Finn is a soft, double cream cheese with a sweet, slightly nutty and mushroomy flavour and a distinctly salty tang. Made by Charlie Westhead at Neal’s Yard Creamery it’s based on French triple cream cheeses, made from whole milk with added cream to make the cheese richer. Fresh lactic flavours cut through the creamy texture when young. Rich woody flavours of walnuts and mushrooms develop with age, especially in the rind. The Cheese is named after a dog Charlie had at the time and seems appropriate as in Irish, it means ‘great white one’!

This traditional raw milk camembert, from the town of the same name in Normandy, becomes soft and creamy as it ages, developing a complex depth of vegetably flavours. Camembert was reputedly first made in 1791 by Marie Harel, a farmer from Normandy, following advice from a priest who came from Brie. It is produced in small rounds, about 250 grams in weight, which are then typically wrapped in paper and packaged in thin wooden boxes.  It can be hard and almost crumbly when very young, but wonderfully gooey and runny when ripe.

This Petit Munster hails from the Alsace region and has been produced there for almost 1000 years. Traditionally produced by monks, the name is a derivative of the Latin for monastery. Traditionally eaten with boiled potatoes and a sprinkling of cumin seeds.