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 ...
Unpasteurised / 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 Holly. 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.
Menappalack Pie
Another recipe from Annie Howes. There are some calculations behind this one:
Fruit + Cheese = Good.
Therefore:
Fruit Pie + Cheesey Pastry = Also Good
QED
For the pastry
75g self-raising flour
75g wholewheat flour
75g margarine or butter
50g grated Menallack
For the filling:
1½lb cooking apples
75g sugar
Pre-heat oven to 220C/425F/Gas mk 7
1½ pint (850ml) pie dish (with a rim)
First make the pastry by sifting the flours together in a large bowl. Rub in the fat until you get a breadcrumb texture. Finally, add the grated cheese - but handle the mix as quickly as possible to keep the pastry light. Using cold water and a round-bladed knife, add water slowly, mixing gently into a dough. Pat gently into a ball then wrap in cling film and put in the fridge to rest for at least half an hour.
Peel and core your apples, get them in the pie dish and sprinkle with the sugar. Don't do this too soon before you are ready to roll out the pastry or the apples will go brown!
Dish time. You’ll need a 1½ pint (850ml) pie dish. Roll out the pastry about 1” larger than the dish then cut a 1” strip to fit round the inside edge of the rim. Using water, damp the pie dish edge and fit the strip of pastry. Then dampen this edge and fit the lid of the pastry over the fruit to form a lid. Flute the edges and make a small steam hole in the top. If you have any spare pastry make leaves to decorate the top (ooh! Get her!– Ed.) Brush lid with milk and place on a baking tray on a high shelf in the oven.
Cook for 10 minutes at 220c/425f/G7 then reduce the heat to 190c/375f/G5 and cook for another 30 minutes or so.. Test with a knife to make sure the apples are cooked.
Serve hot or cold.
