Barkham Blue is a pasteurised Guernsey milk semi-soft blue cheese made with a vegetarian rennet. The cheese is moulded in an ammonite round and salted in brine before it gets pierced to allow oxygen into the cheese during maturation. During its 4-5 week spell in a maturing room, oxygen allows the blue moulds that were inoculated into the milk to thrive. This results in blue roqueforti moulds growing throughout the pierced “veins”, and inside the air pockets between the curds.

The outside of the cheese develops a natural, greyish blue rind from a combination of penicillium camemberti (white) and roquforti (blue) moulds. These give the rind an earthy flavour with a hint of bitterness that can be enjoyable alongside the rich, buttery and subtle sweetness of the paste. As the cheese matures, the paste around the rind breaks down slightly, creating a beautifully rich, buttery mouthfeel. The blue in the cheese has a subtle sharpness without overpowering the rich flavours of butter and cream that emanate from the rest of the paste.

The texture is smooth and rich, as Guernsey milk is very high in butterfat. This also contributes to the signature golden colour, as the Guernsey breed pass on more carotene into their milk from the grass they eat.