A Christmas cheese hamper to suit you ... tradition
Magazines editor and ardent fromage fan Keith Kendrick shares his pick of the best cheese hampers and subscription gift boxes
THE CHEESE
COLLECTIVE
FESTIVE BOX
BEST FOR
... supporting food banks
For every box bought, The Cheese Collective donates a meal to a Trussell Trust food bank. Its large hamper contains 10 award-winning British cheeses in a mix of soft, hard, semi-hard and blue. Ours included Brighton Blue, Organic St Giles, Bath Soft Cheese, Single Gloucester and Montgomery Cheddar. The hampers also come with collectable tasting cards, Tracklements chutney and Peter’s Yard sourdough crackers. £40 for a small hamper or £70 for large, thecheese collective.co.uk
THE FINE CHEESE
CO ‘KONNICHIWA’
CHEESE & SAKE
SELECTION
BEST FOR
... surprise Cheese and wine are considered perfect partners, but what about sake? It works. The combination is inspired by The Fine Cheese Co’s masterclass with Pantechnicon, a Belgravia foodie destination. The beautifully designed hamper comes with The Fine Cheese Co’s heritage charcoal squares and 300ml Te To Te sake (16% ABV), along with three sumptuous cheeses: soft St Jude; smooth, mellow Comté St Antoine from the Jura mountain region; and Cashel Blue, Ireland’s most famous cheese. £64, finecheese.co.uk
THE CHEESE GEEK
‘THE ARNIE’
CHRISTMAS
HAMPER
BEST FOR
... the works
A sublime selection of luxury cheeses
– a jar of soft, rich Truffle Graceburn, based on a Persian feta recipe; buttery smooth Tunworth from Hampshire; and nutty award-winning Sheep Rustler, a ewes’ milk cheese from White Lake Dairy in Somerset – along with everything you need for a gettogether: fennel and white pepper salami, salted almonds, sundried tomatoes, raw borage honey and Peter’s Yard seeded sourdough flatbreads. £75 (or £100 with wine add-on), thecheesegeek.com
NEAL’S YARD DAIRY
LARGE CHRISTMAS
SELECTION
BEST FOR
... a crowd Neal’s Yard Dairy is more than a cheese shop: it works with the cheesemaker throughout the process and matures cheese – washing, turning, patting, drying and tasting it, plus running tests to ensure the following year it’s the correct ripeness. This box is the result of all that effort. Comprising eight British cheeses, it contains: Tunworth, St Jude, Cheshire (one of Britain’s oldest cheeses), ewes’ milk Berskwell, strong and brothy Montgomery Cheddar and Colston Bassett Stilton.
£100, nealsyard dairy.co.uk
LA FROMAGERIE
THE FAMILY
CHRISTMAS
CLASSICS BOARD
BEST FOR
La Fromagerie believes people want to stick to the classics at Christmas, and has created this selection with that in mind. The hamper contains four cheeses sourced from the UK and France, plus a pack of La Fromagerie biscuits. Hand-wrapped in wax paper, the cheeses arrive in a handsome presentation box. Cheeses include: unpasteurised French Brief de Meaux, nutty and fruity Keen’s Farmhouse Cheddar, meltingly rich Vacherin du Haut-doubs and creamy, biscuity Colston Bassett Stilton. £40, lafromagerie.co.uk