Cornish Yarg
This beautiful Cornish cheese has a unique covering of local nettle leaves, which gives it a lovely herby taste. The nettles, which are picked in Spring and frozen, both to preserve them and remove the 'sting', give the cheese a greyish-green rind which contrasts with the white paste, which is rather like Caerphilly in appearance. The young cheese is fresh and lemony with a touch of herbs. Older cheeses become creamier, more aromatic and slightly peppery and develop scatterings of brown and grey moulds across the rind. The name Yarg is not an old Cornish word as you might expect but is simply “gray” spelt backwards. Gray was the name of the cheese-maker who developed the cheese from some old recipes he found in a loft.
Cornish Yarg has been made near Truro in west Cornwall for over 25 years, using the milk of the Lynher herd of Friesian and Holstein cows. Cornish Yarg has won Gold at both the British and World Cheese Awards. Lovely with crackers and fine wine.