British cheeses. Barmalini / Getty Images via Canva Pro
There are over 700 different specialty cheeses available in the UK, besting the 600 available in France. Seventy of the British varieties are blue cheeses.
Still, cheddar remains a firm favourite. Almost half the cheese sold in the UK is cheddar in some form, whether in blocks or in convenience formats such as grated or sliced. [1]”However, Cheddar remains the British public’s favourite, consisting of almost half of all cheese sales.” — Cheese sales in UK soared last year, figures show. Farming UK. 17 March 2021. Accessed January 2022 at https://www.farminguk.com/news/cheese-sales-in-uk-soared-last-year-figures-show_57809.html To meet the demand, some cheddar is imported, typically from Commonwealth countries such as Canada and New Zealand, or from Ireland. Some consumers complain that sometimes this cheese is labelled “packed in Britain”, which can be misleading.
The Scottish Highlands produce mostly soft cheeses.
As of 2021, the largest commercial cheese company in the UK is Arla, formed from a merger between Arla and “Milk Link.” Previously, it was “Milk Link” on its own.
British Cheese Week is the last week in September.
- 1 British Cheese History from WW1 to WW2
- 2 British Cheese Growth constrained by the Milk Marketing Board
- 3 Literature & Lore
- 4 Sources
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5
Some British cheeses
- 5.1 Beenleigh Blue Cheese
- 5.2 Blue Wensleydale
- 5.3 Buffalo Blue Cheese
- 5.4 Buxton Blue Cheese
- 5.5 Byland Blue Cheese
- 5.6 Caerphilly Cheese
- 5.7 Canterbury Blue Cheese
- 5.8 Capricorn Goat’s Cheese
- 5.9 Cheddar Cheese
- 5.10 Cheshire Cheese
- 5.11 Colston Bassett Stilton Cheese
- 5.12 Cornish Blue Cheese
- 5.13 Cornish Yarg Cheese
- 5.14 Cotherstone Cheese
- 5.15 Cottage Cheese
- 5.16 Curd Cheese
- 5.17 Daylesford Cheddar Cheese
- 5.18 Devon Blue Cheese
- 5.19 Dorset Blue Vinney
- 5.20 Exmoor Blue Cheese
- 5.21 Farmhouse Cheese
- 5.22 Gloucester Cheese
- 5.23 Government Cheddar Cheese
- 5.24 Harbourne Blue Cheese
- 5.25 Katy’s White Lavender Cheese
- 5.26 Lancashire Cheese
- 5.27 Lincolnshire Poacher Cheese
- 5.28 Lord of The Hundreds Cheese
- 5.29 Lymeswold Cheese
- 5.30 Mrs Bells Blue Cheese
- 5.31 Oxford Blue Cheese
- 5.32 Oxford Isis Cheese
- 5.33 Pantysgawn Cheese
- 5.34 Red Dragon Cheese
- 5.35 Red Leicester Cheese
- 5.36 Shropshire Blue
- 5.37 Stilton
- 5.38 Stinking Bishop Cheese
- 5.39 The Crumblies
- 5.40 Truckle
- 5.41 Wensleydale Cheese
- 5.42 Wensleydale Cheese with Cranberries
- 5.43 White Cheddar
- 5.44 Windsor Red Cheese
- 5.45 Yeel Cheese
British Cheese History from WW1 to WW2
Before World War One (1914 – 1918), there were 3,500 independent British cheesemakers.
The British Milk Marketing Board was established in 1933; everyone in England and Wales producing milk or cheese was compelled to belong to it, and pay a levy to it. A similar board was established in Scotland in the same year. [2]A Milk Marketing board was not formed in Northern Ireland until 1955. Still, many makers survived despite the economic depression at the time. In 1939, in the south-west of England alone, there were over 514 varieties of cheddar alone being made, not to mention all the other types of cheeses, or other areas of England.
The economic requirements of World War Two (1939 to 1945) decimated the number of cheesemakers. At the start of the war, by wartime law, anyone making cheese in Britain was compelled to make a single, uniform cheddar-style cheese called “Government Cheddar.” Rationing allowed everyone 2 oz (50 g) of it a week. By the end of the war in 1945, less than 100 independent British cheesemakers had survived. But they weren’t out of the woods yet: the law stayed in effect until 1954.
British Cheese Growth constrained by the Milk Marketing Board
In 1954, production of traditional cheeses such as Lancashire, Red Leicester, Stilton, and Wensleydale were revived in England. In Scotland, advertisements for Scotch Dunlop cheese tentatively appeared in a few newspapers. The British Milk Marketing Board was opposed to it; for instance, the Wensleydale revival only succeeded because the small cheesemaker called “Wensleydale Creamery” stubbornly saw them off.
In 1954, a magazine columnist wrote:
DISTINGUISHED chef, M. Jean Conil, has been singing the praises of Cheshire cheese, and has been making our mouths water with his descriptions of how to eat it, and in what company. But did he tell us whether he was writing of coloured or uncoloured, soft or mature, factory or farmhouse, spring or autumn products? I would have M. Conil know that there are more nuances of flavour and bouquet, texture and ‘meat’ about a good old Cheshire cheese than there are about many of the great vintage wines of his native land.
Where, oh where are the great cheeses of yesteryear? The blue Vinney, the double Gloucester, Caerphilly, Dunlops and Wensleydale? Here and there in the clubs and exclusive pubs and places there is an occasional Stilton, but the old Wiltshire crack about chalk and cheese seems to gain point as the lump fails to crumble in the mouth as once it did. Not so long ago, in fact right down to the outbreak of the last war, there nestled coyly in a side street of Bloomsbury a small shop where one could sample and buy cheeses of a hundred and twenty varieties. Cannot the old customers get together and form a Cheese Club? That would be a club worth joining – if we could get the old-style cheeses.
Before the war there were nearly 1,500 farmhouse cheese makers in this country. Now there are just over one hundred. Farmhouse cheese making died with the outbreak of war. There is just a chance that when the farmers once again take over the operation of the Milk Marketing Board some encouragement may be given to this ancient craft, which at present is quite uneconomic. A farmer nowadays can get four or five times as much money for his milk for liquid sale as he could if he or his womenfolk made cheese on the farm – and that without counting in the value of the highly-skilled labour.” — In Praise of Cheese: The Journal of a Critical Citizen. Truth Magazine: London, England. 15 January 1954. Page 81, col. 1.
But until the 1990s, largely only those cheeses plus cheddar were available, largely owing to restrictions imposed by the British Milk Marketing Board. If anyone wanted a better cheese during that period, they bought European cheeses.
A champion of reviving British cheese was Patrick Rance (died 22 August 1999, age 81.) He ran a shop in Streatley, near Henley-on-Thames, and out of personal interest sought out traditional, raw-milk cheese producers to supply his store. In 1973, he was commissioned by the British tourist board to write an article on British cheese. His research for the article inspired him to go further and write more on the topic. He published “The Great British Cheese Book” in 1982. He made it clear that he felt the enemies were the Milk Marketing Board, and large industrial cheese companies, in collusion with each other.
In 1982, the Milk Marketing Board, through its subsidiary Dairy Crest, attempted to quell growing consumer desire for another British cheese by creating itself a new industrial cheese called Lymeswold Cheese. They spared no expense, drawing on the latest business techniques in focus groups, market research and taste tests. But still, the cheese just refused to move off the shelves. They gave on up it in the early 1990s.
Finally, on 1 November 1994, the British Milk Marketing Board was abolished; this is when the British cheese explosion began. Milk producers were freed to create the products they wished with their own milk. There were no more failed Supply Management policies from a Milk Marketing Board to dictate what they could and could not do.
Literature & Lore
‘To taste an unpasteurised, cloth-bound cheddar made from the milk of cows whose diet is fresh grass, clover, buttercups and daisies, is to taste a piece of England.’ — Juliet Harbutt, in “The World Cheese Book”. 2009.
Sources
Apple, R.W. Jr. Keeping the Real British Cheeses Alive. New York Times. 14 November 1984.
Grimes, William. Patrick Rance, 81, British Cheese Crusader. New York Times. 30 August 1999.
Hutchison, Peter. Germany goes mad for British cheese. London: Daily Telegraph. 22 September 2010.
Miller, Keith. The British Cheese Conspiracy. London: Daily Telegraph. 22 October 2010.
Miller, Norman. It’s time to celebrate British cheese. London: The Times. 19 September 2009.
Mitch Potter. Cool Britannia rules the whey. Toronto, Canada: The Toronto Star. 9 October 2007. Page A3.
Wallop, Henry. British blue cheese conquers the French. London: Daily Telegraph. 18 December 2010.
Wilson, Bee. The Kitchen Thinker: British cheddar. London: Daily Telegraph. 29 September 2010.
Solid Performance by Milk Link. Dublin, Ireland: Food & Drink Business Magazine. 28 June 2010.
Store chiller with British cheeses. ©Cooksinfo / 2020
Some British cheeses
Beenleigh is a sheep’s milk blue cheese. Crumbly in texture, it is pale yellow with greenish-blue veins, and has a taste that is salty, sweet and tangy.
...Blue Wensleydale cheese is a double-cream blue cheese. It has blue veins like Stilton, though it is much milder and less salty, and more creamy rather than crumbly. In its heyday, it compared head-to-head with Stilton for recognition and popularity. As of the 2020s, a large producer of it is “Wensleydale Creamery” of Hawes, Yorkshire. […]
...Buffalo Blue Cheese is an English blue cheese made in Thirsk, North Yorkshire. It is soft, spreadable and creamy with a mild taste. The white part of Buffalo Blue Cheese is very white because the milk used is water buffalo milk. from water buffalo that have been imported to the region. The “blue” part is […]
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Buxton Blue is a russet-coloured blue cheese with light blue veins. Made from cow’s milk, it is cylinder shaped, and has a tangy taste.
...Byland Blue Cheese is a firm, but creamy and crumbly blue cheese with greenish-blue veins. It has a somewhat sharp, spicy taste.
...Caerphilly is a variety of cheddar cheese. It is a white, crumbly cheese with a sharp smell and a slightly sour tang. Originally from Wales, most is now made in England.
...Canterbury is a soft, creamy blue cheese with clumps of blue mould in it. It has a grey, gritty rind that is edible.
...Capricorn is a soft English goat’s milk cheese with a mild, nutty taste. The edible rind has a white mould on it.
...There are entire books and articles dedicated to Cheddar cheese, so loved is it throughout the English-speaking world. It originated in Cheddar, Somerset. An unprotected cheese name There are many varieties of Cheddar, and anyone can make it. Even when England was part of the EU, the name “Cheddar” was not a protected EU designation […]
...Cheshire cheese has a semi-firm, crumbly texture, and a mildly-salty flavour that sharpens with age and is a bit more complex than cheddar. It is made from cow’s milk, either pasteurized or raw.
...Colston Bassett is a small dairy producing Stilton blue cheese from pasteurized cow’s The cheese has a dry, crusty rind, with a white mould on it. It is moist and creamy inside, with a flavour that sharpens as the cheese ages.
...Cornish Blue Cheese is a farmhouse blue cheese made from pasteurized milk from Friesian cows. It has a mild, sweet taste and is meant to be eaten young.
...Cornish Yarg Cheese is a semi-firm cheese wrapped in stinging nettle leaves. The cheese is creamy under the leaves, slightly crumbly in the centre, and has a slightly lemony taste.
...Cotherstone cheese is a semi-hard cheese with a sharp, slightly tangy taste. It is sold covered with yellow wax. Inside, the cheese has an “open” texture.
...Cottage cheese is an unaged, “fresh” soft white curd-type cheese made from skim milk. It can be eaten as is, or seasoned or flavoured, or used as an ingredient in cooking.
...Curd cheese is an English fresh cheese made from skim milk. It has a slight sour tang to the taste, and is not aged at all. It is often used as an ingredient in baking.
...Daylesford cheddar cheese is a hard, dense, creamy cheese similar to cheddar. It has a sharp, nutty taste and is the colour of pale butter.
...Devon Blue Cheese is made with raw milk from cows. It is yellowish inside with blue streaks, has a strong taste and is very crumbly.
...Dorset Blue Vinney is a blue cheese made in Dorset, England from skim milk. It is less moist than Stilton, but has a stronger taste and more blue veins in it.
...Exmoor was a creamy yellow farmhouse blue cheese made in different size rounds. It was produced from 1986 to approximately 2010.
...“Farmhouse” refers to cheese produced small-scale on farms, often with much manual work or intervention, using milk that was produced on that farm.
...Gloucester Cheese is made in two versions: Double Gloucester, made from whole milk, is available in most supermarkets, while Single Gloucester, made from skim milk, is quite rare and expensive.
...During World War Two, the UK government ordered most cheese factories to standardize on making cheddar in order to most efficiently meet wartime demands. This came to be known informally as “government cheddar.”
...Harbourne Blue Cheese is made in Totnes, Devon, England, from pasteurized goat’s milk. It is almost white with greyish-green veins, and is firm and crumbly. The rind is moist. It generally has a mild taste with a bit of a tang in it, but “it is quite variable in taste and texture depending on the […]
...Katy’s White Lavender Cheese is a feta-style cheese made from sheep’s milk. It has lavender flowers in it to flavour it.
...Lancashire Cheese is a white, firm but crumbly cheese with a tang to it. It may be sold young, or aged.
...Lincolnshire Poacher is a long-aged cheddar cheese whose taste combines sweetness with a touch of bitterness. It is pale yellow inside, with a brownish rind.
...Lord of The Hundreds is a hard, dry, crumbly cheese made from raw milk from sheep. It has a smooth, mild taste.
...Lymeswold is a modern but now defunct cheese. Designed by committee and promoted lavishly by the British Milk Marketing Board, it still just refused to move off the shelves.
...Mrs Bells is a creamy, smooth cheese with blue veins dotted through it. It is less salty than many other blue cheeses. Sheep’s milk from local flocks of sheep, curdled with vegetarian rennet, is used to make the cheese. The cheese is aged 10 to 12 weeks. The cheese is made by Shepherd’s Purse Cheeses […]
...Oxford Blue is a soft, creamy blue cheese that has a mild but salty taste with a bit of sharpness. It is made from pasteurized cow’s milk in Oxfordshire, England.
...Oxford Isis Cheese has a soft, pale yellow creamy inside and a soft, slightly-darker rind on the outside. It has a strong tangy taste and smell. During aging, the rind is sprayed with mead.
...Pantysgawn Cheese is a soft, creamy cheese made in Wales from pasteurized goat’s milk. It has a salty taste with a bit of sourness that reminds some people of lemon. A fresh cheese, it is sold in a cylindrical shaped roll, with no rind or crust.
...Red Dragon (aka Y-Fenni) is a Welsh white cheddar cheese. It has a creamy, buttery cheddar taste, combined with a tang from the brown ale and a bit of piquancy from whole mustard seed mixed into it.
...Red Leicester cheese is a crumblier version of cheddar cheese. It is made from cow’s milk coloured with annatto, and typically aged anywhere from 4 to 9 months.
...Shropshire Blue is an English orange cheese with veins of greenish-blue mould growing in it. It tastes somewhat like a cheddar with the tang of a blue cheese. It is somewhat milder and sweeter than Stilton.
...Stilton is an English blue cheese whose powerful, pungent taste is stronger than Roquefort and Gorgonzola. Its texture is both crumbly and creamy.
...Stinking Bishop Cheese smells like old socks, but most of the smell is in the orangish-yellow, sticky rind. The cheese itself is mild, soft and creamy.
...The Crumblies is an expression used in the UK to describe crumbly British cheeses that melt well when cooked.
...In food terms, a truckle is generally a whole cylinder of cheese as sold by the cheesemaker.
...Wensleydale cheese is a white, moist, crumbly cheese. It has a clean tang behind its mild taste. It may be made from cow’s milk, sheep’s milk, or a blend of both. The more sheep’s milk, the whiter the cheese will be.
...Wensleydale Cheese with Cranberries has a fresh, clean taste which, along with the lively tartness of the cranberries, helps the cheese to act as a foil alongside overly rich food. It is available year round but is particularly popular at Christmas.
...White-cheddar is cheddar cheese that has not been coloured orange. It can come in all the ranges, flavours and varying qualities that orange cheddar can.
...Windsor Red Cheese is a cheddar-like cheese with red marbling coloration and flavoured either with a wine such as Bordeaux or Elderberry, or with blended port and brandy.
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References
| ↑1 | ”However, Cheddar remains the British public’s favourite, consisting of almost half of all cheese sales.” — Cheese sales in UK soared last year, figures show. Farming UK. 17 March 2021. Accessed January 2022 at https://www.farminguk.com/news/cheese-sales-in-uk-soared-last-year-figures-show_57809.html |
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| ↑2 | A Milk Marketing board was not formed in Northern Ireland until 1955. |