If you're searching for a quality, artisan cheesemonger in Perth, Scotland, Provender Brown should be top of your list! Quite apart from the fact that we're all HUGE lovers of cheese and have taken this passion and turned ourselves into experts, we are also long-standing members of the Specialist Cheesemakers Association and the Guild of Fine Food, and offer unrivalled choice within Perth city centre. Our cheeses are largely handcrafted from small producers – many of them Good Food award-winners - and we are renowned for stocking the very best of Scottish, British and European cheeses, including Spanish cheese, French cheese and Italian cheese.
Since lockdown there has been a growing movement to support the British Cheese Industry and this has made us very happy! We have been loyal, flag waving supporters of small, artisan cheesemakers since the day we opened and would welcome the chance to advise you on our favourite cheeses from across Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England!
As wonderful as an abundance of choice is, we know that faced with so much choice in a cheese shop can often be daunting! That's why the whole team at Provender Brown is skilled in helping you find a cheese to suit your taste buds; in fact, both Diane and Martine have a number of qualifications to back up their love of good food and drink including Merits from the School of Fine Food - cheese training.
We can also offer help if you're selecting a cheeseboard for a dinner party or lunch, or if you'd like to do one of our Cheese Cakes for a wedding or a larger celebration. To find out more about these services have a read of our blogs:
Provender Brown boasts over 100 different varieties of cheese in its George Street deli in Perth and is proud to be a cheesemonger of great note. We are members of the Specialist Cheesemakers Association and the Guild of Fine Food.
Established in 2005, we have been trading for over 15 years and have built strong working relationships and lifelong friends, with many of our small artisan suppliers.
We are loud and proud advocates of Scottish and British cheesemakers and have a policy to dedicate at least 50% of our stock to the wonderful dairy farmers and artisan cheesemakers from up and down the country.
As we type, we are also being supplied by local cheesemakers from Perthshire – no mean feat given that we're not really known as dairy country round here, Strathearn Cheese is an excellent example of what can be done.
This is one of those questions that I often feel I need to answer with a question! Some things to consider are:
Are you serving your cheese as a cheese board at the end of a hearty meal? Or, will your cheese be the main star of a grazing table or buffet?
As a rule of thumb I would order about 100g per head, less if it's to be eaten at the end of a hearty meal, more if it’s the main focus. For a raclette or fondue meal you will need about 200g of cheese per head
These are total weights, not per cheese, but I don’t recommend having less that 200g of any one cheese. Less than that can look a bit mean and the cheese is more likely to dry out. I always think you are better to have 3 or 4 decent sized pieces of cheese than loads of little bits.
Even with a larger party, I wouldn’t offer more than 5 or 6 different cheeses – and remember, there is nothing wrong with serving one big chunk of a beautiful, perfectly ripe cheese with a variety of carefully chosen accompaniments.
Of course, we’re all big cheese lovers in my house so I always err on the side of caution and take home more than enough rather than just enough. That way there’s plenty left over for lunch the next day.
Our cheeses are cut fresh to order and the shelf lives vary depending on the type of cheese. Hard and semi-hard cheeses will have 10 days from the cutting date, soft and blue cheese 7 days.
You can order cheeses, pates and charcuterie here on the website in multiples of 200g. Olives and antipasti - a tasty accompaniment are sold in 150g multiples.
There are multiple food and drink awards across the world and it is true that many of our cheeses also come with these prestigious marks of quality.
With that said, there are also many, many cheeses that are never submitted for an award for various reasons, or that are so new the producer may not have had the chance to enter yet. We taste test everything before we sell it - it's a tough old job - and can assure you of quality across the board - cheese board that is!
In our humble opinion, all three of these animals produces milk that makes good cheese. They all bring something different to the cracker and chutney for sure, but in terms of which is best, you really do need to let your tastebuds do the talking!
If the question is which is healthiest, then there are some schools of thought that suggest goats and sheeps milk is easier to digest and therefore cheese made from these milks is better for some people who experience digestive problems. We are not doctors though – we are foodies! Therefore please do chat to your dietician or GP about any changes you'd like to try and once you're armed with your facts, pop in and we can help you find some tasty alternatives to your usual cheese.
Far be it from us to tell you how to adopt a healthy lifestyle but there is plenty of evidence out there to suggest that all of those eighties diet magazines that told us to give up cheese were misinformed. Now, instead of being the dietary demon, researchers suggest that eating around 40 grams (or 1.41 ounces) of cheese every day could help to reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. Check out this study on Medical News Today
From my point of view, anything that makes you smile like a good bit of Monte Enebro on a Peter's Yard Rye Cracker can only be good for your mental health!
Each and every month - and possibly twice at Christmas - we send out every food lover's favourite newsletter.
Packed full of news from the deli, you'll find recipe ideas, new products, producer interviews and lots of really interesting chat that us foodies like to get excited about!
