Interview: Phoebe Weller, cheese expert

We're here to take part in the first of a series of weekly Cheese Chewtorials devoted to tasting and le arning about artisan cheese – the kind that has been lovingly produced in small batches, rather than mass-market stuff – in all its mould-covered glory.

Forget wine or chocolate evenings. This kind of session, which is unique in Scotland, feels right for the times. After all, a sliver of pongy fromage (pricey, yes, but a little goes a long way) on an oatcake is surely the ultimate in comfort eating in tough economic times, and, as Weller explains, cheese is, ultimately, "a peasant food".

It's also very trendy right now, with the likes of Blur bassist Alex James producing his own varieties at his farm in the Cotswolds. Tonight's group are not all young trendies, however, and there are equal numbers of men and women.

There can be no better person to lead us through the subject than Weller, a self-confessed "cheese geek" who recently applied to be on Mastermind, with the Irish, British and Continental cheese varieties as her specialist subjects (she hasn't heard back from John Humphrys, as yet). She runs her own business, the Roving Fromagire, which organises cheese-tasting sessions in people's homes. Before that, she managed the west coast branch of famed Scottish cheesemonger Iain J Mellis for two years.

No surprise, then, that she's on first name terms with Mr Mellis, as well as Humphrey (Humphrey Errington, the creator of Lanark Blue), both of whom are frequently mentioned during the session.

None of us ask who they are, however – any cheese lover worth his curds should already know.

Tonight's event will look at cheese made from ewe's milk – at nearly 2,000 years old, the most ancient of fromage recipes.

"Until the time of the Black Death, most of the farming in Britain was done with sheep, rather than cows," Weller explains. "Going further back in time, there's evidence that Caesar loved Roquefort and there are Roman examples of ewe's milk cheese."

Tiny samples of this historic foodstuff are resting, tantalisingly, on a table nearby, already cut up into bite-sized pieces – the labels announce Wigmore, La Bastide d'Argental, Ossau Iraty, Pecorino Romano, Flower Marie, Brebirousse d'Argental (my favourite), a nutty Manchego and Lanark Blue.

According to Weller, spring is the perfect season for many varieties of this kind of cheese because its flavour is affected by the food that an animal eats. When the milk for some of the younger cheeses was collected, around six to eight weeks ago, the sheep would have been grazing on wildflower-enriched fresh grass after a winter being fed indoors on silage or bales of hay. Thus, it should taste fresh and floral, in comparison to a maturer fromage (like the Ossau Iraty, which needs to mature for 90 days) made from milk that was produced in the depths of winter.

"The vernal equinox is a great time for cheese, because animals were moved outside a while ago," Weller explains. "They graze on silage and grain indoors in the winter, but the fat content is upped when they move into pasture. However, there are different seasons for all of the different varieties and knowledgeable people should know the right time to eat each kind."

The health benefits of this underrated type of cheese are also impressive.

"It's packed full of vitamins and minerals," explains Weller. "In this country, we eat far too much cheese made from cow's milk, such as brie or cheddar, and when you eat that type, you'll experience the same sticky feeling at the back of your palette that you'll get after drinking a glass of milk. When it comes to ewe's milk, there isn't the same sensation, as the polymers are shorter, so the body finds them easier to break down."

This type of scientific chat will either endear you to the cheese world, or utterly bamboozle you.

Weller's brother is a biochemist, so this is obviously her forte. However, I feel a bit confused when she discusses pasteurisation, washed rinds and the various types of penicillium bacteria which are used to coat the cheese moulds, or make the veins inside blue cheeses. The same goes for the flavours that are embodied in the cheese, some of which are derived from the local "terroir", or earth, which imparts flavours that are unique to a particular region.

When we taste the Lanark Blue – an unctuously creamy and zingy cheese – it's explained that this is made from a traditional Roquefort recipe. However, the Lanarkshire surroundings give it its unique regional flavour.

The tasting session is all very technical, but Weller is at pains to explain that she's not a food snob.

"I'm just like everyone else when it comes to cheese, in that I have a huge lump of generic cheddar at the back of my fridge," she says. "I'm not a purist, either, as it's lovely to have cheese teamed with something else – you'll find a wee bit of quince jelly goes particularly well with Manchego, and walnuts make a perfect match for a fresh batch of Pecorino."

She certainly doesn't scoff at the idiosyncratic flavours that tonight's group detect in the various cheeses, which range from "honey" to "ammonia", the latter of which can be quite a common note.

She does get irritated, however, when shops and delicatessens store this precious food incorrectly (supermarkets are the worst offenders). Only a philistine, she says, would wrap the cut edge of a wheel of fromage in clingfilm and completely suffocate the flavour.

Hopefully, that will never happen to Weller's creations, if she ever gives us her own brand of products.

"I've already made a couple of cheeses," she says. "But this year my plan is to visit more of my favourite makers to watch them creating the cheeses that I talk about, and maybe I'll concoct some of my own too. If they'll let me, that is".

Phoebe Weller's Cheese Chewtorials take place at the Big Mouth Coffee Bar and Cafe (167 Dumbarton Road, Glasgow, 0141-337 7023, www.bigmouthcoffeecompany.co.uk). The next sessions take place on Thursday, 8 April (Scottish cheeses); 15 April (Irish cheeses); 22 April (washed-rind cheeses); 29 April (blue cheeses). Each one-hour class costs 6. To book, call 0141-427 4108, or e-mail [email protected]

For more info, see www.rovingfromagiere.co.uk

#149 This article was first published in The Scotsman on April 03, 2010