Cheese Cheese has been made in Britain for centuries, but what can local, 'artisan' cheese-makers offer us that large, commercial cheese-makers can't? Here's the lowdown on British regional cheeses.

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History Artisan cheeses

Well-known British cheeses Lesser-known traditional regional cheeses

Cheese-making has a very long history in Britain. In fact, primitive cheese-making tools have been found in Iron Age settlements. Centuries ago, all cheese made in Britain would have been made using sheep' s milk; only much later was cow's milk used.

Cheese-making was a skill passed down from generation to generation and cheese was a simple food made at home, with the most basic of ingredients and tools.

These days, cheese tends to be divided into two categories: commercial or farmhouse, with farmhouse and artisan cheeses being considered more 'raditional'. The terms 'artisan' and 'farmhouse', though widely used, are essentially meaningless, as they have no legal definitions. For the purposes of this website, we shall define these concepts as cheese made by hand, on a small scale, using milk from animals owned by, or local to, the dairy, without recourse to artificial additives, and using time-honoured methods (for example, maturing in muslin 'bandages').

Artisan cheese-makers in this country offer several things that the very large, industrialised dairies often can't. The first is traceability - when small-scale cheese-makers use milk from their own animals, they control the process of cheese-making right from the very beginning. This often means that the animals are grass-fed, a method that many dairies insist produces higher quality, more flavourful milk.

Many traditional cheese-makers choose not to pasteurise their milk, a decision that can affect the flavour. It's widely believed that unpasteurised milk gives cheese a deeper, more complex flavour, with a 'lively' quality that's often absent in pasteurised cheeses. Large commercial concerns are usually denied, for practical reasons, the luxury of this decision.

Small-scale dairies often use milk from rare or native breeds of animal, which can impart subtle nuances in flavour and texture. The choice of specific animals, as well as pastures, can result in a defined regional feel to the cheese. In contrast, the enormous quantities of milk required for industrial-scale cheese-making is likely to be from mixed herds and intensive farms spread over a wide area.

Time is of the essence, too - the traditional cheese-maker will never hurry the process and will give their cheese the right length of time to mature. Some industrial cheese will have been treated with enzymes to speed the maturation process, making a younger cheese appear to have the qualities of a more mature cheese, but this forced progress is a poor substitute for time in a maturing room.

While more commercially produced cheese is a consistent product, artisan cheeses change with the seasons, according to the pasture the animals are grazing, and the weather. Industrial dairies tailor the milk they use to fit their processes; artisan cheese-makers are less rigid, and will adjust the process to suit the milk they have, often making minute adjustments according to different seasonal conditions. Instead of mass-producing cheese using a highly mechanised process, small dairies offer a handmade product, one in which the cheese-maker uses his or her skill and intuition to time every process to produce the best result. These variations result in an intriguing lack of uniformity; cheese bought from an artisan cheese-maker one month may have a slightly different taste or texture the next.

Regional cheeses

There are many regions around Britain that are famous for a specific kind of cheese native to that area - think of stilton, which can only be made within Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire or Derbyshire, or cheddar, which originated in Somerset. There are many lesser known regional cheeses, some of which have recently been revived after having been long forgotten. For example, Dunlop 'sweet milk' cheese from Scotland, made originally in the 1600s, and single Gloucester, which can only be made with milk from Gloucester cattle, within Gloucestershire.

Wales was historically associated with cheese-making, perhaps because of the richness of its pasture and its sheep population, and is deservedly becoming famous for its cheese-making again. As the revival in British artisan cheese-making gathers pace, cheese-makers are creating their own regional cheeses - giving consumers an increasing wealth of choice.

Cheshire and Lancashire (north-west)
Cheddar (south-west)
Stilton and Red Leicester (Midlands)
Wensleydale (Yorkshire)
Double and Single Gloucester (Gloucestershire)
Caerphilly (Wales)

Crowdie and Dunlop (Scotland)
Little Herefordshire
Blue Vinney (Dorset)
Oxford Blue