In 2008 after just six months trading Relish became the Regional Winner of the World Cheese Awards "Best New Deli" Competition. Below is a list of cheeses that we generally stock. We work with a local wholesaler who delivers twice a week and with a little notice we can usually satisfy even the most unusual of requests.

Cheese Philosophy 

The Relish cheese counter offers a wide range of local, national and international cheeses.

We believe passionately in sourcing the best quality products at reasonable prices. We are regularly asked to find a personal favourite and are happy to try and search it out. This provides us with a key sampling point to open communications with our consumers and with strong, helpful suppliers to support us, our passion and personal knowledge shines through.

We fully appreciate that the majority of cheese purchases are impulse buys and so our aim is to provide a helpful and knowledgeable service without being over bearing!

We also offer a wide range of biscuits, wines, chutneys and jams to accompany them, many of which are made locally.

In a sentence: “Life’s too short to eat bad cheese”.

Somerset Brie
Pasteurised, Vegetarian
A west country take on the French classic, ideal for cooking.

Stinking Bishop
Pasteurised, English.
A cows milk cheese made by Charles Martellon on his farm at Dymock. The cheese is matured by washing the rind with a perry made from Stinking Bishop pears, giving a rich, powerful flavour.

Montgomery Cheddar
Unpasteurised, English
Cloth wrapped and matured for over a year, made by Jamie Montgomery and his family at North Cadbury in Somerset.
Only 8 cheeses are made each day.

Westcombe Cheddar
Unpasteurised, English
Cloth wrapped, the cheese is matured for 12 months +. It has a slightly moister flavour and is a little milder than Montgomery’s.

Gruyere
Unpasteurised, Swiss
Originating in the
12th C from a town of the same name. Gruyere contains occasional small holes and has a nutty, fruity taste and dense, slightly grainy texture.

Cornish Yarg
Pasteurised, English
Hand made to a 17th C recipe, discovered by the Gray family in East Cornwall. The cheese is wrapped in nettles and has a moist yet crumbly texture with a taste reminiscent of meadow flowers.

Smoked Northumberland
Unpasteurised Vegetarian
Mark Robertson started making cheeses in 1987 based on the European washed curd recipe. They are matured in the old stone cellars. The smoking takes place slowly over oak chips. The taste is smooth and creamy with a superb smoke finish.

Swaledale
Vegetarian, English.
A traditional cow’s milk cheese from the Yorkshire Dales. The cheese has a moist texture, fresh, clean tang and buttery yet delicate flavour.

Pont L’Eveque
Unpasteurised, French.
An ancient, cow’s cheese from Normandy. The texture is open and springy and the taste tangy and savoury, with a hint of sweetness.

Ribblesdale Goat
Unpasteurised, Vegetarian.
Created in 1982 by Iain and Christine Hill, this is a sort after cheese for its fresh delicate flavour. The texture is similar to a young Gouda whilst the taste suggests chicory and almonds.

Brie de Meaux
Unpasteurised French
The father of all soft white rind cheeses. First recorded in 774AD it is smooth, voluptuous and not quite runny. With an aroma of mushrooms.

Camembert
Unpasteurised, French.
This is Normandy’s most famous cheese. It has a remarkably smooth texture and a taste reminiscent of wild mushrooms with a hint of yeast.

Fontina
Unpasteurised, Italian
The Fontina cheese has a wide use in the kitchen, thanks to the consistency of its paste that melts at 60°C. It can be appreciated at the table as a semi-soft cheese or with some tasty dishes, for instance it is delicious with pasta and gnocchi, as well as with meats and vegetables.

Epoisse
Unpasteurised, French.
Each cheese is ‘washed’ by hand 8 times, the last wash is with Bourgogne brandy Matured for 40 days the rind is orange-brown in colour and very sticky. The pungent, spicy aroma is matched by the strong and strangely meaty taste. Unbelievably good, the cheese deserves to be served with a fine burgundy or a spicy aromatic white.

Vacherin Mont d’Or
Unpasteurised, French.
A good Mont d’Or has an aroma of chopped wood and mountain flowers, with a faint hint of fermentation and resin. The texture is full and creamy and the flavour suggests wild herbs. Only available from October to March, this is a real treat.

Comte
Unpasteurised, French
A magnificent unspoilt mountain chalet cheese. It has an oily sweetness and a rich, nutty flavour. The bite is firm, dry and slightly granular.

Tomme de Savoie
Unpasteurised, French
Semi hard cheese with natural rind. Yellow and red spots on the rind indicate premium quality. Inside the pale yellow cheese with its few small holes will be firm, yet supple with a gentle flavour hinting at meadow flowers, milk and walnuts.

Roquefort
Unpasteurised, French
Sheep’s Milk
Perhaps the most famous cheese in the world and certainly one of the greatest. This quintessential blue cheese has been made for centuries exclusively in the Aveyron district of south central France. This piquant, richly flavoured, creamy, crumbly, sheep’s milk blue melts in your mouth.

Crottin de Chavignol
Unpasteurised, French
Goats Milk
Soft cheese made with raw goats milk from the Val de Loire. When it’s dry, its best. Its flavour is spicy and strong. Which intensifies when grilled.

Mascarpone
Vegetarian, Italian
A triple-cream cheese. After fermentation, whey is removed without pressing or ageing. It develops a magnificent, thick, spoonable texture and is extremely versatile. Best known as an ingredient in Tiramisu it makes an excellent alternative to double cream in both sweet and savoury cooking.

Mozzarella di Bufala
Water Buffalos Milk
Italian
Dating back to the thirteenth century, this is a fresh, stretched curd cheese made from unpasteurised milk and composed of very thin layers. It is yielding in texture, porcelain white in colour and has a slightly sour taste. It is thought that mozzarella takes its name from the verb mozzare, meaning ‘to cut’.

Parmigiano Reggiano
Unpasteurised Italian
The taste is salty, sweet and rich and the texture hard and grainy. It will keep for months in the fridge and will grate straight from the freezer.

Pecorino Romano
Italian, Sheep’s milk
Pecorino Romano is one of Italy’s oldest cheeses. Made between November and June, when the sheep graze freely on the natural pastures. It has a salty yet fruity tang which becomes steadily more robust.

Gorgonzola Dolce
Pasteurised, Italian
A soft cow’s milk blue, its veining comes from the introduction of Penicillium glaucum; which imparts a sharp, spicy flavour which contrasts magnificently with the creamy soft cheese.

Manchego
Pasteurised, Spanish
Spain’s most famous and popular cheese. To qualify for the label the cheese must be firm and dry, yet rich and creamy. Only sheep’s milk from La Mancha may be used. Its flavour is distinctly piquant, slightly sharp, and buttery on the palate.

Cabrales
Unpasteurised Spanish
A rich and powerful cow’s milk blue cheese from the Asturias region of Spain. The cheese is wrapped in chestnut leaves and matured in natural limestone caverns.

Halloumi
Cyprian
Sheep / Goats milk.
Halloumi is fundamentally a cooking cheese. Its true character is only revealed when it is heated. One of the few cheeses to hold its shape when fried or grilled the outside will become crisp and slightly charred whilst the centre melts deliciously, rather like mozzarella.

Feta
Unpasteurised, Greek
An important ingredient of a Greek Salad, although vegetarian rennet is not used. Feta, like most cheeses, can also be served cooked, it is sometimes grilled as part of a sandwich or as a salty alternative to other cheeses in a variety of other dishes.

Gouda
Danish, Cows milk.
Gouda accounts for 60% of the cheese produced in Holland. Smooth and creamy with a rich full flavour and a scattering of small holes this is the big brother of Edam.

Emmental
Unpasteurised, Swiss
A cow’s milk cheese with a gentle flavour, made with gently heated curds. Carbon dioxide producing bacteria are responsible for the formation of holes in the maturation process. The flavour is fruity, with a mouth tingling acidity.

Jarlsberg
Pasteurised, Norwegian
The texture is buttery and rich, and the flavour is mild, nutty and slightly sweet. It is an all purpose cheese, good both for cooking and eating.

Doddington
Unpasteurised, matured up to twelve months, caramel and nutty flavours. Made in Wooler, Northumbria.

Fine Fettle
Made by the Shepherds Purse this is Yorkshire version of the ‘Feta’.

Vignotte
Cows Milk, French
This very popular, triple cream cheese has a light, almost mousse like texture, thanks to the careful ladling of the young curd into the moulds. The flavour is fresh and creamy yet slightly lemony and salty.

Yorkshire Blue
Vegetarian, English
Judy Bell of the Shepherds Purse developed this excellent cheese using traditional methods. A creamy, sweet, moist, blue it is mellow without being mild.

Wensleydale
Vegetarian, English
The most famous of all the Yorkshire Dales cheeses. Good Wensleydale has a supple, crumbly, moist texture whilst the flavour suggests wild honey balanced with a fresh acidity.

White Stilton
Vegetarian, English
A younger version of the King of Blues, Stilton, without the blue and therefore without the punch. This has a mild and crumbly texture with a lemon fresh acidity.

Le Roule
Cows milk, French
Introduced in the mid 1980’s. It has a melt in the mouth texture and refreshing herb and garlic layer. Practically guaranteeing first time consumers will be back for more.

Saint Agur
Pasteurised, French
Created in 1986 and made from cows milk. This cheese has a moist creamy texture and spicy blue cheese taste. Far milder than other blue french cheeses.

Chaumes
Cows milk, French
The soft rind is bright tangerine orange and the interior smooth, supple and quite rubbery. Although it looks as though it is about to run, the cheese is actually fairly dense and feels wonderfully rich and creamy on the tongue. The nutty and almost meaty flavour is milder than you might expect.

Chèvre Log
Goats milk, French
A young goats cheese, at two days it has a lovely sweet sour, fruity taste, with just a touch of almond character. By day 10 it is firm yet breakable and feels slightly sticky in the mouth. It retains the fresh acidity whilst the goaty taste intensifies. Easily sliced this is ideal for grilling.

Cambazola
Cows milk, German
The smooth, rich texture is achieved by adding cream to the milk, and the taste is mildly spicy and slightly sweet sour. A modern success story.

Cropwell Bishop Stilton
Vegetarian, English
Who first made stilton may still be open to debate but it remains one of Britain’s favourite cheeses. The perfect stilton should have blue mould spreading out to the rind, while the taste should suggest old leather, and dark chocolate, with a hint of white wine and herbs. It should be rich and creamy with a clean lasting tangy finish.

Lincolnshire Poacher
Unpasteurised, English
Made by Simon Jones since 1992, it has since been awarded Supreme Champion by the British Cheese Awards. This is a sort after cheddar with a nutty aftertaste and a wonderfully spotty rind.

Snowdonia Black Bomber
Pasteurised, Vegetarian
Made in the foothills of Snowdon this special cheddar is ripened, pitched and pressed into an Award winning cheese. The texture is creamy and smooth whilst the flavour is strong and unique.

Ricotta
Pasteurised, Italian
Good ricotta should be firm, not solid, and consist of a mass of fine moist delicate grains which are neither salted or ripened. The texture should be vaguely grainy and melt in the mouth.

Blackstick Blue
Pasteurised, Vegetarian
A unique soft blue veined cheese from Lancashire. It has a unique delicate amber hue and creamily smooth yet tangy taste. Hand crafted in small batches to a consistently high standard

Double Gloucester
Pasteurised, Vegetarian
Made in Gloucestershire since the 16th C. The full cream milk gives it its characteristic, rich, buttery taste and flaky texture. Whilst the taste is mellow and nutty with an orange zest tang.

Buffalo Blue
Vegetarian, English
Another fine cheese from the Shepherds Purse. This smooth and creamy cheese made with buffalo milk is slightly more robust and crisp than its cousin the Yorkshire Blue.

Smoked Dewlay
Un pasteurised,
The hard, thin, natural rind is pale gold and bears the marks of the cloth. It has a clean, acidic, sharp flavour combined with a creamy texture.
A good cooking cheese that does equally well as a table cheese.

Creamy Dewlay
Pasteurised, Vegetarian
Traditional Lancashire Cheese
Made on site to the same recipe for the last 50 years this is a consistent cheese. Soft creamy and mild with a unique crumbly texture.

Quickes Mature Cheddar
Unpasturised, English
Made by the Quick family using milk from only their own herd of cows. A truly artisan cheddar renowed for its complext flavour.
Slowly matured in giant truckles that are wrapped in muslin, allowing them to breath. This is a regular winner at the British Cheese Awards

Shropshire Blue
Vegetarian, English
Invented in Scotland, and introduced to the stilton makers in the early 1900’s.
The royal blue of the mould provides a distinct colour contrast to the wonderful orange.

Coverdale
Vegetarian, English
A mild buttery cheese with a clean sharp taste. The texture is firm and open. Made in Yorkshire.

Kit Calvert, Wensleydale.
Pasteurized
A traditional Yorkshire cheese with a supple crumbly, moist texture.
The flavour suggests wild honey balanced with a fresh acidity.

Shorrocks Black Bomb
An award winning strong tasting cheddar. Only milk from the local Goosnargh pastures is made into these strong bombs.

Fourme D’Ambert
A good every day french blue cheese. This is a mainstay of the provincial french farmhouses. Not too strong or too salty.