Cheese FAQs

The truckle is the round one, 200g, and the barrel is the smaller one at 145g, shaped more like a short log. Both are cheddar and both are waxed.

The truckle gives you more of it and comes in far more flavours. The barrel is a cheaper way to try something before you commit.

No, do not eat the wax. Peel it off before serving.

It is there to stop the cheese drying out and to protect the flavour while it sits around. It also makes the cheese much easier to cut, because you get a clean edge instead of a crumbling one.

In the fridge, below 5°C, wrapped once you have opened it. Use a drawer rather than the door: the door swings through a much bigger temperature range every time somebody fancies a snack.

Unopened, each one carries its own best before date on the pack, so go by that. Once you have cut into it, eat it within ten to fourteen days.

Yes. Around six months is fine and it comes back well. Thaw it overnight in the fridge rather than on the worktop, so it holds on to its moisture.

Three to five cheeses is plenty. Any more and nobody remembers what they have eaten.

Mix the styles up, put the mildest at one end and the strongest at the other, and give people chutney, pickles and decent biscuits to go with it. Something sweet like Jam Roly Poly works nicely at the far end, as pudding.

We cannot give you a straight answer on that yet, and we would rather say so than guess. Check the pack, or ask us at the stall and we will find out for you.