Five of a kind: washed-rind cheeses

Washed-rind cheeses are not for the faint-hearted but those with a nose for flavour need look no further, as Richard Cornish sniffs out some of the best.

Fingal Gold.

FINGAL GOLD

WASHED-rind cheeses get their orange-apricot hue from a bug named brevibacterium linens, also known as brevi. Cheesemaker Trevor Brandon, of Red Hill Cheese, sourced his brevi from his winemaking neighbours, where the bugs spontaneously grew on a piece of cheese. Fingal Gold is a 185-gram nugget made from biodynamic milk. It's one of the milder and more gentle washed-rind cheeses. Aged next to camembert-style cheeses, it picks up a champignon flavour when young, which develops into a more pronounced nuttiness as it ages. A beautiful cheese that matches well with a fruity gamay from Eldridge Estate. $12, 185g. Stockists include Red Hill Cheese Farm Gate, Red Hill; Cellar & Pantry, Red Hill; Leo's Fine Food & Wine, Kew and Hartwell; Bill's Farm, Queen Victoria Market

Jensen's Red.

JENSEN'S RED

THIS deep-orange disc hides a rich, creamy and yeasty interior that matures into a silky and sweet viscous paste. Cheesemaker Laurie Jensen believes this cheese is at its best when eight weeks old because at that stage it becomes sweeter and more complex. The deep-orange hue is the result of both the brevi and annatto, the seed of a tropical plant that imparts a carrot colour and helps the bacteria grow. Brevi is a peculiar bug that likes salt, so washed-rind cheeses are washed in a salty solution and matured in humid conditions. Jensen says his washed-rind cheese is best enjoyed with a funky shiraz or a gamey pinot noir. $45-$55 a kilogram. Stockists include Leo's @ Kew, Hartwell and Heidelberg; Scicluna's, Mentone; Cheese Shop Deli, Prahran Market; Applewood Deli, Eastland

Milawa Gold.

MILAWA GOLD

WASHED-rind cheeses were developed in French monasteries in the Middle Ages as a meaty-tasting meal on days of fasting. Enzymes produced by the various yeasts in the cheese break down the protein in the milk into amino acids that we detect with our tongue as a pleasing savoury flavour. Made in the size of a traditional brie, Milawa Gold has a lovely peachy blush, a detectable but not unpleasant bitterness in the rind and a lovely meaty, savoury flavour. It has a little brother named King River Gold, a slightly more brash and aromatic cheese. Try them both with a yeasty Belgian farmhouse-style beer, Chevalier Saison, from Bridge Road Brewers. $50-$60 a kilogram. Stockists include Milawa Cheese Shop, North Carlton; Epicurean, Queen Victoria Market; Darriwill Farm Stores, Canterbury and Brighton

Warby Red.

WARBY RED

THIS little offering from Boosey Creek Cheese really packs a punch with its overt aromas of brassicas - which is a nice way of saying it smells like brussels sprouts. Washed-rind cheeses are made with a cocktail of yeasts, moulds and bacteria that produces sulfurous compounds. Warby Red embraces this really well with mingling, complex farmyard funk when you sniff the cheese, and this transforms into beautiful adult gamey aromas when you begin to chew. It also has wonderful meaty, gamey flavours. This is all found in a little 150-gram round with an enticing apricot-hue rind. The cheesemaker enjoys it with a beer. $9.50, 150g. Stockists include Boosey Creek Cheese Farm Gate, Boosey; selected farmers' markets; IGA Shepparton and Rutherglen IGA

1792 by Bruny Island.

1792

NAMED after the 1792 visit by French explorers to Tasmania's east coast, this is a feral and funky washed-rind cheese that neophytes may find challenging. Undercutting the gamey, brassica and mushroomy maelstrom of aromas is the clear, clean note of resin. This fat little camembert-size beauty is packed on a veneer of Huon pine that imparts those woody, resinous notes. Under the skin is a pate that oozes when ripe but which is firm and white when immature. The ripe, creamy pate is both sweet and fruity and screams out for a French farmhouse cider, although the folk at Bruny Island Cheese who make 1792 also suggest a burgundy-style pinot from the Tamar Valley. An exceptional cheese recommended for those not afraid of intense experiences. Available only by mail order. $17, 230g. brunyislandcheese.com.au

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 October 2012