Port
How I Came to Know Port Port is a fortified wine, usually sweet and served after dinner. To be perfectly honest, Port was an acquired taste for me. I don’t like sweet beverages, and it always seemed a bit frumpy to me. The fact that …
Tag: England
Pitchfork Cheddar
Our previous post was about the Trethowan Brother’s Gorwydd Caerphilly, so we decided it made sense for our next post to be about Pitchfork Cheddar, a West Country Farmhouse PDO Cheddar, also made by the Trethowans! When the brothers left Wales, where they had already been making Gorwydd Caerphilly, they crossed into Somerset and began to make cheddar in 2017 just a few miles from Cheddar Gorge itself. Somerset is the birthplace of farmhouse cheddar, and joining that community meant stepping into centuries of cheddarcraft.
They had their work cut out for them, but they won Best of British at the World Cheese Awards, and the Gold awards at the International Cheese Awards. They gained Artisan Somerset Presidia status from the Slow Food Foundation, one of only three cheddar makers given that honor. It’s also my favorite!
How Pitchfork Cheddar is Made
Eglantine: The Trethowans make Pitchfork with raw milk from their own herd. They begin with with natural starter cultures, the kind that change a little each day. The brothers tend them as a baker tends a leaven, feeding a community of microbes they know by its behavior more than its name. Some of these keep working long after the curd is pressed, moving quietly through the cheese as it ages. They’re what give it depth, the slow work of life continuing under cloth.
Eglantine: After the curd is cut and drained, it’s cheddared (you can read more about that in a previous post). Later, the wheels are wrapped in cloth and rubbed with lard. I rather like that part. It feels like dressing the cheese in a woolen jumper before sending it off to rest in the cellar!
Aritz: And in the cellar, microbes and time do their work. Pitchfork ages 12-14 months. The rind grows dusty and natural, the paste becomes dense and friable, and the flavor deepens. Microbes break down proteins into amino acids such as methionine and cysteine, which can release volatile sulfur compounds. It’s the same chemical family that gives mustard and horseradish their bite. There’s a mustard note that rises near the rind. It comes from the sulfur compounds in the milk as they break down over time. The natural cultures get to work on them slowly, releasing that faint heat you feel at the back of the throat.
PDO AOP DOP!
Today, Pitchfork has a West Country Farmhouse Cheddar PDO, which protects cheeses made by hand, on the farm, from local milk, using traditional methods. PDO stands for Protected Designation of Origin — in French you’ll see AOP (Appellation d’Origine Protégée), in Italy DOP (Denominazione d’Origine Protetta). Whatever the language, the idea is the same: the product can only be made in a specific place, in a specific way. Champagne is the classic French example, and Colombian Coffee has the same status.
These protections anchor food to its landscape and to its history, safeguarding traditions that might otherwise be lost. The West Country Farmhouse Cheddar PDO began in 1994, after decades when farmhouse cheddar nearly vanished into industrial blocks. The Trethowans’ Pitchfork is the most recent addition, proof that tradition is not frozen in time.
Cheese is Culture
In cheesemaking, culture means microbes, but cheese has always been about human culture too. The Trethowans didn’t invent cheddar. They were mentored by James Montgomery and Tom Calver at Westcombe. They benefited from the wisdom of Randolph Hodgson and the team at Neal’s Yard Dairy who championed farmhouse cheese. And now they pass it on, training younger cheesemakers in turn. Knowledge is shared, skills are handed down, and the chain continues.
Community is powerful. Montgomery’s, Westcombe, Keen’s, Quicke’s, Pitchfork, all West Country Farmhouse Cheddars that could see each other as competitors instead act like colleagues. They compare notes, trade ideas, and celebrate each other’s successes. That openness kept clothbound cheddar alive, even after decades of decline. In the twentieth century, farmhouse cheddar nearly disappeared into factories and plastic. But through mentorship and cooperation, it survived.
Pitchfork has a mustardy spice that pricks the tongue and lingers, grounded by a golden sweetness like dried hay. If Gorwydd Caerphilly is bright and lemony, Pitchfork is its autumn counterpart. It’s rich, warm, and full of depth. I love eating it with a strong English mustard and, you guessed it, apples! Let me know if you need help finding it!
Yoredale Wensleydale
Yoredale from Curlew Dairy in the Yorkshire Dales, is real farmhouse Wensleydale, brought back from extinction. For many people, Wensleydale means the industrial blocks in the supermarket, studded with cranberries at Christmas. Yoredale shows what the cheese was meant to be. It’s one of my …
Kirkham’s Lancashire
Kirkham’s Lancashire is an English Territorial, one of the Crumblies, and one of my favorites. It’s buttery, tangy, and as one of my colleagues said, “fluffy.” However, when people see Kirkham’s Lancashire on the counter, they figure it’s another cheddar. With this post, we’re hoping …
Appleby’s Cheshire
It’s our first cheese post! Here we go! Appleby’s Cheshire comes from Hawkstone Abbey Farm in Shropshire, England. The Appleby family founded the farm in 1952, and now Paul Appleby and his wife Sarah carry on the work, with help from their five children. They craft their farmstead cheese from raw milk, traditional cultures and rennet, and salt from the Cheshire Plains, and aged about 3 months. It’s grassy, complex, and subtle, perfectly paired with a good cider or fresh fruit.
Eglantine Crumb: Farmstead means the cheesemakers use milk from animals living right there on the farm. That ensures freshness, and that the cheesemakers know exactly what’s happening with the pastures and the cows. The Appleby family’s herd is mostly Friesian-cross, and they’ve been working with them to improve soil health, which benefits us all. Aritz and I will have more to say soon about how animals and microbes can help undo the harm caused by industrial farming.
Sarah Appleby and Jennifer Tolliver at Formaggio Kitchen
What is Cheshire
Cheshire is a hard cow’s milk cheese made not only in Cheshire itself, but also in Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and northeastern Wales. It may be the oldest of the British Territorials. You can find cheese from Cheshire mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, when villagers paid rent in wheels of it. We can’t be sure it was the same style we know today, but it’s delightful to imagine.
“British Territorials” refers to regional cheeses officially described in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Cheeses in Britain (and much of Europe) have place names. The Cheshire Plain is known for its lush pasture, as well as its salt and sandstone that give Cheshire its distinctive minerality.
By the 17th and 18th centuries, Cheshire was the most popular cheese in Britain. The Royal Navy purchased only Cheshire to feed their crew for many decades, and Cheshire was the first cheese shipped to London markets on a large scale. Unlike cheesemakers who skimmed cream for butter, Cheshire required whole milk, and the full cream made it tastier. No wonder everyone loves Cheshire!
Aritz Rind: Don’t blame the cheese for empire building! It didn’t ask to be dragged around the world in the service of conquest!
Cheshire Milk & Culture
Cheshire makers traditionally use a mix of morning and evening milk. Morning milk is lower in fat, evening milk higher, so the balance is perfect for cheese. (I’m already looking forward to our post about milking times!) To the warmed milk, Appleby’s adds a traditional starter from Barbers, who have made Cheddar since 1833.
Aritz Rind: Appleby’s does indeed use Barber’s culture, but they push the microbes harder, encouraging a faster acidification than cheddar requires. The rapid pH drop means the milk loses calcium, leaving a weaker curd and more crumbliness.
There were marketing reasons to add color (see our earlier post.) Southern English markets preferred their Cheshire dyed with annatto, while Northerners like it plain. Appleby’s makes both, but Neal’s Yard Dairy exports the orange version to the U.S.
Eglantine Crumb: Southerners and their fussing! Forever wanting their Cheshire red and tidy, as though a dash of dye makes a difference. We Northerners know better. We care about flavor, not frippery.
Aritz Rind: On that point, Eglantine, we agree.
I think the orange looks striking on a cheese board.
Cutting the Curd
Eglantine Crumb: Once the curd sets, it’s cut into smaller pieces than cheddar’s. Like many British cheeses, Cheshire is crumbly, which requires expelling plenty of whey. But unlike cheddar, the curds are handled gently.
Aritz Rind: Cheshire retains moisture, which allows it to ripen more quickly. Microbes thrive in moisture, so the extra water lets them get to work faster.
Eglantine Crumb: The cheesemakers salt the curd before hooping (moulding.) In cloth-lined moulds, they press the curds in vintage presses, beautiful old things, that squeeze out the last bit of whey.
The cheesemakers turn out the wheels and age them for about 3 months. At Appleby’s, they mature in barns with timbers dating back to the Napoleonic era, which lend their own flora to the cheese. (It’s also pretty freaking cool.)
Go Eat It!
A wheel of Cheshire reflects many influences: the pasture, the milk, the culture, and even the timbers above its head. Appleby’s is a gorgeous, artisanal cheese, and the last-standing, traditional farmstead Cheshire. It is well worth the effort to seek it out. If you need help finding it, please contact us!
We’ll shortly be posting a simple recipe from Jen and Eglantine! Stay tuned!
A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles by Ned Palmer
https://www.applebysdairy.com/
Oxford Companion to Cheese
https://www.nealsyarddairy.co.uk
The Great British Cheese Book by Patrick Rance
British Cheese
British cheese exists in its own category. And by that we don’t just mean any cheese made in the UK, but rather the traditional territorial styles that originated there. They are often fondly dubbed The Crumblies, (specifically Cheshire, Caerphilly, Wensleydale, and Lancashire,) thanks to their …
Neal’s Yard Dairy
This is a love letter to Neal’s Yard Dairy. In January 2022, still in the grip of COVID-era precautions, I visited the Arches at Neal’s Yard Dairy in Bermondsey, London. Happily for me, my boss at Boxcarr Handmade Cheese, Sam Genke, introduced me to David …