Cheese is brilliant

I spend a lot of my time sharing my love of gin, and cake and chocolate. They are the things that keep me sane as a parent and teacher. But there is another food that is right up there in my top foods: cheese. Having been vegetarian for 30 years now, cheese has been a pretty important part of my diet. It is an important source of protein, so would be in most of the meals that I ate when I initially became a vegetarian. It is also a great source of calcium and vitamins A and D.

So many meals are made by cheese. Imagine pizza without melting mozzarella or a Greek salad without salty feta. It makes food just so much better. If you don’t believe me just think about how much nicer toast is when it has melted cheese on top of it (and hot buttered toast is blooming lovely).

The problem is that cheese also contains a fair amount of fat, so you do have to take care with how much you are consuming. Most sources suggest that you shouldn’t eat more than 1 ounce (28 g) of full-fat cheese per day. That looks like this:

For any fellow cheese lovers, it’s a bit depressing isn’t it? I could scoff that piece whilst I was debating how many cheese and crackers to eat for supper. However, I have a bit of a tip for anyone else that feels a bit sad about how little we should be consuming each day – use a fine grater to completely grate the 1 ounce piece of cheese. You will be surprised with just how large a mound of finely grated cheddar you can get from 1 ounce. It makes it go so much further. It suddenly looks like you have so much more to cover your crackers or pile upon a jacket potato. You feel far less hard done by.

My other tip is to get tasty cheese. It seems pretty obvious doesn’t it? If you are only allowed 1 ounce of the stuff, then make sure it is the best you can get. A good, mature cheddar will go so much further than a bland, mild one. I love the cheese produced by Wyke Farms. Their Mature and Creamy Cheddar is exactly as described. It has a nice, strong flavour but is still really creamy. Their Extra Mature and Delicious Cheddar is stronger and tangier, whilst their Vintage and Scrumptious Cheddar is strong and crumblier.

By both using a tasty, good quality cheddar and then finely grating it, your daily ounce of cheese will be stretched further and you will be able to enjoy this delicious food without feeling like it is being rationed.

Disclaimer: I was sent a variety of cheeses from Wyke Farms to try for review, but as always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.