Billy's Guide to the British Cheeses

  • Published
  • By British Billy
  • 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
ROYAL AIR FORCE LAKENHEATH, England --  Can you have too much of a good thing? Probably -- moderation in all things is one of the many mottos that have helped me become the balanced feline I am today. I am partial to a nibble of cheese now and again. However, there are more than 700 different named cheeses produced in Britain, and it could seriously affect my waistline if I sampled them all.

Cheese is an important part of our nation's heritage. Whilst cheese has been made in Britain for thousands of years, it was during Roman times that the processing techniques were refined. During the 11th century, much of the cheese-making in Britain was carried out by monks, whose monasteries were thriving following the Norman invasion.

You can stroll down the aisles of any British supermarket and find a wide variety of British cheeses to choose from. If you visit larger markets in some of our towns and cities, you can often find a dedicated cheese stall, and, for the discerning cheese connoisseur, there are still many hand-crafted cheeses being produced across the British Isles by small farms and dairies.

When I asked my American friends to name some British cheeses for me, they all said 'Cheddar', and then stopped abruptly. Cheddar is indeed the U.K.'s favourite cheese, accounting for 55 percent of household purchases. It takes its name from the village of Cheddar in Somerset in the southwest of England, where the cheese was first made. However, to call a cheese 'cheddar', you need only employ the making process called 'cheddaring', and so there are many cheddars now across the world.

Blue Stilton is perhaps the best-known blue cheese produced in the U.K. and is a traditional favourite at Christmas time. Stilton can only be produced in the counties of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire. Each spring, locals from Stilton near Peterborough have a race by rolling giant wheels of Stilton. Cheese Rolling has become an annual event in Stilton and every May Day hundreds of villagers and visitors make their way to the main street to watch the teams battling for the honour of being called the Stilton Cheese Rolling Champions. This year the event is on May 3. I really don't know why they do it, but it is no doubt great fun.

Another popular cheese-rolling event, with a disputed history dating back to at least the 1800s, is the annual Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake, which involves hordes of fearless competitors chasing a weighty eight pound Double Gloucester cheese down a death-defyingly-steep hill. The slope on Cooper's Hill in Gloucester is in fact so steep that very few contenders manage to even stay on their feet, instead tumbling head-over-heels down the hill in a desperate effort to catch the coveted prize. This year's event is on May 31. Sounds like a good idea if you don't mind breaking a few bones.

You may wisely decide that cheese-tasting is a much safer option than cheese-rolling. If this is the case, then let me offer a few more suggestions.

Crumbly cheeses well known in the U.K. are Cheshire, Caerphilly, Lancashire and Wensleydale. Cheshire is one of the oldest British cheeses. The recipe was probably brought to the U.K. by the Romans, and the cheese even gets a mention in the Domesday Book, commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1085.

Cheddar, of course, is a firm, hard cheese and other examples include Red Leicester, Double Gloucester, Derby, Malvern, Worcester and Hereford.

You can also buy many blended cheese, which are becoming increasingly popular. Many think this is a modern trend, but there is good evidence that the Romans routinely blended their cheese with fruit and herbs. High quality hard cheeses are chopped into small pieces and herbs or fruit added and the whole mixed together before being shaped into cylinders or blocks. The most popular examples in the U.K . are Wensleydale with cranberry, White Stilton with apricots, Cheddar with caramelised onion, Double Gloucester with chives and onion and Lancashire with garlic.

Hopefully this has whetted your appetite a little and you have been tempted to try some of our national cheeses. Personally, I shall go and nibble on a morsel of cheddar and await my next mouse with baited breath.