Defining the world’s most underrated cheese tradition 

There is no cheese quite like British cheese. More specifically, the low-moisture, high-acid cheeses of Britain have few obvious counterparts in continental Europe. Consider Cheddar (better yet, cut off a hunk, if you have some). It crumbles into pieces when cut. Now, think of Comte (or slice off a portion of Templegall). It bends before it breaks.  

Cheddar may be the most familiar example, but there are characteristics all British territorial cheeses share. “There's the territorial umbrella, and then underneath that you have the separate cheeses, each of those probably more closely related than they are distanced apart,” Jennifer Kast told us in an interview about the definition of Cheddar.  

As different as they may seem, Cheddar, Caerphilly, Cheshire, Lancashire, Stilton, and Wensleydale each have more in common with each other than they do with European cheeses. Here’s how.  

Figure 1: A plot of classic cheeses according to the acidity and moisture level of the curds at the point of moulding (taken from Reinventing the Wheel: Milk, Microbes, and the Fight for Real Cheese, UC Press/Bloomsbury Sigma 2017)

 British cheese is crumbly 

British cheeses are often affectionally referred to as “the crumblies.” If you’ve ever sliced into a wheel of Kirkham’s Lancashire, you’ll understand why. The paste crumbles when cut.  

How do cheese makers achieve that crumbly paste? “The texture of cheese has everything to do with how acid the curd is when the moisture is being removed from it,” says Bronwen Percival, our Technical Director. If the whey drains away while the curd is fresh and sweet, the minerals stick around. The resulting cheese will be smooth: like a glossy Brie or a bendy Emmental. If the whey drains as the curd is acidifying, or once the curd is tangy and acidic, it will take those minerals with it. The resulting cheese will be brittle: like a pasty goat’s cheese or crumbly Lancashire.  

Draining curd for Kirkham's Lancashire.

British cheeses, from Lancashire to Cheshire to Stilton, belong to the latter category. The cheese maker drains the whey in an intricately choreographed dance as the curd acidifies. Because the British cheeses made today are relatively hard, low-moisture cheeses, they are crumbly. In an alternate universe where British cheese makers made more high-moisture styles, they might taste something like Brightwell Ash. “With some of the experimental cheeses I've tasted ... you can really see how that British texture could be along a continuum with something spreadable, fresh, lactic, cream cheesy, and luscious,” Bronwen says.  

The cut curd of Stichelton. 

Acidic curd is not the only reason for some British styles’ distinctive texture. Their curds are  run through a mill before being pressed into a wheel. When you take a bite of Appleby’s Cheshire, Bronwen says, "a lot of that bittiness is actually the structure of the curd that’s been turned into tiny little bits in the mill.” 

British cheese is bright 

Does British cheese’s acidic curd give it an acidic flavour? The short answer is yes. But thanks to the complex microbiological processes that contribute to each wheel of cheese, that acidity can come through in a variety of ways. Over the course of several weeks,  Yoredale Wensleydale alone could taste yoghurty, lively, juicy, lemony, sour, or fresh, according to our notes.  

Appleby's Cheshire ready to be pressed in cheese moulds. 

Acidity is just one note in a symphony, and some British cheeses let others sing. Colston Bassett Stilton has a bright, sweet base, but it is a blue cheese – and tastes like it.  

When Jennifer Kast spoke with other Cheddar-makers about their process, she found that they “do not perceive acidity as a friend and there's not a general feeling that anything that resembles a sharp flavor is a good thing.” Instead, they prize the nutty, savoury, or grassy notes that develop over time.  

British cheese is underrated 

Here, when we say British cheese, we don’t mean any cheese made in England, Scotland, or Wales. We mean styles of cheese that originated here.  

Why is it necessary to clarify the definition of British cheese? Why is British cheese not mentioned in the same breath as French or Italian? Why are there so few British farmhouse cheesemakers left?  

Stonebeck Wensleydale hand bound in unbleached calico by Sally Hattan.

The answer often given is World War II, when dairy production was strictly regulated and cheese consumption rationed. While that was a factor, it might be more accurate to blame the invisible hand of the market. “The real thing that killed British farmhouse cheesemaking is the market for liquid milk,” Bronwen says.  

The British public wanted milk in their tea, and dairy farmers were more than happy to sell it to them. After the advent of railroads, it was much less trouble to ship milk than to make cheese. Cheddar lent itself well to industrial production – so well that it became one of the most popular cheeses in the world – but other styles fell by the wayside.  

Today, you can find some of those styles on supermarket shelves. But are they the same cheese? “We have these industrial makes with names that have been drawn from this collection of practices,” says Bronwen. “But we’ve lost a load of the diversity, interest, farming, and milk that would have made those cheeses so compelling.” 

Sparkenhoe Red Leicester maturing.

Our mission is to change that. We are proud to sell small-scale, farmhouse British cheese, from Appleby’s Cheshire to Colston Bassett Stilton. Taste a selection – ideally one after the other. You will find them all to be bright, crumbly, and uniquely British. 

You can read more about these cheeses in Reinventing the Wheel: Milk, Microbes and the Fight for Real Cheese by Bronwen and Francis Percival.