The Taste of Britain. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

a Cheshire mill, and salt is added. It is filled into cheese-cloth-lined moulds. Pressing is for 48 hours, during which the cheese is removed, turned and put back in the cloth, then given a final pressing for 2 hours without the cloth. Maturing: 3-12 weeks.

      REGION OF PRODUCTION:

      WEST ENGLAND, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, DEVON.

      Sharpham Cheese

      DESCRIPTION:

      MOULD-RIPENED, SOFT, UNPASTEURIZED COW’S MILK CHEESE IN 3 SIZES. WEIGHT: 250G; 500G; OR 1KG. FORM: THE SMALLEST CHEESE IS SQUARE; THE LARGER ROUND. COLOUR: WHITE MOULD CRUST WITH STRIPES FROM STRAW MAT; DEEP RICH YELLOW-CREAM. FLAVOUR AND TEXTURE: SHARP AND CHALKY WHEN YOUNG, RIPENING TO A SOFT CREAMY TEXTURE WITH MILD MUSHROOM FLAVOUR.

      HISTORY:

      Sharpham cheese belongs to the new cheeses which have arisen during the last 40 years as the artisan side of the industry began to revive from the damage inflicted by rationing during and after World War II. Several craftsmen have become well established in Devon, a county traditionally famous for dairy produce - in the early eighteenth century, the traveller Celia Fiennes noted that the dairy market in Exeter occupied 3 streets.

      Experiments were carried on for some years at Sharpham House, near Totnes, before the present recipe was evolved. The particular type of milk used - from Jersey cattle - has a high butterfat content. Much background research was undertaken in France and, eventually, a Coulommiers type (widely taught in Britain and popular with small cheese-makers throughout the last century) proved successful. Sharpham has been sold since the early 1980s.

      TECHNIQUE:

      Milk from the Sharpham Estate Jersey herd is first flash-heated and cooled. Starter is added, and the milk ripened, vegetable rennet and a penicillin strain are added. The curd is cut by hand and separated from the whey; some of the whey is scooped off after a few minutes and the curd cut again; then it is hand-ladled into moulds and drained. The cheeses are turned, drained further and salted. Maturing is at a relatively warm temperature for about a week; then they are left for the mould to develop. They are wrapped and transferred to cooler temperatures to finish ripening.

      REGION OF PRODUCTION:

      SOUTH WEST ENGLAND, TOTNES (DEVON).

      Vulscombe Cheese

      DESCRIPTION:

      SOFT GOAT’S CHEESE, IN ROUNDS 6CM DIAMETER, 4CM DEEP. WEIGHT: ABOUT 180G. COLOUR: WHITE. FLAVOUR: CREAMY, DENSE, SLIGHT LEMON TANG, VERY MILD GOAT FLAVOUR. VARIANTS ARE FLAVOURED WITH HERBS AND GARLIC, OR WITH CRUSHED BLACK PEPPERCORNS.

      HISTORY:

      This is one of many goat’s milk cheeses which have become so important in British artisan manufacture during the last 40 years. Before, with the exception of a few families who kept milking-goats as a hobby or to provide milk for children allergic to that of cows, not many paid attention to making goat’s cheese and none reached the market place. During the 1960s and 1970s, interest in self-sufficiency and small-holding led to the greater popularity of goat’s milk products. This was given extra momentum by changes in agriculture and the necessity for diversification in the 1980s. There are now many well-established makers of goat’s cheese, spread throughout Britain, with concentrations in Kent and Sussex, North Yorkshire, Cumbria and the Scottish Borders. Though receiving little support from government and small in volume, this is a dynamic and creative sector. Recipes may be inspired by French examples or British originals evolved through trial and error. It is impossible to list them all. British taste generally leans towards young, cream-textured cheeses characterized by a mild goat flavour and slightly acid freshness, although some people do make mould-ripened, soft cheeses, or hard, pressed cheese, or blue cheeses using goat’s milk. Vulscombe is based on the acid curd method, used by cottagers and farmers’ wives during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to make small quantities of fresh soft cheese for immediate consumption.

      TECHNIQUE:

      British goat cheeses are a diverse subject and it is impossible to discuss them all. One which represents the general taste for mild creaminess has been selected. Vulscombe is named for the valley where it is made. The area has a mixed farming economy in which dairy products are important. The cheese derives from the milk of one herd of goats grazing old-established, flower-rich pastures at an altitude of about 250 metres in central Devon. Supplementary hay and silage are fed in winter and a grain-based concentrate is used for lactating animals. Cheese-making begins once 3 milkings have been accumulated. The temperature is raised to 10°C and a cultured starter added. Then it rises to 32°C over some hours and incubation continues until the milk has separated into curds and whey. Straining is through muslin and cheese-cloth for about 36 hours, then the curd is salted and herbs or peppercorns added if appropriate. It is ladled into moulds and pressed lightly for 24 hours.

      REGION OF PRODUCTION:

      SOUTH WEST ENGLAND, DEVON.

      Whey Butter

      DESCRIPTION:

      BUTTER MADE FROM THE WHEY. IN COLOUR IT IS PALE GOLD; IN FLAVOUR, IT IS DESCRIBED AS ‘NUTTY’ OR SLIGHTLY CHEESY, THIS DEEPENS WITH AGE.

      HISTORY:

      Whey butter has probably been produced by cheese-makers in Britain for many centuries. Whey is the by-product of cheese-making, a thin liquid separated from the curd in the early stages. Depending on the type of cheese, the whey carries with it a small proportion of butter-fat and, in some areas, this is collected and churned into butter. Val Cheke (1959) states that, in the early medieval period, one of the duties of the dairy maid was to make whey butter and there are many references from later centuries relating to this practice. Maria Rundell (1807) gave details of how to manage cream for whey butter, a process which required the whey to stand a day and a night before it was skimmed, then boiled, poured into a pan of cold water and skimmed again ‘as the cream rises’ - this is not unlike making clotted cream. She remarks, ‘Where new-milk cheese is made daily, whey-butter for common and present use may be made to advantage.’ This statement still holds true today, and it is made in many cheese-making areas.

      TECHNIQUE:

      Ordinary butter produced in Britain is made from cream separated from fresh milk. In contrast to this, the butterfat used for whey butter goes through the initial processes of cheese-making. The exact details of these vary from region to region, but include the steps of adding starter and rennet, and allowing the milk to ripen and curdle with the temperature at about 32°C. Once the curd has set, it is cut and stirred while the temperature is increased by a few degrees. After a certain time, which varies according to the type of cheese being made, the whey is drained off. It is this part of the process which gives the distinctive flavour to the butter. The whey, which has a fat content of about 0.5-1 per cent, is then put through a mechanical separator (centrifuge), yielding up the fat in the form of cream which is then churned by conventional methods, lightly salted (about 1 per cent), and packed for sale.

      REGION OF PRODUCTION:

      SOUTH WEST ENGLAND.

      Elver

      DESCRIPTION:

      YOUNG EELS ABOUT 4CM LONG, SLENDER AND THREAD-LIKE. COLOUR: TRANSPARENT, PALE AMBER. FLAVOUR: MILDLY FISHY.

      HISTORY:

      Eels were once a staple of fish-day diet. Medieval household accounts devote more entries to them than almost any other species of fish (Woolgar, 1992). Small