Cheese made by mistake is a tasty winner
LOTS of delicious foods must have been created by accident. Early man would have dined on raw meat – until half a wild boar or a recently killed deer tumbled into the embers of a fire and the smell of the cooking meat made an inquisitive and hungry fireside sitter decide to taste the results. And so the roast joint was born.
Something of the same serendipity has been at work in a Devon dairy, where a tank full of goats’ milk was accidently emptied into the same container as cows’ milk.
The dilemma, for cheesemaker Greg Parsons from Sharpham Cheese, was clear. Did he pump the mixture away or did he have a go at making cheese with it and see what came out at the end.
Fortunately he chose the latter course and the results were delicious.
The accidental invention, Sharpham Rushmore, was trialled at the Powderham Food Festival in 2021 and proved an instant hit. Now the cheese, made with cows’ milk and goats’ milk deliberately blended, is going into full scale production.
Greg said: “When our farmer admitted he had made an error in mixing the milks, we were intrigued to see what the results would taste like.
“After all, as Thomas Edison said, ‘Just because something doesn’t do what you planned it to do, doesn’t mean it’s useless.’ Many of the best cheeses have been made by a happy accident, and this new addition has been ever so well received.
“We’re thrilled to bring Rushmore to the market.”
Cheese writer Patrick McGuigan agrees it’s a winner – “Crumbly like a caerphilly but with a fudgy breakdown under the white rind, it’s super rich and double creamy but with a refreshing tang of acidity,” he said.
“You don’t see many mixed milk cheeses in the UK so this is quite an exciting new cheese!”
He recommends eating it on a cracker with fermented green peppercorns!