Skip to main content
Support

Browse by category

All categories
Home

Cheese from Cheshire and neighbouring counties, England

Cheshire

In the 1896 account, evening and morning milk are renneted at 86–88 °F and the curd is scalded only gently, to 92–94 °F. The drained curd is turned and broken, then ground finer than Cheddar curd, salted and kept warm in a cheese oven before light pressing. This gives Cheshire its loose, crumbly body.

Fully documentedCheese3.1 months – 10 monthsFamily: Cheddared cheese family (Cheddar as template)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceAmounts from the 1896 Long and Benson description of a medium-ripening Cheshire. No modern make sheet, pH or microbe study was found, so every step here follows the 1896 and 1928 accounts.
Evening and morning cow milkThe cream skimmed off in the morning is heated and returned[long-benson1896]
Rennet extract1 oz per 20 gallons of milkOr enough to give a curd ready to cut in 45–60 minutes[long-benson1896]
Sour wheyAdded to ripen the milk when its acidity is too low[long-benson1896]
Annatto colouringAdded ten minutes before the rennet (1896); the 1928 bulletin names annatto as the colouring[long-benson1896][usda1928]
Salt7 to 8 oz per 20 lb of curdMore if the curd is wet, less if it is dry[long-benson1896]
Starterhistorically sour whey from the previous day's make

Total time across the recorded steps: 3.1 months – 10 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
20 °C

What changes: Evening and morning milk are mixed in the vat and left to ripen

Step 1 of 8
Ripen the mixed milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
20 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: ripened milk.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

the milk sours; sour whey from yesterday's make is added if it is not ripe enough

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

In the 1896 account, evening and morning milk are renneted at 86–88 °F and the curd is scalded only gently, to 92–94 °F. The drained curd is turned and broken, then ground finer than Cheddar curd, salted and kept warm in a cheese oven before light pressing. This gives Cheshire its loose, crumbly body. Made in 8 steps over 3.1 months – 10 months. The longest step, cure, takes 3–10 months (Long J 1896) and runs at 16–18 °C (Long J 1896).

Key numbers
Main step3–10 monthsReported[long-benson1896][usda1928]Cure
Temperature16–18 °CReported[long-benson1896][usda1928]Cure

What makes this one different

Cheshire curd is scalded much less than Cheddar curd and is not stacked as cheddared slabs. It is broken, ground finer and kept warm in a cheese oven, which gives a crumbly, open body instead of Cheddar's close texture.

Milk
Cow milk; evening and morning milk mixed
Ripening
About 3 months for medium-ripening cheese in 1896; quick-ripening cheeses were also made
Size
14 to 16 inches across and 50 to 70 pounds in 1928

Related ferments

Variants

  • Coloured CheshireColoured with annatto (1928); the 1896 chapter says makers still coloured most cheeses.
  • White CheshireUncoloured; recommended in 1896 because colouring could discolour the cheese.
  • Cheshire-StiltonDescribed in 1928 as a combination of the Cheshire and Stilton varieties.

Safety

The 1896 account gives no pH or safety limits, and it describes no heat treatment of the milk beyond warming the skimmed cream to 95 °F. ANSES advises pregnant women, people over 65, people with weak immunity and young children to avoid raw-milk cheeses, so that advice applies to any Cheshire made from raw milk.

Hazards the sources name: Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella and enterohaemorrhagic E. coli, the main hazards ANSES names for raw-milk cheeses (relevant to any Cheshire made from raw milk).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The 1896 chapter says Cheshire cheese was made almost only in Cheshire and the counties that border it, and that quick-ripening Cheshire was then widely made. A 1928 USDA bulletin calls Cheshire one of the oldest English varieties.

  1. [long-benson1896] Long J., Benson J. 1896, Cheese and cheese-making, butter and milk, chapter VIII "Cheshire Cheese-Making", Chapman and Hall, Londonarchive
  2. [usda1928] Doane C.F., Lawson H.W., revised by Matheson K.J. 1928, Varieties of cheese, descriptions and analyses, USDA Bulletin 608archive
  3. [anses2022] ANSES 2022, Fromages au lait cru, quels risques pour la santé et comment mieux les prévenir (8 April 2022)gov