Tesco Finest Cave-Aged Goat’s Cheese

Cows are near-ubiquitous in the large-lactating-mammal space. When I think of cheese, I think of throaty mooing, weighty hooves, jiggling udders and plaintive eyes. In recent years, though, I have come to a striking and controversial conclusion. While I believe that the highest pinnacles of cheesedom are still dominated by the noble cow, I am starting to think that the milk-white summits just below are now in the trotters of the suprabovine.

Ewes’ and goats’ cheeses are simply excellent as mid-range snacking cheeses, as well as providing some delicious high-end cheeses such as Flower Marie. These cheeses typically have a sharper, tangier flavour than similar cow’s-milk cheeses, without being excessively complicated or too strong to consume in colossal quantities. Hard cheeses such as Manchego and  Ossau-Iraty are the unsung heroes of the dairy world: less flashy than the best of cow’s cheeses, but outstandingly tasty for day-to-day eating.

This Tesco Finest Cave-Aged Goat’s Cheese fits firmly into that category. It is an excellent no-fuss utility cheese, rather than a mind-blowing flavour experience. There’s no messing around waiting for it to attain the perfect temperature, no excessive crumbliness, softness, or other hurdles to swift consumption, and nothing too deep, convoluted or punishing going on flavourwise to impair the enjoyment of just eating a large block of cheese.

The simplicity belies a fairly interesting taste. This initially appears rather mild and milky, but develops into the sharp, tangy aftertaste characteristic of goats’ cheeses. This rindless cheese is a uniform milky white, with a hard but slightly flexible texture which is a joy to slice. The cheese is best on its own, where its mild-but-tantalising flavour shines through. It’s a bit too timid (and hard) to work with bread; on oatcakes or crackers it’s tolerable, but those tend to swamp the flavour a bit.

This cheese accounts for a surprisingly large fraction of our household dairy-snacking scene (a scene whose purchasing decisions measurably impact the GDP of smaller cheese-producing nations). Many, many previous attempts to review this cheese have ended in ignominy when, after eating a couple of small slices from one end, we declared “It’s too late for a photo – may as well just finish it off” and gorged our way in meaty chunks from tip to tail of the slice.

I tried this head-to-head with a fairly authoritative vintage Cheddar, and the results were pretty interesting. There’s no question the Cheddar was much more flavoursome, salty, complex and interesting to eat; certainly that’s the cheese I would recommend given the choice. And yet… time after time, I came back for just one more simple slice of “cave-aged goat”.

For its no-nonsense snackability, despite the relatively mild and unassuming flavour, I rate this cheese 7.5 out of 10.

Philip

I love cheese. Most of all I love the strongest Cheddars available; ewe’s or goat’s cheese are also often hits.