£8.50
Bix is a wonderfully rich little Oxfordshire cheese made from organic cow’s milk with extra cream. Beneath its soft white rind is a buttery, velvety paste with fresh lactic tang, gentle mushroomy flavours and an increasingly soft texture as it ripens.
Bix is a little cheese with an awful lot of creaminess packed into it. Made at Nettlebed Creamery in Oxfordshire from organic cow’s milk enriched with extra cream, it takes its inspiration from wonderfully rich French cheeses such as Brillat-Savarin and Chaource.
Each little wheel weighs around 100g, making it the perfect size to put straight onto a cheeseboard — although whether you’ll want to share it is another question entirely.
Beneath its soft white rind is a rich, buttery paste that becomes increasingly soft as the cheese ripens. At room temperature it can become almost spoonable around the edges, with plenty of fresh cream flavour balanced by a lovely lactic tang.
Nettlebed Creamery sits just outside Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, on a farm that has been in Rose Grimond’s family since 1901.
Dairy farming became part of the farm in the 1950s and it converted to organic production in 2001. Rose later returned to the family farm with the idea of doing something different with its milk: rather than simply selling it, why not turn some of it into cheese?
Cheesemaking began at Nettlebed in 2015 and Bix followed soon afterwards. It didn’t take long for this little cheese to get noticed, winning Best Soft White Cheese at the British Cheese Awards in 2018.
Today Nettlebed makes a range of cheeses, but Bix remains one of those that immediately catches your attention — partly because it’s so pretty, but mainly because there’s an awful lot of pleasure hiding underneath that little white rind.
Bix is made using organic cow’s milk with extra cream added for richness.
Once the curds have formed, they’re gently ladled into small moulds and allowed to drain before the cheeses begin their maturation. Over the following weeks, Bix develops its delicate white rind while the paste underneath gradually softens.
And that’s where things get interesting.
A younger Bix will be slightly firmer in the centre with fresh, lactic flavours. As it ripens, the texture becomes softer and richer, particularly just beneath the rind, while more savoury, mushroomy flavours begin to develop.
So if you like your Bix really soft, give it time. Cheese works to its own timetable.
For such a small cheese, Bix feels incredibly indulgent.
Cut through the soft white rind and you’ll find a pale ivory paste that can range from creamy and slightly firm in the middle to gloriously soft around the edges, depending on how ripe your cheese is.
The first thing I get is cream — lots of it — followed by butter and a lovely crème fraîche-like tang that stops the richness becoming too much.
The rind adds gentle mushroomy, earthy flavours and, as the cheese ripens, I sometimes find a little yeasty or toasted savouriness creeping in too.
It’s rich without being heavy, which is quite an achievement for a cheese with extra cream added to it. And at 100g, you can technically say you’ve only eaten one cheese. I’m not sure portion control works like that, but I’m willing to go with it.
Jen’s note: We often take our Academy of Cheese Level 2 students to Nettlebed Creamery, so I’ve been lucky enough to spend quite a bit of time there. The team are incredibly generous with their knowledge and I genuinely learn something new every time I visit. There’s nothing quite like learning about a cheese in the place where it’s actually made.
Sizes and Prices
Storage Advice
Delivery and Collection
Ingredients (Allergens are listed in capitals)
MILK, double cream (MILK), salt, starter cultures, rennet, mould cultures
Normal opening Monday – Saturday 9am – 4pm until:
Sunday 22nd 9am – 4pm
Monday 23rd 9am – 4pm
Christmas Eve 9am – 12pm
Christmas Day Closed
Boxing Day Closed
Friday 27th Closed
Saturday 28th 9am – 4pm
Sunday 29th Closed
Monday 30th 9am – 2pm
Tuesday 31st 9am – 2pm
New Year’s Day Closed
Thursday 2nd January Closed
Friday 3rd 9am – 4pm then open as normal
After Christmas our courier delivery slots start from 8th January.
