Little Wallop
Little Wallop is one of the new charmers on the British cheese scene. Created by Alex James of the band Blur and cheese maven, Juliet Harbutt, it won Best Soft Cheese at this year’s British Cheese Awards and has garnered ever increasing accolades. It is produced by Pete Humphries, who is known as one of the countries top goat’s cheese makers, at White Lake Dairy in Shepton Mallett.
Small and powerful, this goat’s cheese is washed in Somerset Cider Brandy. It is ready to eat at three weeks when the first sprinklings of moulds appear. The vine leaf that it is wrapped in dries and the centre begins to break down. At about six weeks, it can be almost runny beneath a thin white and orange edible crust. It is mild and fresh with a hint of sweetness when young, but becomes more intense and slightly goatier with age, at which point the paste softens and becomes almost runny.