Paxton & Whitfield, the UK’s oldest cheesemonger, has curated a Burns Night Cheese Selection (£35.00) that contains three, artisan Scottish cheeses with fine food accompaniments to celebrate Burns Night on Friday 25th January.

The cheeses come from different geographical areas of Scotland and are made by dedicated, award-winning cheesemakers. Savouring these cheeses, that form a tempting ready-made cheeseboard, to honour the life and poetry of Robert Burns is very fitting as Burns’ mother was a cheesemaker in Ayrshire.

The pack is available online at paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk and all the items in the pack  are available from Paxton & Whitfield’s four shops in Jermyn Street – Piccadilly, Cale Street – Chelsea Green, Bath and Stratford-upon-Avon.

Burns Night Cheese Selection includes:

Isle of Mull Cheddar (250g) (Unpasteurised, traditional rennet) – the Scottish islands have a rich history of cheesemaking but today the only dairy that remains on the Isle of Mull is Sgriob-ruadh Farm, near Tobermory, which is owned by the Reade family who revived the tradition in 1979. The milk to make this traditional farmhouse cheese comes from the farm’s own herd of Friesian cows with the odd Ayrshire, Jersey and Highland cow too.

To ensure maximum freshness the cheese is pumped straight to the cheesemaking vats immediately after the morning milking. As the cheese is unpasteurised it really takes on the character of the seasons, for example the cheeses made with winter milk are almost white in colour. The flavour is full and farmy with wild, salty notes from the exposure to the Atlantic elements. Isle of Mull Cheddar won Best Scottish Cheese at the 2017 Artisan Cheese Awards.

Clava Brie (250g)(Pasteurised, vegetarian rennet) – this is a soft, brie-style cheese made at Connage Highland Dairy on a family-run farm in Ardersier, Inverness. The farm was started by Hamish Clark and today the farm and dairy are run by his two sons, Callum and Cameron, with the help of their wives.

They have an organic dairy herd of 140 cows that are mainly Holstein Friesian with some Jersey crosses and Norwegian Reds. The cows graze on clover pastures that surround the dairy and along the shores of the Moray Firth.

To achieve the best results for the cheese the curds are delicately hand-ladled into their moulds. The cheeses then develop a soft white rind which helps soften the interior during maturation. The cheese has a delightful earthy and mushroomy flavour. It won a Gold at the 2018 International Cheese Show Nantwich.

Lanark Blue (250g) (Unpasteurised, vegetarian rennet) – Lanark Blue is made by Errington Cheese in Carnwath, South Lanarkshire.

The family-run farm and dairy were set up by Humphrey Errington in the early 1980s. Today the raw ewes’ milk used to make Lanark Blue comes from the farm’s flock of Lacaune ewes.

A Scottish equivalent to French Roquefort, the cheese is matured in cool and moist traditional stone buildings for up to 8 months. It has a sharp, clean blue flavour that is best complemented with sweet accompaniments such as Monbazillac or honey.  

Original Oaties (150g) – these golden, open textured oaties have a delicious nutty taste. Handmade with locally sourced rolled oats from County Armagh they are perfect for these three cheeses.

No 93 Ale Chutney (198g) – this delicious chutney is the perfect all-round accompaniment to the cheeses in this pack. A traditional handmade chutney packed full of Bramley apples, plums and our very own No. 93 Ale.

All prices quoted do not include postage and packing. For Burns Night orders for UK mainland pre-Burns Night delivery orders must be received by Wednesday 23rd January 2019.