Royston Reports, Newsletter No. 16
Greetings from Sri Lanka.
As an expatriate British resident of Sri Lanka for 40 years, I have never felt homesick for Britain. However, when Christmas comes around each year, I do yearn for the traditional Christmas fare. Of course, we can buy imported Christmas pudding, turkey and ham here, and even Stilton cheese, although that’s very expensive.
This Christmas, I am looking forward to enjoying, with a glass of port, a locally produced blue cheese which has the richness and pungency of Stilton. It is called Queen Blue and is manufactured in the foothills of Madipola, Matale, north of Kandy by Master Cheesemaker Maia Donadze.
Maia hails from Georgia and her passion is to bring European handmade artisanal cheeses to the tables of Sri Lankans and expat cheese connoisseurs. That’s a formidable task in Sri Lanka where local palate preference is for imported, mass-produced, processed cheese in slices or wedges, but she is gradually finding a loyal following of cheese lovers who place regular orders through her website
Her boast is that if you order through her online store before 18.00hrs, the cheese will be delivered to your door (that’s if you’re in Sri Lanka) the very next day. I’ve tried the system many times, and it works. The cheeses come in a rigid-foam box with an ice pack to keep them cool on the journey, although the ice has melted by the time the box arrives.
No problem. Just pop the cheese in a fridge to firm up again and it will keep for months. However, I enjoy Miaia cheeses so much, they never stay for very long in my fridge.
Maia cheeses are unique in Sri Lanka as they are made with just full-fat milk and no culture. She uses only vegetable rennet allowing the cheeses to develop their own flavour.
Thanks to Maia, for Christmas this year, I have a supply of Maia’s Queen Blue. It is indeed a royal cheese. I let it acclimatise to room temperature for a few minutes before tasting. It has more texture than a Danish Blue, Gorgonzola or a Roquefort, and is just as robust in taste as a Stilton. Do give it a try when you’re here.
This luxury of European style cheese produced in Sri Lanka costs around Rs2,600 (US$14.42; UK£11.20 a kilogramme, and that includes delivery to anywhere in Sri Lanka, even to a guest in a hotel or guest house. A perfect present for Europeans in Sri Lanka at Christmas, and a marvellous cheese to relish at any time of the year.
