The first cheese made by John and Caryl Minson at Menallack Farm near Penryn, Menallack is a hard full-fat cheese matured for two months. I was usrprised when John told me it was based on a recipe for a type of Cheshire. He explained that the difference (and it's really not like Cheshire) is down to the fact that the Cornish cows are grazing on granite. That makes the soil different, which makes the grass diffrent, which makes the milk different.
As well as the big cheese, there's a Baby Menallack too: a very sweet 500g. They wax it for Christmas - makes a great present (see photo), but check with us first if you're going to want one as we'll need to be sure they're available. See also Nanterrow ...
Unpasteurized / Vegetarian
More about Menallack Farm and its cheeses
John was a telecom engineer who lived all over (La Paz, the Yemen ...) before retiring to Cornwall with his wife Caryl in the 1980s. Inspired by a cheesmaker they'd met in Wales, Caryl started making cheese at Menallack, originally using milk from their own herd. At that time there were only three cheesemakers in Cornwall! Until her death in 2007, Caryl was the driving force at Menallack, and became an inpsiration to others wanting to tread a similar path.
Today Menallack is run by John with the help of right-hand-woman Jess (though he'd put it the other way around!). When you arrive at the farm there's a shop to your left, the cheese room itself to the right, and in the middle is the generous granite farmhouse. All in all seven people work here turning out - wait for it - sixteen different cheeses. That's the amazing thing! Unlike other makers who concentrate on one type of cheese, perhaps with a couple of variations, Menallack make hard cheese, soft cheese, blue cheese, flavoured cheeses, and use every sort of milk you can think of. Alright, not beaver. But everything else!
Click on the small picture to see the view from Menallack Farm!
