All language subtitles for Top.of.the.Shop.with.Tom.Kerridge.S01E02.Cheese.1080p.WEBRip.x264-CBFM

There's a food revolution going on,
with more and more Brits making

delicious, handmade products
at home.

It's just that magic
of flour and water.

Chutney. Yummylicious.

But going from kitchen table
to bona fide business is tough.

Starting a new business is the most
terrifying thing I've ever done.

I'm not breaking even and I'm not
making any profit.

So that's where this place comes in.

This is a working food shop in the
heart of the Yorkshire Dales.

Come and have a look in here.

Shopkeeper Chris
offers cheese, meats,

and other treats
in this idyllic setting.

You're never going to get this in
London.

But it's about to become a
battleground for Britain's

up-and-coming
artisan food producers.

Bring it on! Deep breaths.

Here, they'll compete as they
promote and sell their tasty
wares... Oh, hello. Hello.

Hey, it's something a bit different.
Try this. ..and test the market on

some straight-talking real
customers.

Please help yourself, guys.
How do you find it? Not feeling
it? I don't like it.

Come and have a sniff of that. Whoa!
This is goat's cheese.

Oh, no!

To succeed... Down in one.

Yeah. Oh, wow. Never tasted anything
like that before in my life!

..they need the local community to
part with their money...

Thank you. Six bottles!

One customer!

..and they must impress
two expert judges -

founder of the School Of Artisan
Food, Alison Swan Parente...

There are people out there, in their
back yards, in their kitchens.

They've got a real wish to create.

..and restauranteur Nisha Katona.

It's one thing to have
a really great product,

but you need a
commercially viable business.

Across seven heats, the judges will
decide which fledgling business has

the most potential in the shop...
What a nightmare.

The cream's too thick.
We've got an emergency!

..and in production at home...

Oh, my word!
Is that what you cook on?

Yes. ..as they compete to win a
place in the grand final.

These food producers have to impress
the Great British buying public as

well as our judges if they are to
prove that they are best in shop.

In this heat, testing out their
small-scale business on the locals

of Malhamdale are four cheesemakers,

in their bid to be named
Best Up-And-Coming Artisan.

With over 700 named British cheeses,
it's big business in the UK,

and it regularly features on our
weekly shopping list.

But nothing about
making cheese is easy.

98% of households
bought cheese last year.

Do you know what I find astonishing
about that?

I don't know what the other 2% were
doing. What are they
doing if they're not buying cheese?

The whole cheese scene has erupted,
really, and it's just fantastic.

Now, for all the artisan producers
out there,

cheese-making is
wrought with danger.

The scientific process is so
difficult.

It's all very well coming up with a
fantastic cheese,

but then to make it every week,
every month, get it right, is

really, really difficult.

All four cheesemakers want to prove
their product is best...

Well, we're here already.

SHE LAUGHS

..and they've got two days in the
shop to do it.

Grab that bag for us.

Hello, there. Pedro. Pleased to meet
you, Pedro.

How are you? I'm Julie. Hello,
Julie. Nice to meet you. Hi, hi.

Here, let me take that off your
hands. That's my cheese!

Don't be nervous. It's all right.
It's all right. Don't you worry.

You're in safe hands.
What have we got in here?

This is my baby. This is the girl
that gives us all the milk.

All the milk comes from that one
goat?

That girl, yeah. Amazing.

And that's Rosie. She's away at the
moment, at a friend's.

My friend rang me this morning and
said she's been there for eight

hours, bleating. So she's on a
really depressing goat sleepover?

Ramekins there.
We'll get Rosie up there.

Pedro is focusing on his
smallholding to promote his

flavoured goat's cheese.

We use a pure goat's cheese, but
then we put smoked paprika,

smoked garlic, some chives, a little
bit of smoked chilli on the top.

To take the cheese and then take it
to another level of flavour?

Another level. You've got it.

Competitive is something that I
have always had in me,

and I can say that my cheese is as
good as any cheese in there.

It's amazing what you'll do to
sell cheese, isn't it?

LAUGHTER

Chris, first time you've had one of
these in the shop?

We've had them
in the car park before!

LAUGHTER

Jo is a B&B owner and part-time
health and safety adviser,

but also makes her own take on
Cheddar from Wales.

It's a life-size Friesian calf.

Is it Welsh? Of course it's Welsh!

Course it is! Everything's Welsh!

She's going all out
to show off her cheese.

Cor blimey! How big's your car?

Look, there's your lovely little
cheese brush as well here.

Oh, yes. For these cheeses.

Thank you. Just in case you need
something else to go on your stall!

Everything about my stall is either
about cheese or it's about cows,

and hopefully

I can persuade people to taste my
cheese and try something different.

Most of the cheeses are being sold
in prepacked portions...

Your cheese is in the fridge.
I know, I can see.
You can see it already.

I can see it. ..but Julie is
selling her applewood smoked cheese

by weight.

That's what you're aiming for.

Has Chris got to wrap each one up
when he sells it, like that?

Yeah. Mate, honestly, you're going
to be so busy.

I'll give you a lesson!

You're going to be so busy!

LAUGHTER

Julie is keeping things simple,

having never sold in a shop before.

Little stone mice?
My children bought them for me.

Aw, look at them! They said,
"You've got to take the
lucky mouse with you."

At the moment, I think I've got an
adrenaline rush.

Yep, bring it on.
We're in it to win it.

Oh, I don't know what to do with
this. That'll do.

Science lecturer Gillian makes plain
goat's cheese from her

own herd. Pasteurised or
unpasteurised?

It's unpasteurised.
Unpasteurised, OK. Yes.

When I can get in. When...yeah,
if you can actually open it!
SHE LAUGHS

Do you need a locksmith?

Uh, probably. Job done.

Yeah.

That is an amazing goat's cheese.

Do you think so? Yeah.

Don't tell anybody,
but I've had seconds!

She's promoting it
with a pared-back display.

So those are your goats, then?

They are, yeah. I do everything from
start to finish.

The only thing

I don't do is sell the cheese.

LAUGHTER

I think it's a good cheese,

but I don't normally sell directly
to people.

So it's very different, very alien.

Morning, Jeffrey. Morning, Muriel.
Good to see you.

Right, then, cheesemakers.
The shop is now open.

Good morning. Would you like to try
some Cheddar cheese?

Made in Wales. Very nice.

Thank you. Please help yourself,
guys.

The judges are looking for the most
viable business,

so the marketing and the product
itself will be under scrutiny.

It's an applewood smoked cheese.

It will go wonderful with that
bread. That's nice.

If they want to grow their business,
testing out new markets is crucial,

so the shoppers' views
will also count.

It is gorgeous, actually.
Really lovely and creamy.

There we go. Well, I'm not very keen
on smoked cheese,

so that's why I didn't
go for smoked cheese.

Would you like to try?
I certainly would.

To me, if it's Cheddar, it should
come from Cheddar Gorge.

If it's from Wales, why isn't it
called Welsh

or something like that?

Do you like my calf?
I do. I like the animals. Great!

The Cheddar. Still, though, the
market is dominated by Cheddar.

It is the universal cheese,

the one that you're always going to
keep in the back of the fridge.

The majority's not quite the same as
some of my other cheeses,

but it's a very powerful, really
makes-your-ears-smile Cheddar.

Yeah, yeah. It hits you right in the
back of the mouth.

It does make you,
like, instantly smile.

Hello, cow. I've brought a life-size
calf with me.

It's about dragging people to your
stall and making your stall

hopefully stand out.

Would you like to try some Cheddar
before you go?

Oh, yeah. Once Jo's got their
attention,

she can talk about the process till
the cows come home.

I can tell you every step of the
way.

I can tell you about the cows.

I produce once or twice a month,

and I can do 400 litres of
milk at a time. Right.

Jo's Cheddar cheese has a relatively
low profit margin.

With ingredients alone costing
35p per hundred grams,

which she sells for £2.

But Cheddar is the market leader,
so people buy it in volume.

For Jo, North Wales, where she
lives, is key to her brand.

I've got a passion
for all things local.

I know about the cows. I see
them being born,

I'll see them being milked,
and it's Welsh through and through.

Her milk may be local, but the dairy
she rents is a three-hour

round-trip.

When I make cheese, I collect the
milk at 5:30 in the morning.

I will then travel up to the dairy,

not getting home until about
seven o'clock in the evening.

I just want it to be a really
successful business,

because I know I've got
a really good product.

To judge the product for herself,
and talk business,

Nisha visited Jo a few days ago.

Hi, Jo. Nice to meet you.

The first stage of making any cheese
is to add bacteria to produce

lactic acid.

I put a very small amount of culture
into the cheese, and rennet,

which helps the setting process.

Rennet is an enzyme which turns milk
into curds and whey.

It's clotted, and I test it by
pulling it away from the side

as it comes out, quite neatly, then
it's ready for cutting.

Despite it being made in Wales, it's
the process that makes it Cheddar.

First, the cut curds are heated.

It's at 32 degrees now,

and I need to take it up to
40 degrees over an hour.

How many hours
do you stir for a day?

Up to two, nonstop.

It's a demanding mistress,
is Cheddar, isn't it? Yes.

What is your ambition?

I'd love to have a dairy at home.

But I want to stay small,
stay hand-produced,

and still produce
an artisan product.

Jo drains the whey and begins a
process called cheddaring.

I've put a channel
down the middle, and now

I'm cutting the
side pieces into blocks.

Stacking and turning these blocks
expels more moisture.

This is the hard-work bit,
but it is really satisfying.

It's just backbreaking, is it? Yes,
it's just...yeah, just backbreaking.

It's then milled, salted
and pressed into moulds.

So, Jo, the pressed
cheeses go where?

I store them in a cheese cave
in the cellar at the B&B.

The flavour is generated
by being patient.

Jo leaves her cheese for two
years, so it should taste mature,

with a nutty flavour and tangy bite.

It is nerve-racking, having a judge
tasting my cheese.

I really hope that Nisha likes it.

You get a nice, clean break on that,

and it's very powerful.

Hmm. I'm getting caramel notes,
and it's buttery on the tongue.

With a good mature Cheddar,
you want a kind of nutty finish,

and I'm absolutely getting that.

The difficulty is,
it's a Cheddar cheese,

and when you have a common cheese,
much is expected.

So it's really important that Jo can
engage with people in the shop about

the flavour of the cheese.

But instead of focusing on her
unique flavour...

Cows are from about five minutes
from where we live.

They're just off Hope Mountain,
on the next mountain.

Right. OK.

..Jo's getting bogged down
with the process.

I was blown away by
how they were milked.

I was like, "Cows with computers?!"

But I don't see how you can milk a
cow with a computer.

No, no, it's still milked... It's
not milked with the computer.

Hello again, Jenny. How are you?
Nice to see you. Are you OK?

I'm hearing a fantastic story
about computerised cows.

She understands what's going on,
she just can't express it very well.

She needs to get that excited about
the flavour.

She needs to be able to tell us how
wonderful this cheese

is going to taste.

Try some. It's a traditional goat's
cheese.

You like cheese?
There we go, missus.

She gets a big piece.

Would you like to try some cheese?

Across the shop,
Gillian's struggling.

This is goat's cheese.
Oh, no. I'm not a very pushy person.

I do find it very hard,
selling...cheese,

selling anything.
Would you like to try some?

I don't think I will. All right.

The goat shed or the dairy is where
I'd rather be.

Goat's cheese, how does that
normally sell?

The goat is a little bit
of a Marmite thing,

in that some people will not touch
goat's cheese.

But if you like goat's cheese,
that's a great one.

Gillian has a seemingly
high profit margin,

as she charges a
hefty £6 per 100g.

Her main cost is keeping a goat,
but it's time that Julia invests,

alongside her day job.
Come on!

I make about 80 cheeses a week,

but it's difficult,
because of my day job.

It's a balance between making as
much cheese as I can,

but also being able to get

to bed at night.

SHE LAUGHS

A few shops local to her
in West Yorkshire stock her cheese.

It's absolutely a handmade cheese
from start to finish.

It's got the minimum ingredients
in it necessary,

and that's what makes it special.

Right, then, girls.
Are we going out?

It would be nice to win, because I
would like to grow the business,

and to eventually
give up the day job.

Hello, Gillian. Oh, hello!

Nisha went to assess her chance of
that and watch her work.

These are your milk goats, are they?

So these are the female kids that
were born this year.

Gillian milks her goats
twice a day...

So how long does take you
to milk them all?

It takes about an hour.

..before heading to her own bespoke
dairy in her cellar.

I've never been anywhere
so clean in my life.

So I can get you into a white coat
and hat and things like that.

Yes, at the very least!

Hose me down, Gillian! Yes.

THEY LAUGH

Gillian is a bit of a purist -

she doesn't pasteurise her milk
before adding starter culture.

What's in it? A cocktail of lactic
acid-producing bacteria.

And the acidification
will produce the curd.

After 12 hours, she adds the rennet.

You need to give the curd and the
cheese the right environment for the

natural bacteria to express
themselves, and if you do that,

you'll get the build-up of flavour.

Once the curds have
separated from the whey,

they're drained in moulds
for two days

before being salted, turned out
and left for another two days.

During that period,
you'll start to see the rind

blooming on the surface
of the cheese.

So they'll be ready to go into the
maturing fridge, to help that

development of the rind.

The whole process takes 11 days.

Would you like to take on staff
to help you?

I'm quite, um, cautious.

If you want to make
a consistent product,

you need to do it in a methodical
and consistent way.

A good goat's cheese should have a
tangy flavour, creamy texture,

and a bloomy rind.

Because there's so much labour gone
into the cheese,

if somebody doesn't like it,
it is quite upsetting.

Mmm.

That is a hugely complex cheese.

It is full of flavour,
it is full of tang.

It's pillowy, it's smooth,
it's creamy.

It takes no prisoners, this goat's
cheese - it is strong,

it has a lot to say.

A lot of Gillian's passion is about
the process and the science of it.

I'd be interested to see whether she
manages to show some of that passion

on the shop floor.

Goat's cheese fans
are falling in love with it.

I love the goat's cheese.
The goat's cheese is really nice.

I think some plain-cooked beetroot
and a little goat's cheese will be

an absolute treat!

Just think that sounds lovely.

They're very picky
about what they eat.

But selling to other shoppers isn't
Gillian's forte.

What they can do with their tongue
and their lips is quite amazing.
Mmm, mmm.

It's a breed of goat that
produces large litters of kids.

I'm finding it hard,
knowing what to say,

and remembering to say things that
will sell the product.

Gillian, just looking at your
sampling, if I was a punter,

what would you do? Yes, I would pick
the cheese up and just cut a little

bit off. The idea is,

instead of being able to pick a
piece of cheese up and walk off,

they have to stand and talk to me,
but...

SHE LAUGHS
..it's very alien to me, is this.

I'm having a mixed level of success.

I do think that her
board is far too dense.

I would like it to be less text and
more bullet points.

She needs to really work on how
she's going to market this cheese.

The farm shop and tea room is a key
business in the local community...

Look at that! Nice bit of cheese.

..and I want to make sure no-one is
missing out on our cheese fest.

Do you like cheese?
I love it. Yeah. You love cheese?

Yeah. Come on. Come on up.
Come and see us.

What's your favourite cheese? Uh...
Goat's cheese? Perfect!

Right up your street!

LAUGHTER

The idea of goat's cheese isn't
drumming up business...

..but local chef Mark
has swung by...

Just tasting? Oh, yeah, oh,

yeah, some of that.

HE LAUGHS

..and likes Julie's smoked cheese.

That's £13.97.

You've bought a proper lump of
smoked cheese.

What are you going to do with it?
We're going to stuff it inside a

dumpling... Yeah? ..and serve it
with ox cheek. Oh, mate!

Do you need a secondary
professional opinion?

Sounds good. Great. All right,
I'm coming round, then.

See you later on, Chef! I look
forward to it. Cheers, chief.
Thank you.

Hello, lovely. How are you?

What about Pedro's
flavoured goat's cheese?

Goat's cheese isn't for everyone,

and flavoured goat's cheese isn't
for everyone out of that everyone.

Or, because it's got smoked paprika
in, because it's got garlic in,

it might drive sale.

She's on holiday at the moment.
HE CHUCKLES

Do you know what? I'm feeling pretty
good at the moment, actually.

Buzzing, I guess is the
word we'd use.

He's following his sales strategy,
focusing on his smallholding.

I've got a few sheep as well, me and
a friend, and we make yoghurt and we

make ice cream as well,
when we can.

His goat was called Rosie!

LAUGHTER

So that was nice. And there was a
duck he was quite fond of.

Yeah, it was really nice.

And the goat was kissing his cheek.

LAUGHTER

Pedro's goat's cheese is flavoured
with smoke paprika and garlic and

chives, which he sells for
£3 per 100g -

half the price of Gillian's cheese.

With a lower revenue, he
needs to sell in volume -

tricky, working from home
with just one goat.

Oh, just give it a scratch.

Rosie is my soul mate.

She knows more about me than most
people do!

I couldn't make
the cheese without her.

Environment officer by day,

Pedro squeezes cheese-making
into his spare time.

Currently, this is more of a hobby
than a business.

I'm not actually breaking even
and I'm not making any profit.

Winning a contest like this,
I could expand the dairy,

and that would be just wonderful.

Good girl.

Alison visited him at home in
Oxfordshire to judge how it's made.

Lovely to meet you. I'm Alison.

This is Rosie.
She's a Saanen, a British Saanen.

Oh, she's gorgeous!

So, Pedro, where did you learn how
to do all of this?

My nana used to do this years ago.

She had a smallholding.
Did she make cheese?

Yes. Pedro takes Rosie's milk to his
custom-built dairy.

Wow. This is not a big dairy.

No, you're right there!
It is, in fact, a small dairy.

A very small dairy. Indeed, very
bijou. Let me come in. Please do.

Unlike Gillian,
Pedro pasteurises his milk,

heating it to
72 degrees centigrade...

Nothing is rushed.
You've got to be gentle.

You can't rush things.

..but then the process is the same -

starter culture and rennet
to form the curds.

I pour most of this off, thus.

Oh, look!
And you can see the curd there.

That's the miracle of
transformation. Absolutely.

Once drained, the scale of Pedro's
operation is apparent.

And this is quite a small batch,

probably about two litres of milk in
there, to make that little cheese.

That is extraordinary, isn't it?
Yeah. How much do you think that
weighs? 160g?

Something like that? Next, salt,

and the all-important herbs and
spices are added.

Smoked paprika.
We don't need too much.

Same with the chives.

Finally, the smoked garlic.

What got you to that exact formula?

Well, bit of experimentation, and
this one came out as the tops.

Finally, the cheese
is shaped by hand.

Mr Cheese pops in there.

Pedro's young cheese takes
just two days to make.

It should have the goat's cheese
taste and tang without being

overpowered by his flavourings.

I think she will
like my goat's cheese.

I'm quietly confident.
I hope, anyway.

That's very good. The flavourings
don't overwhelm it,

and I think those tastes
are very complementary.

A little bit salty, but the goat's

cheese bit of it
is really fantastic.

Goat's cheese isn't
everybody's cup of tea.

Some people find it
a little bit too goaty.

What Pedro's going to have to do in
the shop is to persuade people that

his goat's cheese is really very
different from that.

Sure enough,
Pedro's pushing his flavours...

You wouldn't know it's
goat's cheese, I can tell you.

You'll get paprika, you'll
get smoked garlic in it.

..and relying on his samples
to win over the crowd.

Try some cheese, please.
I've got some crackers.

The smoked paprika goat's cheese
was kind of served with a cracker,

but I didn't really think
it added anything.

Flavoured goat's cheese was nice,

but it didn't stand out for me as
much as the other three.

Pedro's cheese is rather delicious,

but it's not really shown off to its
best advantage on rather thick,

tasteless, floury crackers.

I think the charm for me is the fact
that this is one goat that produces

this one cheese. Perhaps that should
be the focus of his stall.

It's a vintage Cheddar. Really? Mmm.

Goats don't like rain and they don't
like howling wind either.

Over there, and we'll cut it exactly
the size you want. OK.

If he suddenly thinks he wants an
extra bit for his cheese board when

he gets home later. Julie's decision
to sell by weight is paying off...

Everything's totally handmade,
but then it's every weekend.

Keep you out of mischief!
Ain't got any time for mischief, me.

I'm too busy!

..and she's charming the customers.

Try a bit. Thank you. The sales have
been going quite well.

All I'm going to do is just go in
there, enjoy meeting some customers,

and just sell as much cheese
as I can.

There's something about smoked
cheese that's a little bit

novelty factor. It's a good staple
to have on a cheese board.

It's great on a cheese board, but
it's also good for cooking with.

It's a good smoked cheese.

It may be versatile,

but Julie's Applewood smoked cheese
is a bit of a hybrid -

softer in texture than Cheddar,
with a smoky flavour.

She's charging £2 per 100g,
the same as Jo.

She makes it at her home
in Hampshire,

alongside a full-time job.

I'm quite, sort of, at the

beginning of the journey
in terms of selling.

It's friends, it's family.

I want to show that it is possible

to make a good quality
cheese at home.

I am very competitive,

and I'm 100% confident that
I'm producing a unique product.

To judge for herself,
Alison visited Julie.

Is this your cheese shed?
Yeah. You can have a man shed,

this is my cheese shed.
I see that's a blue top milk.

It's a whole milk from any
supermarket.

Have you ever thought about making
it with raw milk or organic milk?

The set-up that I have here is not
suitable for using raw milk.

To create her unique hybrid,

Julie uses a soft cheese
starter culture...

Very good. I really enjoyed that.

..but she then uses
a hard cheese method,

heating the curds and whey before
draining in a cheesecloth.

I wanted a natural weight.

We tie that. Cunning!

I know that that's
absolutely spot-on.

24 hours later, it's salted...

I absolutely adore this bit,
because this is the hands-on bit.

Yes. ..and pressed into moulds
for four weeks,

then it's ready to smoke.

Tell me a tiny bit
about why you smoke it.

My daughter loved
Applewood smoked cheese,

but I found out that the cheese in
the supermarket was injected with

chemical smoke, and so

I decided to produce a cheese
that was smoked naturally.

Julie cold-smokes the cheese,

burning Applewood chippings in the
smoker at a low temperature.

It does have a lovely
smoky colour to it...

and a lovely smoky aroma.

Do you think you'd be able to
up your production?

I could probably scale up another
50%, you know.

It does take up most of my weekends,

so that would mean actually
scaling back on work.

Any smoked cheese should have a
delicate smoky flavour without just

tasting of smoke.

This is probably the most
nerve-racking,

wondering what she
thinks of the product.

It's a very mild flavour.

It hasn't got very much development,

but it's got this really rather
pleasant smoky taste.

The smoke isn't at all overwhelming,
but it's definitely there,

and gives it a real
character of its own.

People are very attached to various
kinds of cheeses.

Some people like Lancashire cheese,
some people like German cheese.

The thing about this cheese is
it's got a bit of both in it, so

that could either work in its

favour or it could really
be a problem.

Good morning. Good morning.

These are cold-smoked over
Applewood.

OK. So it sort of kisses the
outside.

So far, Julie's hybrid cheese is
finding a market...

What chutney have you got there?

Yorkshire. Perfect match.

CUSTOMER LAUGHS

..but not all aspects of launching a
business come as naturally.

Now, when I came to see you,
I didn't see this. Who did that?

It was me. I wanted it to depict
the Julie's Pantry idea,

that I live in my house that has a
lovely fruit and vegetable garden,

stuff like that. I must say,

the thing that confused me a little
bit were her new labels.

They've got all kinds of things on
them. They've got oranges, they've

got carrots - nothing really to do
with cheese.

She needs to really rethink the
whole of that branding.

Are you coming in for
a cup of tea, George?

Righto! I'll come now, love.

It's afternoon,

and with two goats' cheeses against
two cows' cheeses...

That'll be lovely.

Life has never been the same

since I had this cheese.

LAUGHTER

..the battle lines are drawn.

Wee bit spicy?
Just a wee bit spicy, yeah.

That's Rosie the goat.
It's made with raw milk,

and that's pretty much it.

I don't do goats.

I've got a thing about goats.

I didn't try the goat cheese.
Ooh! Sorry! Sorry, goat people!

It goes beautiful
with the shop honey,

but make sure you pick the one with
the heather in. Thank you.

In line with the market,
the cows' cheeses are leading.

I wasn't expecting to find a Welsh
Cheddar here in North Yorkshire,

sort of thing,
but it tasted really good.

And there's no stopping Julie.

You can have things like
cheese and onion pie.

Mmm. Or something like macaroni
cheese. Mmm!

It's smoky Julie! Yeah, smoky Julie.
Yeah. We must get some.

She just has one of those kind of
personalities that you

just want to go and hug.

It's a wonder to watch her convert
interest into actual sales.

I live in a little,
tiny village in Hampshire.

She's like a magnet for
customers in the shop.

So I need to increase

my magnetic field strength!

SHE LAUGHS

Gillian, what's it come to that
we're starting on the gin already?!

No, no, I've left my husband at home

looking after the girls!

LAUGHTER

Uh-huh. This is to show him

he's appreciated. Oh, yeah!

LAUGHTER

Just before the shop shuts,
a tense moment.

To test how well the cheese makers
take constructive feedback,

the judges are giving them their
thoughts. Hi, Pedro.

I've noticed that you are sampling
on this sort of floury kind of

biscuit here. Yeah, yeah. So I think
that if you put it with something

that was a contrasting kind of
taste... Yes, yes, yes, yes.

..that that might show it off
better. Yes.

And I love the way that Rosie is
centre stage.

I'm not sure she couldn't be even
more centre-stage,

because there's quite a lot of
ancillary information here,

which could be a bit confusing.
Yeah, yes. Point taken, actually.

Jo, you were talking about process.

I think it's worth you developing
the language around the flavours in

your cheese, because there are so
many of them.

The other thing I noticed, very
often you would say, "Well,

"the cheese is very good with honey,
or jam, etc."

Perhaps those are things that you
could have out for sampling.

OK. No, I take that on board.

Hi, Julie.

The one thing I think could be made
slightly different is the label.

Oranges and lemons and carrots, and
then it says, "Julie's Pantry",

and that really doesn't
say cheese at all.

OK.

Hi, Gillian. Hi. Your stall is
probably doing you a bit of a
disservice.

Images like this, honestly,
when it comes to food,

that's not that attractive.
No. They are.

Yeah. Your stall needs to show that
you are a bit more proud of it.

I can breathe, can I?

SHE LAUGHS

With one place in
the final on offer,

which includes stocking
the shop for a month,

proving they can act on advice

to boost their fledgling business
is crucial.

I think I need to improve,

tell a little bit more story about
the flavours that are in my cheese.

Alison said she wants
to see more of Rosie.

I'm quite happy to
show all of Rosie.

I'll plaster my stall with Rosie.

The people of Yorkshire
seem to like the cheese.

It's going really well.
I think I'm in with a good chance.

I do want to win. I just need to be
a little bit more...

..pushy, positive,
I'm not sure what the word is.

It's getting late,

and while I head to chef Mark's
gaff for a cheesy dinner...

Ho-ho-ho-ho! The cheese is melted,
it's all stringy...

The dumpling is amazing, but that
cheese, that's delicious.

Thank you. I'll have two!

LAUGHTER

..Julie's asked a local graphic
designer to help her with her label.

I mean, cos it's made,
you know, at home,

so if I could get a visual
representation of that,

and then just put
"Handmade in Hampshire" there...

Total redo. Yeah.

It's day two.

Later, one of our cheese warriors
will earn a place in the final,

with the chance to be crowned
Best Up-And-Coming Artisan.

Feeling tired this morning.

Didn't get a lot of sleep. Just
going over things, what I can

hopefully learn today.

I'm feeling really, really positive
about today.

Just want to get in there.

My competitiveness has actually gone
up a level.

I'm thinking, you know, we've got a
good chance of winning, so, yeah,

I'd love it. It would be great.

I really do want to win, so I need

to up the ante, really,
and...and do better.

Before the shop opens today, they
have another marketing challenge -

all four must create a dish for the
shop tearoom that shows off their

cheese, with the sole purpose of
enticing diners to buy their product

from their stall on the way out.

I need to put my glasses on, cos
I can't see anything.

First up, Julie and Jo.

There is a little bit of
Cheddar in the pastry,

so you get the taste of the Cheddar
all the way through.

Looking forward to cooking my dish.
Practised it quite a bit at home,

and hopefully people enjoy it and
buy it in the cafe.

Jo's showing off her Welsh Cheddar
in cheese and leek tartlets.

Morning, ladies. Good morning.
How are we getting on? Oh, hello!

What have we got going on over here?
Leeks. Let me guess, are they from

Wales? They're Welsh leeks,

with Welsh garlic.

HE LAUGHS

Is it Welsh butter? It is.
It's all Welsh. This is all...

Is everything from Wales?
Is there anything left in Wales?

No, not at the moment!

LAUGHTER

Jo fills her pastry cases with leeks
sauteed in garlic and her Cheddar.

And they will just go in now to melt
the cheese,

and everything's ready to go.

To tempt diners to buy her cheese

back in the shop,
Julie's gone hearty -

a smoked cheese and onion pasty.

There is, like, almost as much

cheese as there is
mashed potato in there.

If you're a walker, you want to be
up there at the top of that hill

over there, and basically with a
pasty and a nice cup of coffee.

That's what you want to be.

She fills puff pastry
with mashed potato,

spring onions, mustard, and lashings
of her grated smoked cheese.

What are we making?
Pasties? Pasties.

Pasties. You have to say it with
the right accent,

mate, it's a pasty. It's a pasty.
Yeah, that's it. That'll do.

Although you could call it a
pah-sty.

Well, you could, but no-one would
know what you were talking about!

No, no, that's it!

Cheese melted,
Jo's ready to plate up.

I'm actually going to serve it in
the actual ramekin,

and just a tiny bit of this,
literally just for a bit of colour.

The judges will decide if they think
the dish does justice to the

product, and if they think it will
result in more sales in the shop.

It's delicious.
It's full of flavour.

Full of the taste of that Cheddar.
I'm getting a lot of garlic.

No, I'm getting a lot of Cheddar.
Mmm. I think it really is delicious,

and I think that it would make me go

and see what it was
like in the shop.

Julie's packed her pasties full of
her cheesy filling...

Give it a really good egg wash.

..then they're baked
for 20 minutes.

Is it all right if I have a little
taste of your filling?

You can really taste
the cheese come through.

It is a lot of cheese in there.

They smell heavenly.
I just want them for breakfast now!

This is a no-frills pasty, but it is

a very honest piece of food.

It's full of mashed potato.

So it's got this extraordinary
texture,

but it's not a bad vehicle for the
smoked cheese.

You might be right, but, honestly,

my fear is that you would eat that
and you wouldn't want to think about

cheese for a fortnight.

Next to cook, Gillian and Pedro.

I have a fear of sharp knives.

Do you? My husband tells me I'm more
at risk from trying to cut things

with a blunt knife
than a sharp knife.

Than a sharp one, yeah, he's
probably right there.

Oh, hello, chief. This looks
interesting.

What have we got in there? We've got
spiralized sweet potatoes.

Yeah. And they're going to roast
away in the oven.

Hoping to increase sales of his
cheese,

Pedro's created a concoction of
sweet potato, chorizo,

and his flavoured goat's cheese.

This dish is one of my own
inventions.

It's got a pretty weird name, which
people are going to be, like,

"What's that?" It's actually called
a goat's cheese Wurlitzer,

that's what I've called it.
A goat's cheese Wurlitzer?

All right, I love it! I tell you
what, I'd order a Wurlitzer!

I'm going to slice these up now.
Oh, I've cut my finger.

Oh, hold on. We've got an emergency!
Got a bleeder.

At least it wasn't me!

SHE LAUGHS

Turns out that I'm a better chef
than I am an A&E nurse,

by the looks of it.
I was a paramedic,

so I'll let you know if... Was you?
OK. Right... Tell you what,

we'll get a fresh knife,

and I'll do this little bit for you.

Thank you, Tom. If you need some
chopping as well, mate,

you just let us know.

This is onions for the onion confit.

Ever the purist, Gillian's dish is a
simple baked goat's cheese.

I do cook at home for the family,

but I'm not used to cooking in front
of a Michelin-starred chef!

Now, this sounds a very simple dish,

but what it sounds like it's doing
is allowing the goat's cheese to

just be the hero. To speak for
itself, yes, that would be very

nice. That would be very nice,
wouldn't it?

Pedro sautes chorizo,
onions and garlic...

There's not a bit of finger in
there, is there?

No, I think we kept that away.

..to go on the sweet potato with
his crumbled goat's cheese...

I'm going to put the
chives on the top.

..and his Wurlitzer creation
is born.

Pedro is a creative and colourful
character,

and this is a creative
and colourful dish here.

I wish it was more
aesthetically pleasing.

This flavour of the goat's cheese
comes straight through.

It's the first thing you get,

and so you're very aware that that's
the main ingredient.

You are completely aware of what
Pedro's goat's cheese tastes like,

and you can make the decision as to

whether you want
to go and purchase it.

The onions need to cool down
to room temperature.

Unlike Pedro, Gillian's
baked goat's cheese is restrained.

That's the finished dish.

It is such a puritanical,
anaemic-looking plate.

I've never seen anything like it.

There is nothing about the items on
this plate that particularly marry

with each other. The onions
are just fried onions.

The bread is not toasted.

There is so much that's wrong with
it, apart from the cheese.

I have another view here.
I love fried onions.

I think it goes extremely well
with the cheese.

What I see here is something
very, very uncompromising,

and I think that she is asking
us to really love this cheese.

All four dishes have been
dissected by the judges,

but the real test will come when
they go on sale

in the tearoom at lunchtime.

One, two, three. Oof!

God, it is heavy, isn't it?

Today is day two,

and this really is their last chance
to push those cheese sales.

The contest really is
beginning to heat up.

With the shop open, it's the crucial
moment when the judges will see if

the food producers have made any

changes after their feedback
yesterday...

Just show Rosie off there
a bit more.

..and whether it will affect sales.

That looks all right, doesn't it?
Yeah.

OK. That's fine.

Good morning. Are you all right?

This cheese, I've produced from this
little girl here.

I've only had one goat.

This is Rosie. After last night's
label redesign,

Julie's relaunching her brand.

A-ha! That makes me very pleased.

"Applewood smoked cheese."
That rather does describe it more

than the kind of green grocery that
we saw on the other round label.

I think it's more visual,
and it also makes it very easy when

you're directing them over to the
counter, so you can see it right

from one end of the shop to the
other.

How it affects sales
remains to be seen.

Have you ever had cheese with honey?

Jo needed to focus
her sales pitch on flavour.

Drizzle that over it. Mmm.
Nice. Very nice.

I would have never thought of
putting a really,

really nice Cheddar with honey,

but the combinations of the flavours
work beautifully.

Yeah. Her new samples seem to be
doing the trick.

Some Welsh Cheddar to take back
to your Yorkshire home.

That's it! That's a bit not
traditional.

I mean, we shouldn't really be
buying Welsh Cheddar, should we?
LAUGHTER

Don't worry!
Your secret's safe with us.

All right. That's all right, then.

Can I try your honey pairing?

I think it just complements the
actual flavour.

Mmm. It's absolutely
fantastic. That's very clever.

And I've been able to say, "It's got
a nutty flavour, so you can taste
the nuts in it."

And people are like, "Yeah, I can."

Just developing that language really
helps, doesn't it?

Yes, it does. All she's got to do is
keep it up.

There you go. There's your cheese.
Thank you very much.

Pedro also had sampling issues.

The sampling was probably on the
wrong cracker, wasn't it?

That's absolutely right. Yeah. And
so we've changed this morning.

We've got some sunflower seed
in our biscuits.

Better texture. That's better, yeah.

But his main job
was to focus on Rosie.

There is a family likeness. Do you
think there is? Yeah!

Everybody's coming in,
looking at Rosie.

I think she was guiding them in,
you know? Guiding them in.

Could we have one of the goat's
cheeses? £6.15, sir, thank you.

But one man and one goat only goes
to highlight the limitations of

Pedro's business. She's producing
all this lovely milk for me to make

the cheese. Bless her.

She must be shattered!

LAUGHTER

I'm very worried about Rosie. It's a
whole business based on Rosie!

As there's only going to be one goat
that's producing, poor Rosie...

She's going to have
to work really hard.

She's going to be absolutely bushed,

is the poor girl, yes!

THEY LAUGH

To focus her brand, Gillian's
simplified her marketing.

Lovely looking goats.
They are. They're beautiful.

And great characters.

Yes. So, today, there were some
changes to my stall.

Nice pictures of goats,

rather than pictures of me in a
silly hat in a dairy.

There we are. These are our friends,
aren't they?

Yes. And suddenly,
your cheese has a face.

I think it's certainly made a
difference in getting people over

here and caught their eye. And how's
your selling technique been?

I'm hanging on in there.
She has a difficulty selling.

She just needs to be brave enough to
try and engage people.

Hello. Would you like to try some
cheese?

On our way out.
On your way out, right, OK.

The Dales attract plenty
of outdoor enthusiasts...

So I don't know if you are going to
try it with a little bit of a honey

drizzle over the top. Yeah.

That's good. ..including a pair of
hungry rock climbers.

That's lovely. Thank you.
That's it, have a nibble.

Shall I take your cocktail sticks?
Sorry, I snapped it. Yeah, I
butchered mine.

LAUGHTER

Hello. Would you like to try some?
This is a goat's cheese.

Oh, yeah? Funny looking goats,
aren't they? They are, yes.

That's good stuff. That's lovely,
that. Thank you. You're welcome.

It's very nice. The tide could be
turning for Gillian.

Yeah, I might get that.
Hebden... The goat's?

Goats, yeah. And we'll get some
Welsh Cheddar.

And the Welsh Cheddar as well?
Normally, do you cook with it, do
you put it in sandwiches?

We'll make sandwiches. Be good for
this afternoon, I think. What are
you up to? We're just off climbing.

I tell you what, if Steve lets me
get on a break,

I might come and see you up there.
Do it. Absolutely.

Brilliant. £9.67, please.

Moths coming out of there, like!

Short arms, deep pockets.

LAUGHTER

Lunchtime, and the tea room is open
for business.

Thank you very much. Enjoy.

If the special dishes
go down well here,

it could drive diners
to buy in the shop too.

The Welsh cheese tartlets for you?

Jo's tartlets and Gillian's
baked cheeses are going down well.

It was absolutely gorgeous when I
tasted it in the shop.

It's very strong, very, very creamy.

Very nice. Even Pedro's Wurlitzer
hits the spot.

It was really one of the tastiest
dishes I've had for a long time.

But while those dishes
are selling themselves,

Julie's leaving nothing to chance...

I've got a smoky cheese
and spring onion pasty.

Perfect! Yeah, I think they're on
the specials board in there.

..so pasties are flying out
of the kitchen.

Smoky cheese and onion pasty,
please.

Fantastic. Can I have a
smoky cheese...

Is it cheese and onion pasty?
Yes, it is, yeah.

The pasty is absolutely delicious.

It really is. You can really taste
that smokiness of the cheese,

but it's delicate, it's not
overpowering.

Proving the power of promotion is
the cheese selling the most back in

the shop.
I had the Applewood smoked.

Did you? Gorgeous. Yeah.
100g?

In fact, can I have two of those,
please? You can.

For a more alfresco lunch,

I'm hanging out with
the rock climbing boys.

Left hand up, yeah, and just bring
your feet up now. Go on.

Nice one, Rob.

I'm nearly, nearly up.

OK. I'm not really doing it.

Now that was impressive.
Well done, chief.

How high up is that?
25 metres, something like that.

You've got a goat's cheese. Yeah,
it's lovely. Like, really strong
flavour, creaminess.

Tastes delicious? Yeah, lovely. What
about you? You've got the Cheddar.

There wasn't any Wensleydale,

was there, so...

LAUGHTER

You had to go for Welsh Cheddar!

The flavour of that - big, strong?
Yeah, amazing. Yeah, good.

I'm going to leave you to it. I'm
going to let you climb to the top,

now you've had your sustenance, I'm
sure you'll be able to get there.

It's Dan's turn now! It's Dan's
turn, yeah! Come on, out you go.

Chop chop, mate.

LAUGHTER

It's the final few hours
selling in the shop...

Afternoon. Good afternoon.
We assume you've been walking.

What makes you think that?

It's the hat.

LAUGHTER

..still time to prove they're the
best up-and-coming cheesemaker,

to win a place in the final.

It's rather nice, is that. Thank
you. Julie's new labels are proving
eye-catching. Smoked cheese?

Yeah, that's very nice.
Sure you don't want three?

For Pedro, Rosie is still working
her magic...

So, tell me a little bit more about
Rosie. Well, Rosie's on holiday at
the moment.

I know what'll happen when I get
home - she'll be sulking.

..while Jo's keeping her focus
on flavour.

Oh, very nice.
It's beautiful, isn't it?

A real complement to the cheese.

With more and more people
loving her cheese...

Oh, that's lovely. Oh, that's soft.
It's very creamy.

..Gillian's self-belief is growing.
Do you have a stool with three legs?

I've got a little buffet with

four legs, yes. OK.

SHE LAUGHS

Modernisation! Yeah. OK.

SHE LAUGHS

I think I have grown in confidence
in trying to promote my product.

There has been an improvement,
I have learned.

And it seems to be
translating into sales.

£15.61, thank you, sir.

Every last customer in this cheesy
battle counts.

Would you like to try some?
Delicious! Do you like that? Mmm!

While the versatile, harder cow
cheeses continue selling well...

£2.10.

You can have it on its own, on a
cheese board. I cook with it.

Cheese on toast. Anything, really.

..the goat cheeses
have nearly caught up...

Mmm! Nice? Yeah, it tingles, like a
little explosion.

..with Gillian's proving
particularly popular.

I just love the texture of that.
Yeah. It's lovely. Hello there, sir.

Hello. Are you the other half?

Yeah. He's paying. Am I?
Yeah, you're the bank.

Ah! There's very little that goes
into it, other than a great deal of

effort, care and attention.

Thank you.

So... We can get some potatoes now?
LAUGHTER

Right then, you amazing
cheesemakers,

that's it. The shop is now shut.

Today's been hectic.

We've had lots of good feedback from
everybody,

so quietly content with what people
have been saying about the cheese.

There's nothing we can do now to
make the difference,

so you've just got to wait for the
judges to make up their minds.

Alison and Nisha have judged how the
cheeses are made and promoted.

Now Chris will work out
who's sold most.

The talk before was goat's cheese
doesn't sell that much.

Well, these figures
prove that wrong. They do.

All four cheeses, there's not much
to choose between them at all.

No, they've done really, really
well.

This is going to be very close.

Taking it all into account,

the judges must decide which
business is most viable,

and who deserves
a place in the final.

Cheese, a massive seller.

Everybody has it.

Expectations and standards
have been very high,

which has made our job a misery.
SHE LAUGHS

I know you'll be desperate to know
the figures of who came where and
what.

Third place is Pedro
and his goat's cheese.

Second place
is Gillian's goat's cheese,

and tied first place is the

Applewood smoked
and the Welsh Cheddar.

Good heavens!

LAUGHTER

The amazing thing for me is the fact
that those goat's cheese numbers

were very close to those
cows' milk numbers.

I think that's really impressive.

So, ladies, what did you make of
Jo's Welsh Cheddar?

I thought the flavour
was absolutely stunning.

The taste went right
to the back of your mouth.

It was most impressive.

To see Jo blossom here into somebody
that learned to speak about the

flavours within her cheese,
it's been a real joy.

Could she go on to greater
strengths?

Her ambition is modest.

What she really wants is just to
have a dairy in her own home.

At the moment, she travels three
hours, so, you know, life and limb

are stretched because of her
cheese-making.

Pedro and his goat's cheese -
doesn't get more artisan, does it,

than one bloke, one goat and one
tiny little dairy.

He has a very, very fresh and
delightful goat's cheese.

But is this viable?
Is this scalable up?

I mean, if this is going to go
big-time, poor old Rosie...

I'm afraid this is not a viable,
scalable business,

until Pedro gets some more goats.

So, Julie's smoked cheese.
Now, what did you make of that?

It was easy eating. For the
mass-market, that's a great thing.

People were looking at it as
actually a cooking ingredient as

well as a cheese board cheese.

Now then, Julie's pasty.

What did you think? I think that
pasty did showcase the smoke of that

cheese rather beautifully.
And it led to sales in the shop.

Good for Julie. Now, then, as a
business, could it work?

Julie makes her cheese all weekend
long, and by the time Friday has

come, she has sold out of cheese.

I'm not quite sure that she has the
capacity to scale up.

Gillian's goat's cheese.

What did you make of that? I thought
it had a delicate, complex,

sophisticated taste.
I was blown away by it.

There's quite a lot of people that
don't buy goat's cheese,

but, when they tasted it, they fell
in love with it.

It's a very high standard of cheese.

In terms of this being a business,
can she make it work?

She is so diligent that she doesn't
yet trust anybody else to milk her

goats or produce her cheese.
She just needs that level of

development in her business
and it could fly.

Well, you've got to make a decision.

I've got two cheeses in my head,
and I really am still undecided.

I'm absolutely torn.

With the amounts sold so close,
it's anyone's game,

but having analysed the judging
criteria,

Alison and Nisha have
made their decision.

I haven't got a clue who'll be
going through to the finals,

and even if I don't go any further,
I've learned loads.

Getting this far was just a
privilege, to be honest,

so if we get through to the final,

well, that would just be the icing
on the cake, I think,

and then double icing if we win.

I'm so proud of the cheese
I have produced.

I think I would feel disappointed
if, after all the hard work,

it didn't win.

The cheesemakers here are
outstanding, so actually to be

picked as the finalist would be
great, would be wonderful.

It's been an amazing couple of days.

You should be so very proud.

All four cheeses, incredible.

The sales numbers are in, but it's
not just the figures that the judges

were looking for. They were looking
for the viability as a business,

how it was produced,
how it was promoted,

and, importantly, how it tasted.

There can only be one winner.

And I know the judges have had a

real difficult time deciding who
that's going to be.

The winner of the
cheese category is...

..Gillian.

APPLAUSE

It was extremely close.

Gillian's cheese will
exhilarate and educate us.

That's why she deserved to win this.

Congratulations. Thank you.

Well done. I hoped that we would
find some really special artisan

producers. In Gillian,
I think we've found that.

Well done. Well done.

I'm staggered, I'm over the moon.
I'm absolutely thrilled to bits.

Thank you, thank you.
Really lovely...

Thank you very much.
A little bit disappointed,

but I'm hoping that people will see
that they can make cheese in their

kitchen, just like me.

It's been a fantastic experience,
and definitely going to keep making

my cheese and selling it and
hopefully sell more and more.

I'm just, yeah, so pleased for her.

All I can say is,
"Goats rule OK."

GILLIAN LAUGHS

I just can't quite believe
that I've won.

Next time... Can I tempt you to a
cheeky one?

..four sweets producers... Would you
like to try some Scottish tablet?

It's got mature Cheddar cheese.
..test out their products...

I thought, "That sounds quite
disgusting, but I'll try it."

..to try and win a place
in the grand final.

Would you like 20 bags or...?
LAUGHTER

I'm pretty sure I'm going to win.