What are my special features?
Cheshire Cheese comes in white, red and blue varieties. The white and red have a similar flavour, and the colourant annatto is used as a red dye to provide the distinctive colour. Whereas mould is allowed to develop for the blue variety. Cheshire Cheese is a hard pressed cow’s milk cheese which has a salty, sweet and nutty flavour and a light, flaky texture.
What is my history?
Until the late 19th century, when the Cheddar method of making cheese was popularised and Cheddar started to be made in factories, Cheshire Cheese was the most widely sold British cheese.
The traditional area of Cheshire Cheese is the Fertile Crescent on the West coast of England around the estuary of the river Mersey. This area extends beyond Cheshire into parts of Lancashire to the North and Shropshire and Staffordshire to the South.
Why am I forgotten?
Cheshire Cheese experienced competition with other farmhouse cheeses. Popularity decreased during the last century and demands to change the texture of the cheese during wartime further reduced the number of producers. It can be difficult to find the different cheese varieties.
Don’t lose me…cook me!
