good cheese indeed - a nice alternative to Cheddar if you are trying to vary your cheese eating a bit, a safe bet with children, god value, easy to store, easy to use and an easy way to lvien up your cooking. I like it, I'd certainly reccomend it.

Summary: