Cheese has been an integral part of the English diet. The British Cheese Board claims that Great Britain itself has about 700 varieties of local cheese. In the world market, Great Britain is one of the chief exporters and importers of cheese, establishing the reputation of cheese in British household. There are many varieties of English cheese available in the country and the world. However, their quality and taste differs, which is the criteria of ranking the top ten best English cheese produced today.
1. Mature Wookey Hole Cave Aged Farmhouse Cheddar
Supreme Champion at the International Cheese Awards, this cheese have beautiful taste and texture, may be the result of humidity and year-round temperatures.
2. Rachel
Rachel cheese is produced by the Fine Cheese Company in Bath recently. It is wash-rind goats’ milk cheese, and has velvety, snowy white pate.
3. Lancashire
Produced in Lancashire, Lancashire cheese is a farmhouse cheese with noted taste of sea salt, which is said to be acquired from the breeze blowing from the Irish Sea across the pastures nearby. The taste is unique due to the blending of curds of varying maturity for the cheese.
4. Real Yorkshire Wensleydale with Cranberries
Real Yorkshire Wensleydale is a type of Wensleydale cheese, and is noted for supple, crumbly, moist texture and acidic-honeyed flavor. This flavor enables it to taste great when blended with sweet cranberries, giving it a colorful and delicate look and added fruity flavor.
5. Stilton
One of the seventeen British products to get a “protected designation of origin” from European Commission, Stilton cheese is noted for its strong smell and taste. Varying with age; young ones taste from mild to sharp, while matured ones taste rich and tangy. With its velvety texture and blue veins peeping out of the interior, Stilton cheese is a feast for all senses.
6. Somerset Camembert
This mould-ripened cheese is noted for its richness and creaminess with soft, edible rind. It becomes softer with age and becomes uniform butter or gains straw color, getting the full flavor.
7. Stinking Bishop
It is a variety of rind cheese produced in southwest region of England. It is known for the smell of old socks, generated when it is immersed in perry made from Stinking Bishop pear every four weeks to wash. Inside, however, it is soft, creamy and full-flavored.
8. Blacksticks Blue
A blue cheese, Blacksticks Blue is a recent invention made for a restaurant in 2003 and is unique in texture and flavor.
9. Cornish Yarg
Made in Cornwall, Yarg is made from Friesian cows’ milk, and is known for the unique taste that is generated by nettle (or wild garlic leaves) and harmless mould in the cheese. The nettle-wrapping helps the cheese attain its creamy, crumbly texture and subtle flavor.
10. Mature Cheshire
One of the oldest recorded cheeses in England, Cheshire is dense, crumbling cheese produced mainly in the county of Cheshire. It is known for moist, crumbly structure and mild, salty taste. The white mature Cheshire cheese produced by the Bourne family for over 250 years traditionally is exemplary good.
