Gloucester Cheeses
by Russell Grant
As a kid I recall seeing a poster in our grocers with pictures of slabs of British cheeses plastered all over a map of the UK . One of them was Double Gloucester and I wondered why it was Double Gloucester? You couldn't get any in the Middlesex area in the 1960s as Gloucester cows were a rarity in Gloucestershire so chances of getting any around Uxbridge was highly unlikely. And it is this particular breed that has the special quality of milk to make the very best of this variety.
During my final research tour to Gloucester , a friend from British Publishing, Gloucestershire born and bred, Deana, made a discovery, she found proper Double and Single Gloucester cheese for sale in the city. It is that same cheese I have perched seductively in front of me now. It is hand-made by Mrs. Diana Smart of Old Ley Court , Churcham – about 4 miles west of Gloucester - using milk from her herd of Brown Swiss, Holstein and Gloucester cows.
Diana has provided the presentation cheeses to the winners of a great Gloucestershire and British tradition of the Annual Cheese Rolling on Whit Monday at Cooper's Hill, Brockworth (about 4 miles southeast of the city) since 1988, and she is currently the only person in Gloucestershire making the Double Gloucester cheese by hand using traditional methods.
Put away the plastic cheese you buy in supermarkets as I am told most of the Double Gloucester found wrapped in plastic is only that bright orange colour due to food dye, annatto to be precise.
The secret is to take the cheese out of the fridge and bring it to room temperature, say about half-hour before eating.
So here is my verdict - first the Double Gloucester, which is made when there is a surplus of milk and from two lots of the very best of it using the creamiest morning's milk with some from the evening. It is at its peak between May and September. This method produced a long-lasting, dry cheese so it could be kept through the winter or sold at market. There is a little crust on the rind on mine due to the ripening, the colour is a pale orange and the flavour is, wait for it as I am doing this tasting whilst I am writing… it is very tangy and much stronger than I was prepared for, this will be perfect for my mum who loves a cheese with bite.
Now for the Single Gloucester: this raw milk cheese doesn't need ripening and comes from either the morning's milk or skimmed evening milk, and is best enjoyed when it is between 9-16 weeks old. The farmer's wife kept this for her family, I'm told that in the days when she used to make butter and cream the milk that was left over was less fatty so not good enough for a big bold cheese that matured with age like the Double, which is why the Single was made. So Mrs Farmer kept it for the home. Currently when low cholesterol has become a part of healthy living the Single Gloucester is more popular for the diet, how things change, in days of yore it was for that very reason it was less attractive and popular, and thought altogether a more inferior cheese. Every cheese has its day!
Tasting the Single now…hey this is so much more me, smooth and nutty redolent of Emmenthal, the famous Swiss cheese, perhaps not so surprising as Mrs Smart uses some very pretty Swiss cows in her herd – another cheesy taste that comes to mind the Norwegian Jarlsberg, because of its distinct walnutty flavour. This is delicious and I am keeping it all for myself.
Both these cheeses are now out of fashion mainly because the decline of the Gloucester cow; you can see a very large stuffed one at the Gloucester Folk Museum . It is a fine looking beast, a dark chocolate brown with a custard and cream-coloured rear-end.
It is poss to use milk from other cows to make these cheeses which is probably what some manufacturers do, but their milk will probably be fattier than that from the Gloucester which means you don't get the same texture, taste and colour. I bet this is a fab cheese for cooking, let's see - I think it will given a whole new meaning to cheese on toast – hang on, I will report back.
Yes, I was right, truly scrumptious, melted like a dream with some thin slices of onion and tomato it made a great snack attack.
If you want to get some of Mrs Smart's Double or Single Gloucester cheese then pop on the web and get her to send you some. She might have to rear a few more Gloucester cows if we create a demand!
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