The Somerset countryside seen from the top of Glastonbury Tor. Dairy farming is prevalent.
Cheddar Cheese is one of those staples on the shopping list of nearly every household, not just here in Britain but in Canada, Australia,
New Zealand, South Africa and the USA; the English speaking countries and
probably far beyond. It is
made throughout the world. There are a variety of Cheddar Cheeses in my local supermarket. I can buy, Cathedral City, Cave Aged
Cheddar, Davidstow Cornish Mature Cheddar, Taw Valley, Maryland Farmhouse
Vintage Cheddar, Pilgrims Choice Mature Cheddar, Seriously Strong Cheddar White,
Canadian Vintage Cheddar, Mature British Cheddar and also a variety of medium
and mild strength versions of these. Other supermarkets have some other
varieties.
Cheddar Cheese can be used in a cheddar bake with grated cheddar cheese melted into a dish
of pasta. “Welsh Rare Bit,” which is sometimes called cheese on toast is very popular. A glass of wine to go with Cheddar adds to the pleasurable sensory experience. Cheddar Cheese
is connected with caves and witches, subterfuge and fraud, travel and adventure
and of course with the county of Somerset and the village of Cheddar where it
all began.
In 1714 Daniel Defoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe, went on
a tour of Britain and wrote about his adventures describing the places he
visited in a book called,
“ A TOUR THRO’ THE
WHOLE ISLAND OF GREAT BRITAIN DIVIDED INTO CIRCUITS OF JOURNIES GIVING A
PARTICULAR AND DIVERTING ACCOUNT OF WHATEVER IS CURIOUS AND WORTH OBSERVATION.”
Defoes journey through the British Isles.
It was printed in 1715 by W. Mears at the Lamb, just outside
of Temple Bar, one of the gateways into the City of London. It was sold at The
Lamb and also by J. Stagg in Westminster Hall, G. Strachan in Cornhill and R.
Franklin under Tom’s Coffee House in Covent Garden and also by S. Chapman and
J. Jackson in Pall Mall. It must have had a wide readership. Those places
mentioned were where the writers and businessmen, bankers, politicians and
aristocracy lived and met. It obviously
reached those in power and those with influence. Cheddar Cheese has a prominent
place in Defoe’s description of Somerset. He clearly describes how it fits into
the nation’s economy.
“.. every county furnishes something for the supply of London, and no
county in England
(Somerset) furnishes more effectual provisions, nor, in proportion, a
greater value than this. These supplies are in three articles.
1 Fat Oxen as large and good as any in England.
2. Large Cheddar Cheese, the greatest and best of the kind in England.
3. Colts bread in numbers in the moors……..”
Daniel Defoe’s book was useful to politicians,
bankers and businessmen. He is describing the wealth and industry of the
country. He took on the role of an
economic and political observer.
Defoe described the
surrounding countryside and Cheddar
Cheese within that context; its value to
the manufacturer and the consumer and hence its value to the country. It is
worth reading what he wrote. It is easy flowing prose with an important message
for his time. He provides a feel for a
place. He is clear and succinct in his descriptions.
“In the low country, on the other side of the Mendip Hills lies
Chedder, a village pleasantly situated under the very ridge of the mountains;
before the village is a large green, or common, a piece of ground, in which the
whole herd of cows, belonging to the town, do feed; the ground is exceeding
rich, and as the whole village are cow keepers, they take care to keep up the
good ness of the soil, by agreeing to lay on large quantities of dung for
manuring and inriching the land.
The milke of the town cows, is brought together every day into a common
room, where the persons appointed, or trusted for the management, measure every
mans quantity and set it down in a book, when the quantities are adjusted, the
milk is all put together and every meal’s makes one cheese, and no more so the
cheese is bigger or less as the cows yield more milk, or less milk. By this
method, the goodness of the cheese is preserved, and, without all dispute, it
is the best cheese that England affords, if not, that the whole world affords.
As the cheeses are by this means very large for they often weigh a
Hundred weight, sometimes much more, so the poor inhabitants, who have but few
cows, are obliged to stay the longer for the return of their milk; for no man
has any such return ‘till his share come to a whole cheese, and then he has it;
and if the quantity of his milk delivered in, come s to above a cheese the
overplus rests in account to his credit, ‘till another cheese come s to his
share; and thus every man has equal justice, and though he should have but one
cow, he shall, in time, have one whole cheese. This cheese is often sold for
six pence to eight pence per pound, when the Cheshire cheese is sold but for
two pence to two pence halfpenny. Here is a deep, frightful chasm in the
mountains, in the hollow of which, the road goes, by which they travel towards
Bristol.”
The road is still there, winding through the, “deep,
frightful chasm.” I drove through Cheddar Gorge last summer on the way
to Wells and Bath. We stopped to explore some of the caves dripping with
stalagmites and stalactites and we actually saw some large barrel like cheeses
in some of the caves, maturing.
Cheddar is still made in Cheddar and the fields in the
surrounding countryside still have dairy cattle grazing in them. Their milk is used to make the local Cheddar Cheeses.
The side of Cheddar Gorge in Somerset. Limestone cliffs.
Cheddar Cheese is first recorded as being made in the town
of Cheddar in the 12 th century.The cheese was named after the town. Cheddar is
situated on the edge of The Mendip Hills which are mostly formed from limestone
rocks. Cave formations have been formed from the action of springs and rainfall
creating underground streams and rivers through the limestone. These
underground passages and caves have a constant temperature and humidity that
helps with the maturing of a good cheese. Cheeses are stored in these caves
for this reason.
Cheddar Cheese is mentioned in The Pipe Rolls of 1170.
Pipe Rolls were a series of financial records kept by the treasury from the 12th
century right up to 1833. They got their name, Pipe Rolls, because the paper or
parchments they were written on were rolled up into tubes or pipes and stacked on
shelves. In 1170 the pipe rolls record that Henry II
(1154-1189) purchased 10,240 pounds (4.6 tonnes) of cheddar cheese costing a
farthing per pound. Prince John, his son, who became king in 1199 , kept up
this cheese tradition. He bought Cheddar Cheese for royal banquets.
The rolls during Charles I (1625 – 1649) reign, show that he
bought Cheddar Cheeses even before they were made and gathered up all the
available stocks. Cheddar Cheese it appears was only available at court during
the Stuart period. ( Another excuse for a Civil War, perhaps.)
Cheddar Cheese today is made all over the world. However the
European Parliament has passed a law and given certain local versions of
Cheddar Cheese , Protected Designation of Origin. Certain Cheddars can only be
called “West Country Farmhouse Cheddar,” by law. There are only fourteen
farmhouses in the West Country of England that are allowed to make this unique
form of Cheddar. To qualify, the farmhouses making, “West Country Farmhouse
Cheddar,” must be located in Devon, Cornwall, Dorset or Somerset. They can only
use milk from local cows and dairies and they must use the traditional methods
to make the cheese. The minimum age for a cheese must be nine months. This
makes it a mature cheese. Cheeses made elsewhere make mild and medium cheeses
which take from three months for mild to six months for a medium cheddar. Extra
Mature takes about fifteen months and Vintage takes eighteen months or more to
mature.
Some of the farmhouse cheese makers use unpasteurised milk
which tends to have rather more complex and stronger flavours. Others use
pasteurised milk. Cheddar Cheese flavours vary also depending on the time of
the year they are made and also it depends on the diet of the cows.
A river going underground in The Mendips.
Some of the creamery or industrially made cheddars around
the world are increasingly being sold at older and older ages because peoples
tastes are developing.
Cheddar Cheese is unique, not only for its maturing process
in caves but also because of a special cheese making process called,
“cheddaring,” named after the cheese. Once made the cheeses are turned on a
regular basis which allows the curd to be turned. They are also piled on top of
each other which helps drain the whey. This process also stretches the curd
which creates a hard firm cheese. As Cheddar matures its taste develops from
creamy to more and more complex and sometimes nutty flavours which linger after
eating.
Cheddar Cheeses maturing in limestone caves beneath Cheddar Gorge.
Apparently there was a controversy over the quality of
cheese making in the 17th century. There may have been what we might
term, fraud, going on. The University of Vermont has a cheese specialist. Yes,
I will leave you to consider that academic headline for a moment or two…..
right…. lets continue. Paul Kindstedt, cheese expert of The University of
Vermont says that in the 17th century many English cheese makers
realized that if they skimmed the cream off the milk before making the cheese
they could make butter with the cream and add to their income and profits.
However by skimming the cream off the milk before making the cheese the colour
of the cheese was lost. They tried to trick their customers by adding colouring
such as saffron, marigold and carrot juices. This returned the colour to the
cheeses. They had in fact invented a low fat version of their cheeses which
nowadays would sell perfectly well as a low fat cheese. But they didn’t know
that then. The devious scoundrels.
As part of my research into Cheddar I thought I should eat
some. The cheese I have in front of me at this moment comes from my local ASDA
supermarket. Many people will immediately react to that and think, well, not a
promising start.ASDA being a supermarket chain usually selling the cheaper brands. I should imagine a few critics will say, that can’t be very
good then. The packet label says, “EXTRA
MATURE, Strong and Punchy, English Cheddar.”( love the use of the word, punchy, by the way. Somebody must have
thought hard and long.) It is actually quite a pleasant sensory experience.
It is has a pale creamy colour. It is dry and crumbly. It has quite a strong
tangy smell. The taste is creamy with some strong sour overtones. There are
some sharp flavoured crystals within the cheese which give some pleasant
explosions of flavour and the taste is lasting, yes, for quite some time, while
I continue to type this. I am not sure what my wife paid for it but it is
markedly better than some supposedly strong cheddars I have bought in other
supermarkets. Yes, not a bad experience at all. I will be eating more of that.
Tony, this was entertaining and informative, as all your posts are! Makes me want to organise a Cheddar Tour! The Cheddar I buy most often is a medium, made in Oregon by a dairy cooperative that uses milk with no growth hormones. Sharp is good for certain things, but medium is more versatile.
ReplyDeleteInformative content lovely blog nice post.
ReplyDeleteWorth reading! I'm happy that I found this blog, very informative and interesting. I'm a cheese lover :)
ReplyDelete