Will Studd?
Will Studd is an international cheese specialist, who has been working with specialist cheese for over five decades. During that time, he has traveled extensively in his quest to seek out the world’s most delicious and fascinating cheeses, made by the most talented and expert cheesemakers.
He is the author of two comprehensive cheese books, and executive producer/presenter of Cheese Slices, a unique television show about the world of artisanal cheese filmed over 20 years and in 22 countries. The show has been enjoyed by millions of viewers worldwide, and it has become an important reference for cheese lovers and cheese professionals.
Selected by Will Studd?
Will created the ‘Will Studd Selected’ range in 2000, aiming to hand-select the highest quality cheeses and share them so that others can experience and savour the world’s finest benchmark cheeses. The philosophy behind the range is simple – provenance, texture, flavour and aroma. Two of Will’s children Sam and Ellie, joined the family business 10 years ago, and go by the name ‘The Studd Siblings’. They hand-select the cheese for the range alongside Will and are passionate about celebrating traditional cheese-making methods. They work directly with talented cheese producers, many of which are small family-run dairies. As a family, they aim to maintain this legacy across generations.
The Studds hand-select premium artisan cheeses that are the ‘best in class’. With their expertise and selection, they aim to give you the confidence to select, share and enjoy quality cheese.
Keep scrolling to explore the range available at Bunbury Farmers Market.
Le Dauphin Double-Crème
Le Dauphin Double-Créme is a guaranteed crowd-pleaser and takes its name from the term once used to describe the heir apparent to the throne of France.
Made from rich cow’s milk collected from the beautiful green mountain pastures surrounding the Rhône Valley, it was specially created for Will using a combination of modern techniques and a careful selection of traditional surface moulds.
The wooden box is important because it protects the cheese, and also creates a unique micro-environment for maturation. Best enjoyed fully ripened when exceptionally soft, silky and deliciously creamy.
Le Conquérant Fromage De Lessay
Le Conquérant Fromage de Lessay is an exceptional soft, surface-ripened cheese from the north-west coast of Normandy. Made from pasteurised milk and named after the small village of Lessay on the Cotentin Peninsula, it offers a deliciously sweet, buttery flavour with delicate hints of white truffle. Handcrafted using the traditional Moule à la Main method, each layer of curd is ladled with care to create the perfect texture and balance of flavour.
As it ripens, selected yeasts and cultures develop on the surface, producing subtle grey and orange hues and adding rich depth to the aroma. Best enjoyed close to its use-by date, this cheese reaches peak perfection when soft, creamy, and beautifully aromatic — a true taste of Normandy craftsmanship.
Le Duc Vacherin
Deliciously soft and fragrant, spruce-bark bound cheeses have been enjoyed as a winter treat in the mountains that border France and Switzerland since the Middle Ages. Traditionally, these cheeses were produced when the cows returned from grazing on high-altitude pastures, where their rich milk was used to make huge wheels of cheese. The smaller spruce bound cheeses offered a practical way of using the limited amount of milk available during the winter months.
Vacherin Le Duc is hand-made in limited quantities using similar techniques but, unlike its older cousins, it is available throughout the year. The cheese has a mild, rich creamy flavour and soft fudgy texture when young. If left to ripen in the box, the smooth pinkish rind starts to bloom and ripple, and the inside softens to a delectable oozing melt-in-the-mouth texture, with a fragrant hint of the forest.
Serve ripe with a spoon at room temperature, or heat in the box in the oven. Either way, make sure to scrape and eat the cheese closest to the spruce bark strip – it’s the best part!
Brillat Savarin
Will Studd Brillat Savarin PGI is a decadent triple-cream cheese and is the perfect party pleaser. It takes its name from the famous 18th-century French food writer Brillat Savarin, and was originally created in the 1950s by Parisian affineur, Pierre Androuet.
This example from Bourgogne, France is unique because, unlike its industrial cousins, it’s ripened under a thin coat of wrinkled yellow Geotrychum mould naturally found in unpasteurised cow’s milk. This mould is rarely used because it is hard to wrap, but the poplar wooden box creates the ideal, moist microclimate for it to thrive.
Deliciously creamy with a slightly chalky centre when young, the texture gradually breaks down until it can be scooped from the centre with a spoon close to its use-by date.
Note: Occasionally this Brillat Savarin will have fluffy white spots / ‘bunny tails’ on its surface. This is entirely natural and does not pose a food safety issue. The small white mould clusters are Penicillium Candidum, similar to the moulds used on brie and camembert and develop when the cheese ages.
Le Marquis Chèvre de Rambouillet Bleu
Le Marquis Chèvre de Rambouillet Bleu is a pure goat milk chèvre. It’s hand made on a farm not far from the famous castle of Rambouillet, which housed a model dairy built for Marie Antoinette during the reign of Louis XVI.
It’s difficult to find a goats milk blue cheese that is in optimum condition, as the composition of the milk has a tendency to produce very strong flavours. The secret of this soft, supple cheese is that it starts with exceptional quality fresh milk collected from the farm’s pristine herd of 350 Alpine Chamoisée and Murciano-Granadina breeds.
The traditional coat of fine charcoal encourages a unique rind to form a protective coat, while selected strains of Penicillium Roqueforti mould form an intricate web of dark blue veins inside. The result is a triumph of modern farm cheese-making techniques. Will selected Le Marquis Bleu de Chèvre, for its enticing, mild, savoury blue flavours, which gradually develop as the cheese ages.
Le Marquis Farmhouse Brie de Rambouillet
In France, it is increasingly hard to find farmstead cheese made with milk from a single farm. Most examples are produced in very small quantities from raw milk, and these are rarely found outside the area of production.
This soft, surface mould-ripened cheese, specially selected by Will, is a wonderful exception. It is hand made in a modern, purpose-built ‘fermier’ that lies in the shade of the Rambouillet deer forest, south west of Paris. The original ‘Fromages de Brye’ made on small farms in the countryside outside the city varied in size depending on the season, and amount of milk available. Following in this tradition Le Marquis Brie de Rambouillet is made in two sizes using fresh pasteurised milk sourced exclusively from a small herd of pampered cows.
The unique combination of moulds, cultures and a traditional poplar wood box helps to ensure that the chalky centre of the young cheese slowly breaks down to a soft gooey texture over 3-4 weeks of careful ripening. One can tell when Le Marquis Brie is at its optimum because it has a distinct fungal aroma and is soft when pressed. The ‘cowy’ barnyard flavours of the mature cheese are a perfect reminder of why ‘fermier’ cheese is so special.
Aphrodite Barrel-Aged Feta
Aphrodite Greek Barrel-Aged Feta is a rare example of traditional feta. The authentic milky flavours, crumbly and slightly open texture, and yeasty finish are a revelation.
Greek feta is one of the oldest and most popular of all European PDO cheeses with origins that date back to a time when nomadic shepherds roamed the hills of northern Greece. Today, most examples are produced on a commodity scale and are predictable in texture and flavour, but Aphrodite Feta is remarkably different and deliciously superior. It is authentic, ‘real’ feta at its finest and most authentic.
Cheesemaking for Aphrodite Greek Barrel-Aged Feta begins with only the best-quality mountain ewe’s milk and a small amount of goat’s milk, depending on the season. This milk is beautifully and naturally infused with the aromatic flavours of wild herbs, flowers, and grasses ingested by free-ranging flocks.
The fresh curds are drained in special triangular wedges and sprinkled with sea salt from Missolonghi before being left to drain overnight. They are then hand-salted again and layered in beechwood barrels.
The inside of these barrels contain a unique microflora, introduced by smearing the staves with ourda, a mizithra whey cheese. After topping up with whey, the barrels are left at ambient temperature to encourage secondary fermentation, while wooden staves allow the cheese to breathe. Finally the barrels are transferred to cooler, humid cellars to mature for at least three months, resulting in a different and far superior texture and flavour compared to industrial feta, which is matured in tins or plastic.
Aphrodite Halloumi
Aphrodite Halloumi was originally created by Cypriot shepherds as a unique and very practical way of preserving surplus milk during the spring, but today most examples are made throughout the year using cow’s milk.
Aphrodite Halloumi is one of the few examples of halloumi still formed into pockets by hand, the traditional old-fashioned way. It is made from a combination of goat’s and ewe’s milk.
Ewe’s milk is high in fat, which causes a delicious brown crust to form when the cheese is grilled or fried, while the goat’s milk provides a firm yet elastic texture, and a subtle lingering lemony tang.
