I’m absolutely chuffed to bits to share with you, that yesterday our very own Perry was crowned Affineur of the Year for 2022, at the first ever Affineur of the Year competition held in London, and not only did he win the judges vote but the people’s choice award as well!
If you’d like to find out a little bit more, I’ve attached our ‘Project Priscilla’ notes and here’s a link to that special moment we found out the tremendous news. Perry’s face is priceless!
https://fb.watch/cGbdxIO1gY/ (Ctrl click)
If you want learn more about Priscilla see our summary of her journey here ---> Full Project Priscilla Presentation
Images of Development of Affineur of the Year Cheese.
The Goal
For better or for worse, to create our own very unique profile of Quicke’s cheddar in the maturing room at rennet & rind under the skill of Affineur - Perry James Wakeman - by controlling the humidity, temperature & biome to develop, enhance and attempt to optimise the individual flavour characteristics of this young Quicke’s cheddar.
Our hypothesis
Reset rind growth in the early days to allow for a more hostile takeover of our biome.
Lose moisture at a consistent but steady rate, particularly in the initial stages, and apply different brushing techniques to impart a more diverse biome.
Without the luxury of picking our own length of maturing time, we’ll utilise temperature to hopefully get it beyond the constraints, aiming for a slightly drier style of Quicke’s, with a potentially more challenging and complex profile.
And the result
We are so happy with the outcome. Over the Moon! Very happy that we can present a very great Quickes cheddar, we have successfully imparted our own maturing biome due the rind reset techniques used. The gradual gradient indicates that the maturing has been professionally well managed. The colour of the interior is precisely where we want it to be, and the aroma was a welcome surprise as I thought we would be more successful in the category visuals, mouthfeel and flavour. The round flavour profile what we were looking for and playful dance of pepper and spike of acid add some rennet & rind character, and the extremely happy with the longevity as this was planned due to the techniques used to remove more moisture.
What would we change?
We had to reduce the temperature of our maturing room around end of December due to the threat of another covid outbreak. If this wasn’t a factor I would continue at the previous temp and humidity perhaps this would have aided more development. Apart from that, I am extremely happy.
Full Project Priscilla Presentation