Pong Cheese

With the exception of the lactose intolerant or those who aren’t allowed dairy, doesn’t everyone love cheese? For some, the smellier the cheese is, the better! Pong Cheese is all about reclaiming cheese as the centre-piece of any meal or occasion – not just bringing it out at the end of the night when everyone has already had too much to eat!

Pong is trying to bring the continental approach to cheese to the UK. Did you know, for example, that the French, the Italians, the Greeks and even the Germans tend to eat nearly twice as much cheese per head as the British do? They eat cheese whenever they feel like it, from breakfast time right throughout the rest of the day and Pong believes that you should be too.

How Does It Work?

Much as with other subscription services, you sign up to Pong for a given amount of time, pay a set amount of money and, in exchange, you receive a regular delivery of cheeses straight to your door until you decide you’d like your subscription to stop.

What Do You Get?

Cheese. Lots and lots of cheese. Different types of cheese. Different shapes of cheese. Different smelling cheese. Different tasting cheese. Cheese. The chefs select different cheeses for your delectation and they are sent through to you monthly so you can give them a try and see what you think.

As is often the case with any foodstuff, there’s no guarantee that you’ll like everything that you’ve been sent. The idea is, though, that the box contains cheeses that are supposed to go together on a cheese board. As with every cheese board there will be some options that you prefer more than others.

Maybe you’re not a blue cheese fan, for example. That’s ok. There will usually also be a soft cheese, a hard cheese, a washed rind cheese, a semi-soft cheese or a goat’s cheese. It’s about variety, mixing things up, and learning what you like and don’t like. If you’ve enjoyed trying cheeses in the past but aren’t sure which types are your favourite, then what you’ll receive in the Pong Cheese boxes will help you know your brie from your edam.

Options

There are two main options for the monthly subscription service. You can opt for the Chef’s Special Selection Standard box, which will contain a series of cheeses for you to try. Or, if you’d prefer, then you can opt for the Chef’s Selection Superior Box. As the name suggests, this promises some more interesting and varied cheeses with a slightly better quality than the others.

The company also offers a huge variety of one-off gift boxes that aren’t available for subscription but may please people who have a particular love of a certain type of cheese. These selection boxes include things such as Irish cheeses, Spanish cheeses, smoked cheeses, vegetarian cheeses, and even cheeses chosen by Alex James of Blur fame. There are also, of course, chutneys and condiments available, as well as cheese themed gifts such as knives and cheese boards.

Examples

The varieties of cheese are huge and almost limitless, so there’s no telling what you’re likely to receive from one month to the next. That said, as far as the Standard Selection is concerned, previous months have included cheeses, such as Langres, Perl Las, Little Wallop, and Westcombe Cheddar. The Superior Box has featured such cheeses like Golden Cross, Oxford Isis, Cotswold Brie, Bath Cheddar, and Oxford Blue. If you like cheese you’re almost certainly guaranteed not to be disappointed with the Pong options that come through your door.