NINE HANDMADE FARMHOUSE CHEESES
From goats’ to blue, crumbly to unctuous, here’s our pick of delicious British cheeses. Where there’s a will, there’s a whey…
Dorstone
Pasteurised soft goats’ cheese made at Neal’s Yard Creamery (which evolved from the famous cheese shop but is now a separate business). The turret-shaped small cheeses are coated in ash before being matured for two weeks to allow a wrinkly bluish mould to bloom. They look gorgeous sliced open to reveal their fluffy, zesty white paste. See nealsyardcreamery.co.uk
Berkswell
The closest thing we have to British Manchego is made with the raw milk of East Friesland sheep in the West Midlands. Its distinctive shape and rind hail from the 1980s, when the Fletcher family first made it using two colanders pressed together as a mould. The longer you leave it, the nuttier it gets. thecheesesociety.co.uk
Isle of Mull Cheese
Any rubbery brick can call itself ‘Cheddar’ (so hurray for the traditional West Country Cheddars such as Montgomery’s and Quicke’s). But not all traditional Cheddars are made in the West Country. The Reade family, based on Mull, make a raw milk Cheddar that changes with the seasons. When grass is lush, it’s yellow and grassy; when their cows eat hay and whisky mash, it takes on a peaty, fruity flavour. isleofmullcheese.co.uk
Stichelton
The original Blue Stilton was made with raw milk, but to be called Blue Stilton nowadays it must be pasteurised. To challenge this, Joe Schneider started making Stichelton using the rich morning milk from a Nottinghamshire herd of British Friesians. Made by hand, this creamy, delicate cheese has complex, everchanging flavours. finecheese.co.uk
St James
Milk from Martin Gott and Nicola Robinson’s herd of Lacaune sheep goes straight from udder to vat on Cumbria’s Cartmel peninsula. The resulting washed-rind cheese is unique, being made using bacteria that Martin cultures himself. Its texture ranges from firm to oozing, but the flavour is always complex and deeply savoury. St James is made on a tiny scale (12 cheeses a day) during milking season (spring to autumn) only. thecourtyarddairy.co.uk
Mrs Kirkham’s
The world’s last raw-milk farmhouse Lancashire, this is a style of cheese dating back to the 13th century. It is made in Goosnargh by the Kirkham family, who use milk from their 100-strong herd in a unique recipe that combines curds from two, even three days’ milking. Buttery and creamy-crumbly, it’s widely available – you can even buy it in Waitrose. mrskirkhamscheese.co.uk
Cardo Tunworth
A modern legend, twice Supreme Champion at the World Cheese Awards, this British ‘Camembert’ rivals the French original for its vegetal intensity and melting middle. Loved by chefs, including Raymond Blanc and Simon Rogan, it is made by Stacey Hedges and Charlotte Spruce at Hampshire Cheeses, using pasteurised milk. hampshirecheeses.co.uk
Baron Bigod
This relatively new cheese is a British first: a rawmilk farmhouse brie made in the style of a French Brie de Meaux. The Crickmore family have milked cattle at Fen Farm Dairy in Suffolk for three generations. When milk prices dropped and they diversified into cheesemaking, they invested in French Montbeliarde cows to produce a white bloomy-rind cheese with a golden paste that ages to mushroomy perfection. fenfarmdairy.co.uk This vegetarian-friendly washed-rind raw goats’ cheese uses the dried stamens of cardoon, a Spanish thistle, instead of lab-grown vegetarian rennet to separate curds and whey. Its creator, Mary Holbrook, is known as the ‘godmother’ of British goats’ cheese, an archaeologist turned farmer who’s been breeding goats and handmaking cheeses for more than 40 years (ash-coated Tymsboro is the best known). nealsyarddairy.co.uk