When it comes to matching cider with food, the possibilities are endless. Cider’s complexity, its sweetness and sourness, depending on the apple, can bring out the complexities of different flavours. It is perfect for using in slow braises, relishes, in baking or just having by itself with a good local cheese. And Symonds Founder’s Reserve, made from the finest Herefordshire apples, including the Dabinett and Michelin varieties, brings out the best in what the county has to offer.
Cider and cheese
For cheese monger Ned Palmer, 43, cider is just perfect. Ned began his artisanal odyssey in 2000, helping out at a friend’s cheese stall at London’s Borough Market, before moving to Neal’s Yard Dairy. There he worked in the cellar as an affineur – a person who ripens cheese – with the great Bill Oglethorpe, the creator, says Palmer, of the best cheese toasty in the world.
In 2014 Palmer set up the Cheese Tasting Company, which offers fun, informative and interactive cheese tastings at pubs, offices or people’s homes. “The cheeses of Britain and Ireland are my first great love,” he says, “I believe we need to champion their cause. I also like to bring interesting small production wines or British craft beers and ciders to match with the cheeses. I have been known to match cheese with champagne, sherry and whisky – although not all in the same glass!”
For Palmer, the guiding principle behind matching cheese with cider is down to the terroir; the land – the natural environment from which the drink is produced. “Some of these fields can be thousands of years old,” he says. “And the complexity of the grasses and flowers – the vetch – gives each cheese its own particular character.
This link to a county’s history and terrain is epitomised by Monkland Cheese’s Little Hereford. This full-flavoured hard cheese, which goes particularly well with cider, is made at Karen and Mark Hindle’s dairy based just outside the Herefordshire town of Leominster and comes from a recipe that goes back to 1917.
Contrasts also attract. For example, the crispness of cider can bring out the creaminess in a cheese. This “mouth feel” of cheese, says Palmer, is important. The “pinpoint” carbonation of Symonds Founder’s Reserve, with its fresh, crisp, astringent, champagne feel, and the moussy texture of a goats’ cheese such as Dorstone, made by Charlie Westhead and Haydn Roberts at the Neal’s Yard Creamery in Herefordshire, makes a pleasing sensation.
The dairy also makes Finn, which with its mushroomy, double cream-enriched flavour – almost like a camembert in texture – goes well with Symonds Founder’s Reserve, as does its Ragstone, a full-flavoured goat’s cheese with a savoury, lemony taste.
Breads and baking
Where there is cider and cheese, there is also bread. And of course Symonds Founder’s Reserve isn’t just for drinking, it can also be used in cooking and baking.
Award-winning baker Alex Gooch, who is based in Hay-on-Wye, has always used cider in his recipes, breads and pastries. “Herefordshire has the best cider,” he says, “and I love using it in my breads and pastries.”
One of Alex’s bestsellers is a 100% rye sourdough with apples, raisins and a cider glaze. The fermented element of sourdough, he says, goes particularly well with cider.
Honey and cider is another “simple, yet beautiful flavour combination”, says Alex, “especially when used with vanilla”. His apple brioche has a cider and vanilla glaze, while for his summer fruit brioche he uses a cider and perry syrup.
Juicy burgers, crisp ciders
Herefordshire is also renowned for its meat, particularly beef, and in the county town of Hereford, brothers Dorian and Edwin Kirk and their colleague Jon Stead are creating some of the best burgers around.
The three local boys started A Rule of Tum in Aubrey Street two and a half years ago. Prior to moving back home, Edwin was involved in the restaurant and food scene in London. All the time he was sourcing food from Herefordshire. When the chance came to return to his roots, Edwin didn’t blink: “There’s so much potential for food here,” he says.
The burger shop sources all its meat locally. Beef comes from local butcher Tom Jones, from his herds of Dexter and Hereford cattle. Pork comes from G&R Tudge, just outside Ludlow, Shropshire. And cider is an important complement and ingredient.
A customer favourite is the belly pork burger, which is slow cooked in cider and accompanied by a burnt apple mayo. There is also a pulled partridge burger with pears poached in cider, and a beef patty with pears pickled in cider.
Jon says that a crisp cider goes particularly well with the burger topped with Monkland Cheeses’ Blue Monk and Rule of Tum’s wild boar burger.
“We wanted to get more in touch with Herefordshire,” says Edwin, “and craft honest dishes, inspired by local produce and seasonal ingredients.” A sentiment that we can all drink to.
