Cheese Slices

The Minas Gervais region of Brazil produces almost as much raw milk cheese as France but, as Will learns, most of it is illegal and must be transported to market in secret. Will visits the stunning Canastra plateau to learn about traditional farm cheese and, after a cooking lesson in how to make the famous Pain de Quejo, he travels further south to the remote Campos Altos region. Here, he discovers a unique cheese made from the milk of longhorn beef cattle, and enjoys a BBQ, Brazilian Gaucho style.

Galicia or 'Green Spain' is well known for the beautiful cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela, but the region's high rainfall and mild maritime climate is also perfect for dairy farming. It's home to a million cows and some of the strangest shaped cheese in Spain, including a breast shaped cheese called Queso Tetilla, and smoked San Simon, which dates back to Celtic times.

Over the past decade, the Pacific West Coast of British Columbia has been at the centre of a growing consumer demand for local artisan cheese. Will visits Vancouver before taking a seaplane to beautiful Salt Spring Island to meet the owners of two fascinating small cheese dairies. He then heads east through the breathtaking Rockies to visit a friend who makes farmstead goat cheese, and to catch up with a new producer of 'mountain style' cheese.

The beautiful city of Lyon is widely recognised as the gastronomic centre of France. Will visits Madame Richard in the new Les Halles market to taste some cheese. Inspired by Paul Bocuse, he then travels to the surrounding wine region to look at the latest traditional goat's milk cheeses, recognised under the French AOC system. While there, he meets Monsieur Guilloteau, a legendary cheese maker producing some of the most innovative new cheeses in France.

Will follows the ancient shepherds trail known as the Traturro Magno, Great Track, from the mountains of Abruzzo to the plains of Puglia, and discovers the secrets behind the local Pecorino cheese, including a unique example that is coagulated with pig's rennet. After learning all about the local stretched curd cheeses of Molise, he visits a traditional producer of Burrata cheese in the city of Andria.

Will travels to the beautiful Jamtland region in central Sweden, where he looks at traditional cave ripened goat's milk cheese, and learns about an ancient method of preserving 'long milk'. After discovering the world's most expensive cheese made from moose milk, he heads into the mountains to visit the Myhrbodarna dairy and chef Magnus Nillson at Faviken.