That’s the big cheese! Family-made brie from Suffolk farm is voted best in Britain by experts
That’s the big cheese! Family-made brie from Suffolk farm is voted best in Britain by experts
- The Crickmore family started selling Baron Bigod from a Suffolk honesty shop
- But now the French-style cheese is sold at the nation’s finest cheesemongers
- It is made by hand in small batches with milk from a herd of Montbeliarde cows
By Claire Duffin For The Daily Mail
Published: 00:23, 9 January 2023 | Updated: 00:59, 9 January 2023
Forget cheddar and stilton – a French-style cheese has been named the best in Britain.
Baron Bigod, which resembles brie, is made by the Crickmore family with milk from their herd of Montbeliarde cows.
They started selling it ten years ago in their tiny honesty shop at the gates of their farm in Bungay, Suffolk – but now it is stocked by the country’s finest cheesemongers, costing more than £7 for an 180g wedge.
The family were honoured at the Fine Food Digest awards, voted for by delicatessens, farm shops and food halls.
The Baron Bigod cheese has been named the best in Britain at the Fine Food Digest awards (file image)
The cheese is made by hand in small batches, very early in the morning with still-warm milk from the herd.
It is named after the 12th century Earl of Norfolk, Baron Bigod, who was originally from Normandy, where Brie was created.
The mould cultures are added to the warm morning’s milk before it is fed into small vats just a few metres from the milking parlour, where the rennet is also added.
The curds are then carefully hand-ladled into large moulds, using traditional pelle-a-brie ladles and the young cheeses are hand salted before being aged for up to eight weeks in a cave-like environment.
It is described as having a nutty, mushroomy rind. Inside the Baron Bigod is said to have a smooth, silky golden breakdown which oozes out over a delicate, fresh and citrussy centre.
Cheesemaker Jonny Crickmore said: ‘It’s hard to believe that we have reached this point. Ten years go we had an idea…
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