Caws Cenarth - Chilli and Tomato - 200g Truckle

This 200g truckle of Chilli and Tomato cheese from Caws Cenarth combines a mature, cheddar-style Welsh cheese with sundried tomato and a hint of chilli, based on the same cheese the creamery uses for its plain mature Caws Cryf. The result is a firm, cheddar-like cheese running through with visible flecks of tomato, offering warmth from the chilli rather than a sharp, overpowering heat, wrapped in a small waxed truckle that makes it easy to store and serve.

Caws Cenarth is a family-run cheesemaker based in the Cych valley in West Wales, on the border of Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion. The business was started by Thelma and Gwynfor Adams in the early 1980s, at a time when Welsh cheesemaking on this kind of small, farmhouse scale had almost disappeared, and their work is credited with playing a significant part in reviving it. Caws Cenarth is now run by their son Carwyn Adams, and the creamery has built a reputation for both its traditional cheddar-style cheeses and its Welsh Caerphilly, alongside flavoured variations such as this Chilli and Tomato truckle.

Cheddar-style cheeses are made using the cheddaring process, in which the curd is cut, stacked and turned repeatedly before milling and pressing, which develops a dense, firm texture and the characteristic tangy flavour that deepens with age. Caws Cenarth's base cheese for this product, Caws Cryf, is matured to give it a fuller, sharper flavour than a mild cheddar, and the addition of sundried tomato and chilli builds on that base with a savoury, slightly sweet fruitiness and gentle spice. It melts well, which makes it suited to cooked dishes as well as eating on its own.

Serve this Chilli and Tomato cheese as part of a cheeseboard, where its flecks of tomato and mild chilli warmth stand out against plainer cheeses, or use it in cooking wherever a cheddar with extra character is wanted, macaroni cheese, a toasted sandwich, or melted over jacket potatoes. It pairs well with crusty bread, oatcakes, and chutneys or pickles that will not compete too much with its own sweet and spicy notes, and works with a range of drinks from a crisp cider to a fuller bodied red wine.

As a flavoured cheese from an established West Wales creamery, this truckle offers a straightforward way to bring some variety to a cheeseboard or a cooked dish, built on Caws Cenarth's long standing cheddar-style base and finished with tomato and chilli for a Welsh cheese with a bit more character than the plain version.