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Cheese from England, county of Staffordshire

Staffordshire Cheese

Staffordshire Cheese is a cloth-bound English territorial cheese made from Staffordshire milk and cream. The pasteurised milk is soured with a mixed Lactococcus starter culture, set with rennet, and the curd is broken several times as its acid rises, then milled with salt and pressed in muslin. It is mild after two to four weeks and can be matured for up to a year.

Fully documentedCheese14 days – 12 monthsPDO (EU, 2007; UK scheme from 2021)Family: Cheddared cheese family (Cheddar as template)

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceThe specification gives the dairy's method and doses as percentages, not a full batch. Each cheese is a cloth-bound cylinder of 8–10 kg.
Raw cow milk from Staffordshire farmsHeld overnight at 0–5 °C[staff-spec2006]
Staffordshire creamStirred into the milk for 15 minutes before pasteurising[staff-spec2006]
Mixed starter culture0.2–0.4 %Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris, subsp. lactis and subsp. diacetylactis[staff-spec2006]
Rennet[staff-spec2006]
Salt2.5 %Added to the curd at milling[staff-spec2006]
Startermixed Lactococcus culture (subsp. cremoris, lactis and diacetylactis)

Total time across the recorded steps: 14 days – 12 months

Start
Drag the bar or press Play
0–5 °C

What changes: Starting material: raw milk from Staffordshire farms, held cold overnight

Step 1 of 10
Hold the milk overnight
Time
Not documented
Temperature
0–5 °C
Set
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactococcus lactis

Milk and cream come only from farms in the county; in 2006 they came from seven farms near the dairy.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

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

Staffordshire Cheese is a cloth-bound English territorial cheese made from Staffordshire milk and cream. The pasteurised milk is soured with a mixed Lactococcus starter culture, set with rennet, and the curd is broken several times as its acid rises, then milled with salt and pressed in muslin. It is mild after two to four weeks and can be matured for up to a year. Made in 10 steps over 14 days – 12 months. The longest step, mature on shelves, takes 14 days – 12 months (European Commission 2006) and runs at 7–10 °C (European Commission 2006). Salt is 2.5 % (European Commission 2006). Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris and subsp. lactis, in the mixed starter for acid development and flavour and Lactococcus lactis subsp. diacetylactis, in the mixed starter for acid development and flavour do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step14 days – 12 monthsSet[staff-spec2006]Mature on shelves
Temperature7–10 °CSet[staff-spec2006]Mature on shelves
Salt2.5 %Set[staff-spec2006]Mill and salt

What makes this one different

The specification's method has no slab-stacking step. The drained curd is broken every 15 minutes over 45 minutes while its acidity rises from 0.39 to 0.53 % lactic acid, then milled in a peg mill with 2.5 % salt, and the cheese is turned only four times in total because more would dry out the curds. Cream from the same county is added to the milk, and the cheese is sold cloth-bound.

Milk
Staffordshire cow milk with Staffordshire cream, pasteurised
Ripening
Mild at 2–4 weeks; up to 12 months
Rind
Cloth-bound
Size
Cylinder of 8–10 kg
Composition
Fat 30–35 %; fat in dry matter 48–51 %

Related ferments

Safety

The milk and cream are pasteurised at 72–75.5 °C for 15–20 seconds before cheesemaking.

History and sources

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

The specification links the cheese to Cistercian monks who settled at Leek in the 13th century and made cheese among their crafts. It was made until the Second World War, when central milk collection by the Milk Marketing Board ended many regional cheeses. An artisan maker revived it with local farmers, and it was registered as a PDO in 2007. In 2006 the Staffordshire Cheese Company's founder, John Knox, said he had decided about four years earlier to revive the cheese, and it was then supplying restaurants, farmers' markets, shops and delis.

  1. [staff-spec2006] European Commission 2006, Publication of an application pursuant to Article 6(2) of Council Regulation (EC) No 510/2006, 'Staffordshire Cheese' EC No UK/0354/26.7.2004, Official Journal C 148, 24.6.2006, pp. 12–14spec
  2. [govuk-register] GOV.UK, Protected food and drink names register, Staffordshire Cheese (PDO; EU registration 18 September 2007; UK scheme 31 December 2020)gov
  3. [foodmanufacture2006] Food Manufacture (unsigned news item), 'Monks' cheese asks for Europe's blessing', 7 August 2006web