Sacanova

I know Sacanova sounds like a Russian tennis player but it's not, it's a cheese. An aged Mahon to be precise. It comes from the island of Menorca with which I feel a particular affinity as my daughter-in-law comes from there. And I've eaten Mahon cheese before.

I didn't expect to find it in Waitrose and to be honest I wonder how much demand there is for it. It's nice enough but doesn't blow you away as much as you'd expect from an unpasteurised cheese, let alone one that's rubbed in olive oil and paprika. It's not particularly punchy or spicy - more like a semi-soft Scandinavian cheese with slightly more ooomph. The sort you'd have for breakfast or nibble with some Spanish ham.

The label describes it as having "a fudgy finish" which doesn't help much. It's certainly not like any fudge I've tasted. And I'm surprised they grade it as 6 in strength.

That said it's not expensive at £16.87 a kilo and it's mellowness would certainly make it an accommodating partner for red wine - I suggest an aged Spanish red like a Rioja reserva.

Afuega'l pitu

Another cheese discovery - surprisingly in my local deli.

It's a rich, soft Spanish unpasteurised cows' milk cheese with the exotic name of Afuega'l pitu (because of its tendency to stick to the palate, according to Wikipedia which has an impressively detailed entry on the cheese, and is made in the Asturias region of Northern Spain.

At £9.38 it was pricey but having never seen it before I couldn't resist trying it. It had a wonderful texture and taste. Creamy without being cloying, slightly floral, not 'cow-y' at all. We served it with a very good Fourme d'Ambert and some 18 month old parmesan but it really deserved solo billing

Extraordinarily you can buy it on Amazon in the States as well as on a site that imports Spanish products called La Tienda from which you can see that the brand name is Temia, not Emia as the photo suggests.)