Author Topic: British cheeses  (Read 5784 times)

TimT

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British cheeses
« on: May 04, 2014, 08:37:28 AM »
I've noticed that almost all of the hard cheeses I have maturing at the moment are from the British isles. I guess this is partly a result of my own personal tastes, partly a result of my interest in British history and British food, and partly.... coincidence!

Including the Caerphilly I have recently demolished, the list is:

- Traditional cheddar (badly knit)
- Another traditional cheddar (knit much better)
- Caerphilly
- Gloucester (from a recipe on this site)
- Cheshire (again partly from a recipe on this site, partly from information on the New England Cheesemaking Co's site)
- Wensleydale

Aaaaand there's also a Colby there, in a brief departure from the British Isles.

So! My question is this! What obscure British cheeses could I add to the list? Hit me with your British cheese names! The more recondite the better!

graysalchemy

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Re: British cheeses
« Reply #1 on: May 04, 2014, 04:51:34 PM »
Stilton is the obvious ommision.

Spoons

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Re: British cheeses
« Reply #2 on: May 04, 2014, 05:37:58 PM »
Lancashire is a pretty good and simple cheese to make. 

TimT

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Re: British cheeses
« Reply #3 on: May 05, 2014, 12:32:17 AM »
Both Stilton and Lancashire are possibilities. Last year I did a Leicester and took directions from a 19th century recipe for 'The Best Cheese In The World' to make a Stilton-style cheese - okay, that last one turned out to be a bit experimental.

I have just looked up Lancashire and like the sound of it very much. 

jwalker

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Re: British cheeses
« Reply #4 on: May 05, 2014, 12:41:03 PM »
The more the better eh ?  >:D

The one called "Stinking Bishop" intrigues me.    http://www.cheese.com/stinking-bishop/

Bath Blue
Barkham Blue – a creamy and rich blue cheese with a moldy rind.
Beenleigh Blue – a thin-rinded, unpressed soft blue cheese made from organic unpasteurized ewe's milk produced in Ashprington, Devon County, England.
Birdwood Blue Heaven
Blacksticks Blue
Blissful Blue Buffalo
Blue Monday – named after the song by New Order, it is a cube-shaped cheese.
Brighton Blue
Buxton Blue (Protected Designation of Origin, currently not produced)
Cheshire Blue
Cornish Blue – from Cornwall in the United Kingdom, and is made by the Cornish Cheese Company at Upton Cross.
Devon Blue – a creamy blue cheese made by the Ticklemore Cheese Company using pasteurised cows milk, it is aged for four months.
Dorset Blue Vinney (Protected Geographical Indication) – a traditional blue cheese made near Sturminster Newton in Dorset, England, from skimmed cows' milk. It is a hard, crumbly cheese.
Dovedale (Protected Designation of Origin) – a full-fat semi-soft blue-veined cheese made from cow's milk. It is from the Peak District of Great Britain.
Dunsyre Blue
Exmoor Blue (Protected Geographical Indication)
Garstang Blue, made by Dewlay of Garstang.Cows milk pastuerised Veg.Soft creamy lancashire texture with smooth blue flavour.
Harbourne Blue has a crumby, dense and firm texture with 48% fat content. It's is a goat's cheese produced by Robin Congdon at Ticklemore Cheese Company in Devon, near Totnes. It is made by hand by using local milk.
Isle of Wight Blue
Lanark Blue – a Scottish blue cheese made from unpasteurised sheep milk.
Lymeswold was an English cheese variety that is no longer produced. The cheese was a soft, mild blue cheese with an edible white rind, much like Brie, and was inspired by French cheeses. Production ceased in 1992.
Oxford Blue
Ribblesdale Blue Goat
Radden Blue
Shropshire Blue – a blue cheese made from pasteurised cows' milk that is prepared using vegetable rennet.
Stichelton – an English blue cheese similar to Blue Stilton cheese, except that it does not use pasteurised milk or factory-produced rennet.

Blue Wensleydale – a crumbly, moist cheese produced in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, England.
Yorkshire Blue

Ashdown Foresters – is a cow's milk hard cheese made in England with a sweet, nutty flavor.
Caerphilly – a light-coloured (almost white), crumbly cheese made from cow's milk, and generally has a fat content of around 48%. It has a mild taste, with its most noticeable feature being a not unpleasant slightly sour tang.
Cheddar – a relatively hard, pale yellow to off-white (unless artificially coloured), and sometimes sharp-tasting, cheese. Originating in the English village of Cheddar in Somerset, cheeses of this style are produced beyond this region and in several countries around the world.
Cathedral City Cheddar
Davidstow Cheddar
West Country Farmhouse Cheddar (Protected Designation of Origin)
Applewood
Appleby Cheshire
Cheshire – a dense and crumbly cheese produced in the English county of Cheshire, and four neighbouring counties, two in Wales (Denbighshire and Flintshire) and two in England (Shropshire and Staffordshire).
Duddleswell – a hard creamy cheese with a nutty flavor
Dunlop cheese – a mild cheese or 'sweet-milk cheese' from Dunlop in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It resembles a soft Cheddar cheese in texture.
Hereford Hop – a firm cheese that has a rind of toasted hops.
Lancashire – there are three distinct varieties of Lancashire cheese. Young Creamy Lancashire and mature Tasty Lancashire are produced by a traditional method, whereas Crumbly Lancashire (more commonly known as Lancashire Crumbly within Lancashire) is a more recent creation suitable for mass production. It is a cow's-milk cheese from the county of Lancashire.
Beacon Fell Traditional Lancashire Cheese – a Protected Designation of Origin name, that can be used only for cheese made in a designated area by a designated method.
Bowland cheese – a type of Lancashire cheese, with the cheese having been mixed with apple, sultana and cinnamon prior to setting. It is named after the Forest of Bowland, which is situated in the east of Lancashire in England.
Lincolnshire Poacher – a hard unpasteurised cow's milk cheese that is generally of a cylindrical shape with its rind resembling granite in appearance. It is made on Ulceby Farm, in Lincolnshire, England, by craft cheesemaker Richard Tagg.
Red Leicester – an English cheese made in a similar manner to Cheddar cheese, although it is crumblier. Since the 18th century, it has been coloured orange by adding annatto extract during manufacture.
Rothbury Red
Swaledale (Protected Designation of Origin) – a full fat hard cheese produced in the town of Richmond in Swaledale, North Yorkshire, England.
Teviotdale (Protected Geographical Indication) – produced from the milk of Jersey cattle, there are no known current producers of this cheese. It's a full fat, hard cheese produced in the area of Teviotdale on the border lands between Scotland and England, within a radius of 90 km from the summit of Peel Fell in the Cheviot Hills.
Y Fenni – a variety of Welsh cheese, consisting of Cheddar cheese blended with mustard seed and ale. It has a firm texture.
Red Dragon is Y Fenni cheese that is coated in red wax.

Cheshire cheese
 

Dunlop cheese
 

Lancashire cheese
 

Red Leicester

Coquetdale  – a full-fat semi-hard cheese, made from pasteurised cow's milk and vegetarian rennet.
Cornish Yarg – a semi-hard cow's milk cheese made in Cornwall, United Kingdom from the milk of Friesian cows. Before being left to mature, this cheese is wrapped in nettle leaves to form an edible, though mouldy, rind.
Wild Garlic Yarg
Cotswold – made by blending chives and spring onions into Double Gloucester. The orange cheese is coloured similarly to Cotswold stone.
Derby – a mild, semi-firm British cow's milk cheese made in Derbyshire with a smooth, mellow texture and a buttery flavour.
Little Derby – a Derby-style cheese made outside Derbyshire, similar in flavour and texture to Cheddar, but without the anatto colouring used in Derby cheese.
Sage Derby – a variety of Derby cheese that is mild, mottled green and semi-hard, and has a sage flavour. The colour is from sage and sometimes other colouring added to the curds, producing a marbling effect and a subtle herb flavour.
Gloucester cheese – a traditional unpasteurised, semi-hard cheese which has been made in Gloucestershire, England, since the 16th century, at one time made only with the milk of the once nearly extinct Gloucester cattle. There are two types of Gloucester cheese: Single and Double; both are traditionally made from milk from Gloucestershire breed cows farmed within the English county of Gloucestershire.
Single Gloucester (Protected Designation of Origin)
Double Gloucester
Goosnargh Gold – a rich Double Gloucester cheese with buttery flavour.
Keltic Gold – a Cornish semi-hard cheese dipped in cider. The milk comes from Trewithen Dairy and the cider from Cornish Orchards.
Red Windsor – a pale cream, English cheddar cheese, made using pasteurised cow's milk marbled with a wine, often a Bordeaux wine or a blend of port wine and brandy.
Wensleydale – also produced as a blue cheese, it's produced with many additives such as cranberries, ginger, etc.

Bath Soft Cheese
Beacon Fell traditional Lancashire (Protected Designation of Origin) – a semi-soft cheese prepared with cow's milk that is produced in the region of Lancashire.

Cornish Brie – a type of brie-style, soft, white rinded cheese from Cornwall in the United Kingdom.
Somerset Brie
Caboc – a Scottish cream cheese, made with double cream or cream-enriched milk. This rennet-free cheese is formed into a log shape and rolled in toasted pinhead oatmeal, to be served with oatcakes or dry toast.
Chevington – a cow's milk cheese, made in Northumberland, England, by the Northumberland Cheese Company. It is semi-soft and mould-ripened.
Crowdie – a low-fat Scottish cream cheese. The cheese is often eaten with oatcakes, and recommended before a ceilidh as it is said to alleviate the effects of whisky-drinking. The texture is soft and crumbly, the taste slightly sour.
Fine Fettle Yorkshire – formerly named Yorkshire Feta, it's a sheep's milk cheese.
Gevrik – a Cornish goat's milk cheese.
Parlick Fell – a white cheese made from ewe's milk with a semi-soft, crumbly texture and a tangy, nutty flavour.
White Stilton – a semi-soft cheese. Some varieties are produced with additives.
Stinking Bishop  – a washed-rind cheese produced since 1972 by Charles Martell and Son at Laurel Farm, Dymock, Gloucestershire in the South West of England. It is made from the milk of Gloucester cattle, which in 1972 consisted of only 68 Gloucester breed heifers.
Sussex Slipcote – a fresh cheese made from ewe's milk by the High Weald Dairy in West Sussex, England.
Tesyn – a soft Cornish goat's milk cheese.
Tintern – a soft, blended mature creamy Cheddar cheese flavoured with fresh chives and shallots.
Waterloo – semi-soft, off-white British cheese originating from the Duke of Wellington's estate. It's made from full-fat, unpasteurised Guernsey milk.
Whitehaven – a white cheese made from pasteurised local goat's milk in Cheshire, it's a mold-ripened cheese.



 

« Last Edit: May 05, 2014, 12:46:56 PM by jwalker »

Offline ArnaudForestier

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Re: British cheeses
« Reply #5 on: May 05, 2014, 01:33:43 PM »
Jwalker, c'mon, man, that's it?  ;D
- Paul

jwalker

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Re: British cheeses
« Reply #6 on: May 05, 2014, 02:09:57 PM »
Jwalker, c'mon, man, that's it?  ;D

Well , that's just off the top of my head , I'm sure there's a few I missed.   ;D


Oh yes , "Walkerdale Elgin Blue" , a semihard crumbly blue type washed curd cheese , made from pasteurized cows milk in West Creston BC , from an old Scottish recipe from the makers Great Grandfather , who was originally from the Elgin region of Scotland.

Seriously , I've made one of these and it was great , still perfecting the recipe and have another aging , will post when it's opened.

TimT

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Re: British cheeses
« Reply #7 on: May 06, 2014, 02:07:14 AM »
Yeah, should knock all that lot over by the weekend!

hoeklijn

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Re: British cheeses
« Reply #8 on: May 06, 2014, 05:50:01 AM »
Jwalker, c'mon, man, that's it?  ;D

OMG, LOL

TimT

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Re: British cheeses
« Reply #9 on: May 06, 2014, 06:29:08 AM »
Of course one of the problems sorting through lists like that, you have to work out which are the traditional styles, and which are brand names for new cheeses . Cheese recipes online can be much harder to find than, say, recipes for making wine or beer - which is a reason why sites like this are so invaluable. So if folks care to share any recipes it would be greatly appreciated.  8)

jwalker

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Re: British cheeses
« Reply #10 on: May 06, 2014, 02:42:23 PM »
Of course one of the problems sorting through lists like that,

Actually , I don't find it much of a problem , I find it kind of entertaining to pick out certain cheeses and Google them , and coming up with more detailed information , such as the link I posted to the Stinking Bishop.

I've always enjoyed researching obscure named cheeses , finding an actual recipe is where the challenge is , some are just not available , still , learning a little about the cheese can be rewarding.

Until I found this list , I would have never guessed there were so many different styles traditionally made in Britain.



TimT

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Re: British cheeses
« Reply #11 on: May 06, 2014, 10:40:14 PM »
I should probably clarify that, I'm not worried so much about looking up the individual cheeses and finding recipes, more the culture of secrecy about some cheese recipes - necessary in some cases to protect copyright privileges, of course. I understand that. But the cheesemaking community will only really thrive if we're open and share as many ideas and recipes as possible.

Cornish Yarg is an interesting example; I looked that up the other day and it was described variously as being a 'Caerphilly-like' or 'Wensleydale-like' cheese that is wrapped in nettles; sometimes it has a penicillium mould on the outside. The name ('Yarg') came when the family who inherited the recipe simply inverted their own family name ('Gray') to give themselves a brand name; they've had it - presumably as a closely-protected secret - for about a century now. But they got the recipe from someone else and it's apparently been around since medieval times! So how does this secrecy benefit them, then? Imagine if the company making that cheese folds - what happens to the recipe? Will it just disappear?

Anyway, going from the 'Wensleydale-like' or 'Caerphilly-like' description, I'm guessing it will be a hard cheese that's eaten fairly young; that the milk is curdled and the curds are cooked very much like in Caerphilly and Wensleydale recipes (ie, not very much); and that from the association with nettles it may very well be clabbered with the aid of a nettle rennet.... stop me if I'm getting too fanciful here! So I'm about ready to try and give this style a go.

Alpkäserei

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Re: British cheeses
« Reply #12 on: May 07, 2014, 04:22:36 AM »
There are probably 100 cheeses, if not more, in Switzerland that are just about the exact same thing as Appenzeller. Yet there is 1 tiny little thing that the Appenzeller cheesemakers do differently that makes their cheese different, and that tiny little thing is a very closely guarded secret.

I bought some Appenzeller one time in the village of Amsoldingen, far from Appenzell, and also there bought some of their local specialty, Amsoldinger. The two taste very similar -but neither is meant to be like the other.

The basic recipes for each have been around since before the Romans...

Then there is me. My best cheese is based on a very old recipe that was more or less established in 1548 (when the older recipe was adjusted to produce a cheese more suited to long distance trade outside of the immediate region) which is itself just a slight modification of a recipe that, again, goes back to a time before the Romans...
Yet, like many of the creameries in the region who have the resources to do so (cheeseries instead of alp farms), I have a few specifics to my cheese that I will not tell. Because it's mine. But the recipe I use is ancient.

For one thing, 'secrecy' generates interest. I'll bet you if I tried, I could come up with a really good copy of Appenzeller but you know what, since they have that aura of mystery it generates business. Appenzeller has been wildly successful (even though it hasn't been around very long, and is almost certainly just a continuation of some specific regional cheese from much longer ago)

So that's my take on the secrecy.
Want to try to replicate Cornish Yarg? Go ahead!

TimT

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Re: British cheeses
« Reply #13 on: May 07, 2014, 09:30:40 AM »
I guess I'm really interested in the historical recipes and styles, not the brands - I like learning about the differences between those styles and understanding why they're made differently, and what those differences do to the final cheese.

Matthewcraig

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Re: British cheeses
« Reply #14 on: May 08, 2014, 07:47:03 PM »
Yes the stinking bishop is an amazing cheese, although I found out from personal experience keeping it on the car on the way back from the shop is not a good idea :)