MODELOS Y GRADOS DE AUTORIDAD OPERATIVA

This iconic cheese can be traced back to the 15th century, when Severn Vale farmers made it from famed Cotswold sheep. Gradually, milk from Gloucester cows replaced it. Today, it is made throughout England, but not necessarily with Gloucester milk.

TASTING NOTES With a leathery rind, this hard cheese has a strong, savory, and mellow flavor. It is made with whole milk and colored deep orange with annatto seeds.

HOW TO ENJOY Eat plain, cook with it, or watch it being rolled down Coopers Hill in Gloucester in May, as per tradition.

ENGLAND Wooler, Northumberland Age 12–14 months

Weight and Shape 11lb and 22lb, drum Size D. 9in (23cm) and 12¹⁄2in (32cm), H. 4¹⁄2in (11cm)

Milk Cow Classification Hard Producer Doddington Dairy

ENGLAND Stock Gaylard, Dorset Age 12–14 weeks

Weight and Shape 13lb (6kg), round Size D. 10in (25cm), H. 12in (30cm) Milk Cow

Classification Blue

Producer Mike Davies, Woodbridge Farm

ENGLAND All over Age Around 4 months Weight and Shape Various, wheel Size Various

Milk Cow Classification Hard Producer Various

178

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND

Cheddar

The story of cheddar can be traced back to the Romans, who introduced hard cheeses to Britain. It was the feudal system, however, that led to the development of the large, buxom traditional British cheeses because it placed the majority of land in the hands of a few great landowners who could afford to make very large cheeses.

Wedge

The fine gray mold that grows over the cloth reduces the moisture loss so that the cheese can develop its characteristic hard, dense, creamy texture and earthy aroma.

The rolling hills of England’s West Country.

Yet it was not until the 16th century that this hard cheese made in the Mendip Hills near the Cheddar Gorge in Somerset became known as cheddar. The lush grazing, rolling hills, and natural caves offered the ideal conditions for large herds and meant the cheesemakers tended to make huge 60–120lb (27–54kg) cheeses requiring 2–3 years to mature.

TASTING NOTES To taste an unpasteurized, clothbound cheddar, made from the milk of cows whose diet is fresh grass, clover, buttercups, and daisies, is to taste a piece of England.

The bite is firm but yielding like chocolate, the aroma earthy and slightly savory. The flavor differs from farm to farm, but there is always the rich sweetness of the milk, a classic acidity, sometimes nutty, often with an explosion of flavor in the mouth and a lingering cheese and onion tang.

HOW TO ENJOY For generations, cheddar has been an integral part of the English diet, in sandwiches, as a quick snack, in plowman’s lunches, or as huge wedges on cheese platters, embellished with Cox’s apples, pickled walnuts, and crusty bread. It is also superb in sauces, melted over baked potatoes, or grated over numerous vegetable dishes and grilled. Best with a Merlot or Pinot Noir.

A CLOSER LOOK

Cheddar can be sold as young as six months, when it has a softer texture and mild, almost buttery taste. At 12 months, the texture is firmer, almost chewy, and the taste is more intense. At 18 months, the texture is drier, sometimes with crunchy calcium crystals, and the flavor more savory.

Since then it has been emulated throughout the world, especially in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, where the majority is made in blocks rather than elegant clothbound cylinders. But only cheese made from cows that graze the green and verdant hills of England truly deserves the name cheddar.

Exterior

England Dorset, Devon, and Somerset Age 6–24 months

Weight and Shape 56lb (26kg), cylinder or block Although cheddar has improved in recent years, it can never achieve the same hardness and depth of flavor as those made by hand in 60lb (26kg) rounds and aged in cloth like those listed below [R = made with raw milk from a single farm]

Barbers Farmhouse Cheese, Somerset Belton Cheese, Shropshire

Cheddar Gorge Cheese, Somerset [R]

Cricketer Farm, Somerset Ford Farm, Dorset Goulds Chesemakers Isle of Mull, Scotland [R]

Keen’s, Somerset {R]

Lye Cross Farm, Somerset Montgomery’s, Somerset [R]

Quickes Traditional Cheeses, Devon [R]

Westcombe Cheddar, Somerset [R]

179

ENGLAND

MILLING The flattened bricks are then milled or “minced” to finger-sized pieces and pitched by hand using giant forks to aerate and cool the curd before salting.

CHEDDARING To create the unique texture of cheddar, the mass of curds is molded into brick-sized blocks and piled two bricks high. This process is repeated every 15–20 minutes until the bricks flatten out, the acidity rises, and more whey is forced out.

The interior is a soft sunshiny butter-yellow color with an orange tinge as it ages.

Interior

180

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND

Finn

Charlie Westhead, Haydn Roberts, and their team produce cheeses in a dairy atop Dorstone Hill, with glorious views over the Wye Valley toward the Black Mountains. As with French double-cream cheeses, ten percent additional cream is added to the milk before the cheesemaking begins, giving it a creamy richness.

TASTING NOTES Inside its creamy-white rind lies a soft but firm cheese with a creamy acidity, a salty-sweet mingling, and a hint of mushrooms.

HOW TO ENJOY Bake with it, or savor the extra richness set off to perfection by the plainest of crackers.

ENGLAND Dorstone, Herefordshire Age 3 weeks

Weight and Shape 10¹⁄2oz (300g), round Size D. 4in (10cm), H. 2in (5cm) Milk Cow

Classification Soft white Producer Neal’s Yard Creamery

Duddleswell

You would expect a delicious cheese from a farm set in a region officially designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The Hardy family started High Weald Dairy in 1988, in the beautiful surroundings of Ashdown Forest; Duddleswell has echoes of traditional Dales cheeses, with all the nutritional benefits of ewe’s milk.

TASTING NOTES Smooth and creamy with a sweet, nutty release, Duddleswell is a hard-pressed cheese with a thin and leathery natural rind.

HOW TO ENJOY Feature as part of a cheese board, or instead of pecorino; great with pasta or on top of a salad.

ENGLAND Horsted Keynes, West Sussex Age 3–4 months

Weight and Shape 7lb (3.2kg), truckle Size D. 9¹⁄2in (24cm), H. 2³⁄4–3¹⁄4in (7–8cm) Milk Ewe

Classification Hard Producer High Weald Dairy