The Oldest Cheese Made in Britain
Taste a slice of Cheshire Cheese and you will grin like the Cheshire Cat! A favorite of the British Navy, it will be one of your favorites too!
"Cheshire is not only the most literary cheesein England, but the oldest. It was already manufactured when Caesarconquered Britain, and tradition is that the Romansbuilt the walled city of Chester to control the district where theprecious cheese was made.
Cheshire first came to fame with The Old Cheshire Cheese Innin Elizabethan times and waxed great with Samuel Johnson presiding atthe Fleet Street Inn where White Cheshire was served "with radishes orwatercress or celery when in season," and "Red Cheshire was servedtoasted or stewed in a sort of Welsh Rabbit."
The Blue Variety is called Cheshire-Stilton, and Vyvyan Holland, in Cheddar Gorge suggests that:
"it was no doubt a cheese of this sort, discovered and filched from thelarder of the Queen of Hearts, that accounted for the contented grin onthe face of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland." (credit: The Complete Book of Cheese by Robert Carlton Brown via Project Gutenberg's eBook)
It has long been one of England's favorite cheeses. In fact the Royal Navy always stocks its ships with a plentiful supply. Farmhouse Cheshire cheese is always madefrom RAW (unpasteurized) cow's milk, and while true Farmhouse Cheshire (which is the Cheshirecheese you want to purchase) must be made from milk produced by theFriesian cattle in the Cheshire area...the color, size, shape and agingare not regulated.
Usually Cheshire is formed into cloth-wrappeddrums which are 14 inches high with a diameter of 7-8 inches, weighingabout 15 lbs. The drums are aged for 6 months up to a year. It isimportant that you seek out Genuine FarmhouseCheshire which will always be stamped with the number of thefarm where it was produced, the date it was made and a quality gradingof either 'fine' or 'superfine'. It will bewrapped in cloth; it will rarely be waxed over the cloth.
The very best of the Farmhouse Cheshire is made by the Appleby family of Hawkstone Abbey Farm.
Other fine Cheshires are made by the Bourne family (The Bank brand) and some waxed Cheshires by Mollington Grange and Chorlton Lodge. Flavor-wise, Cheshire is rustic, not too strong, buttery and mild with a slighty salty, quintessentially cheesy flavor. (The soil in the Cheshirebasin area has an underlying layer of bedrock salt which contributes toits distinctive flavor.) It is a dry cheese with an pale orangecolor since it is organically dyed with annatto. The texture of Cheshire is a bit drier than Cheddar, but it is crumbly likeCheddar.
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