The crowning glory of cheese?

I happen to be very fond of cheese, although strictly from a digestive standpoint. I'd never considered it a medium for art - but what do I know?

A 'cheese wedding cake' expert is hoping to smash the world record for the largest cheese sculpture with her half-ton cheddar crown.

Cordon Bleu trained chef Tanys Pullin, 46, spent 90 hours crafting it out of a 1,322lb block of Farmhouse Cheddar. She carved the sculpture in the shape of a crown to mark the anniversary of the Queen's Coronation on June 2.




After completing it yesterday Tanys said she was nervous but thrilled after completing the large-scale carving.

'I'm elated but it was very daunting,' she said. 'Can you imagine being given a massive round cheese and told you have to go into a fridge on one of the hottest days of the year to carve it?

'I was given a 600 kg [1,323 lbs] block of cheese. I spent about eight days carving the crown and did 12-hour sessions which did get a bit chilly in the fridge. 'Now it weighs just below 500 kg [1,102 lbs] which blows the current record out of the sky.'

To achieve the Guinness World Record the crown sculpture needed to weigh in excess of 290 kg [639 lbs]. Tanys's effort is just awaiting the validation from Guinness adjudicators.

Rules state that the sculpture must be made from a single piece of cheese and is not allowed to be supported by an internal structure.

Though she regularly makes wedding cakes out of cheese Tanys, from Wells, Somerset had never tried her hand at cheese sculpting on this scale before.

'My job is to make things out of cheese, but I don't normally sculpt them,' said Tanys.

'I'm a genuine cheesaholic.

'I live, breath and work with cheese most of the time. It's a great medium to work with.

'It's looking fab and I'm delighted. I hope other people will enjoy it too.'

There's more at the link.

Two thoughts come to mind. First, anyone planning on wearing this crown had better have a very strong neck, to hold up half a metric tonne of cheese . . . and second, perhaps we should be grateful Ms. Pullin used cheddar instead of Limburger!





Peter