“It’s all a matter of taste”

Many regions have had their long established favourites, and whilst some retain that recognition, many are in sad and terminal decline. The reasons behind this are many and varied, but food by its nature is evolving always and cheese is not exempt from the tide of change. The main British cheese inevitably begins with Cheddar, and here the classic robust farmhouse taste has declined in popularity and a host of famous Cheddar makers have gone to oblivion.

Cheddar after WW2 had close to a monopoly on cheese sales in the UK, and it has declined decade on decade in a total cheese market that has grown. The replacement here has come with more modern tastes and flavours. Sweeter tastes, crunchy, vintage and stronger flavours, many in truth as manufactured as any artificial processed type, driven by the brands this change has filtered through the trade. A very few have remained in demand for Farmhouse, like Quicke’s, Keens and of course Montgomery’s. It’s heartland in now the West Country with hotspots around the rest of the UK. Unfortunately, is frequently seen as an older person’s preference.

Possibly the saddest losses have been around the Territorials, where, arguably, Cheshire was the preeminent territorial and nudging 20,000 tonnes per year and is now a pale, almost invisible shadow of its former self, with little impactful distribution outside its spiritual home.

Red Leicester and Double Gloucester too have slipped into the shadows, although some valiant efforts on the former by the likes of Sparkenhoe unpasteurised, and in a totally different taste and style Red Fox, have in different ways reignited interest. At least this seems to have a franchise from the north to south of the UK.

Single Gloucester has emerged as the flag carrier for the county, with Charles Martell and Daylesford still making authentic versions of what may soon be another PDO. Although this latter cheese type is largely confined to artisan sellers.

Lancashire has a clutch of vigorous flag carriers still tussling for a market that is almost contained in this one county, with Sandhams, Butlers, Singletons, Carron Lodge, Dewlay, Proctors and others fighting for a small sector, and all having to manage this internally with other cheese types to stay viable. The county’s dominance is supported by most retailers like Booths, Morrisons and Waitrose who list the local ranges, and Lancashire is blessed with some vibrant local markets which keep it to the fore.

Wensleydale may well claim to be the one high spot against this backdrop of decline with Yorkshire Wensleydale now having achieved its own PDO, and combined with its creation of the top additive in Wensleydale with Cranberries it certainly has put itself on the map and has given it national and international exposure.

The cheese of Derby now seems defunct and Warwickshire is almost now Fowlers only.

That void of taste change has been steadily filled by a cocktail of differing cheese styles and types. Our Continental cousins have taken a growing share of that market, with tastes like Comté, Manchego, Parmigiano Reggiano, Emmental, Vintage Gouda, Ossau Iraty emerging in the hard and medium types, whilst Brie de Meaux, Camembert, Buffalo Mozzarella and soft goats cheese are storming ahead year on year. I believe there is more to come from these even now.

Blue cheese has risen too, and the older favourite of Blue Stilton now has many worthy contenders and some really sparky new kids on the block. Styles here have moved very Continental with the softer Gorgonzola types now becoming fashionable. Cornish Blue is a worthy inheritor of the future, whilst the squidgy Beauvale from Cropwell is an interesting option, and if more proof were needed of the trends in cheese, Barkham Blue has been named British Cheese of the Year. A whole plethora of local blue types have emerged with Kentish Blue, Harrogate Blue, Cheshire Blue, Exmoor Blue, Strathdon Blue and so many more local types showing there is real interest here.

Soft cheese has blossomed over the past two decades and the UK now has a number of established Brie makers, albeit the top two are not British-owned any more and a few others are nibbling around the edge in making a notoriously difficult cheese type – avoiding that metallic edge that is so commonplace in lesser quality makes.

The expansion of cheese from goats and ewes milk is one of the most significant taste changes spreading quietly across the trade. Like its cousins in blue cheese and soft cheese, this sector of growth is no longer confined to the regional and local boundaries of former British cheese that defined places and local tastes. Instead, this long-established tapestry of regional cheese differentiation is being watered down in favour of national rather than regional taste.

In goat’s milk cheese there is both demands for British hard types like Ribblesdale and Elsdon as well as softer goat’s cheese like Golden Cross Woolsery or Kidderton Ash. However, imported French and Belgian types still have the upper hand in this area, so here lies a lot of opportunity.

With the presently thriving artisanal group of makers the choice will be substantial, and those unique opportunities in blue cheese, goats cheese, and ewe’s milk cheese will speed that road to change more easily than is usual.

So if the trend is to blue, or to soft goats cheese or rind-washed types, the demand may be national but the supply may well be local; there is uniformity and difference all at one time.