News and Features

Cheese

Love it or hate it, you have to hand it to cheese.... it excites passions in people normally reserved for more glamorous food offerings.

During an uncharacteristically hot Royal Bath and West Show, the heated debate over the merits of the humble cheese spilled over into the earthy odours of a packed cheese tent.

This year there were a record breaking number of entries , 700, showing that while there are some who believe that cheese is simply a way of using up sour milk, there are still millions of us who will happily spend many hours pondering the discerning merits, and odours,  of an earthy round of Cheddar, over the tang and exotica of a Stilton.

Which is all very good news for the Chairman of the National Cheese Awards, Ford Farm’s Mike Pullin.

“The British cheese industry is in really healthy shape,” says the second generation cheese maker.” “There are great tastes and a great variety ... and it’s getting better and better.”

While France and Greece vie for the title of greatest cheese eating nation, Britain has more cheese varieties than any other country, and a booming artisan cheese industry.

Making the grade in cheese circles doesn’t just mean whether a cheese excites the palate. Over 30 judges from all over the UK worked at this year’s show, judging cheeses on taste, texture and grading excellence. “That means a cheese should come cleanly off the knife and hold its form,” explains Mike who also likes to sing the praises of young palates. “Children make the best judges of all. Their taste is very clean, and they know what they like.. and best of all they can’t lie. If they hate something.. they say so.”

But it’s not all happiness down at the creamery, with some artisan cheesemakers claiming that it is impossible for the smaller producers to compete when their prices are so far removed from the mass production operations.

Cheesemaker Tom Calver, works at award winning Westcombe Cheddar , which has been making cheese since 1890 and only produces 10 tons a year. “ If you consider that it takes 10 litres of milk to produce each kilo of cheddar, the costs of the smaller producers are in a different league. There are so many variables.... of course there’s the cows and the pasture and the feed, and the unexpected costs... such as a vet’s bill.... and then, even after it has been made and left to age for a year,  you have no guarantee it will be any good. That’s why you will never get a truly great cheddar from the supermarkets.”

Mike disagrees; “ The supermarkets are a positive force in the cheese industry” he says, pointing out that many of the larger well known chains won medals for their cheese offerings.

” Many of the judges were supermarket buyers, but each worked with an official grader, so the results are completely independent. At the end of the day a great cheese is a great cheese.. and that’s one that doesn’t stay on the plate.”

Susie Watkins Polakova