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Cheese from England — Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, around Hawes, from Sedbergh in the west to Bedale in the east

Yorkshire Wensleydale PGI

Raw or pasteurised cow milk is soured with the creamery's own bulk starters, set with rennet, cut, scalded and stirred, then the curd is cut and turned, salted by hand, moulded and pressed. The first week of ripening happens in the dale, and the cheese is sold from 2 weeks old or aged up to 12 months.

Fully documentedCheese15 days – 12 monthsPGI (EU, 2013)Family: Cheddared cheese family (Cheddar as template)

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe specification gives no doses. Truckles weigh 500 g to 21 kg, and blocks 20 kg.
Cow milk, fresh raw or pasteurised[wens-oj2013]
Bulk starter culture, blended daily from three mother culturesMesophilic aromatic cultures sub-cultured for this cheese[wens-oj2013]
Rennet[wens-oj2013]
Salt, added to the curd by handThe finished cheese holds at most 2.2 % sodium chloride[wens-oj2013]
Starterbulk starter grown overnight from mesophilic aromatic mother cultures, typically in reconstituted skimmed milk

Total time across the recorded steps: 15 days – 12 months

Start
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What changes: The day's blended starter is stirred into the milk in the vat

Step 1 of 7
Add bulk starter and ripen the milk
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

The milk is pasteurised first if pasteurised milk is used. The starter is stirred in during the ripening period, and its time is changed for fast or slow starters.

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

Raw or pasteurised cow milk is soured with the creamery's own bulk starters, set with rennet, cut, scalded and stirred, then the curd is cut and turned, salted by hand, moulded and pressed. The first week of ripening happens in the dale, and the cheese is sold from 2 weeks old or aged up to 12 months. Made in 7 steps over 15 days – 12 months. The longest step, ripen, takes 14 days – 12 months (Publication of an application 2013). Salt is up to 2.2 % (Publication of an application 2013). Mesophilic aromatic starter cultures, a mix of acid-producing and flavour-producing bacteria, run as 18 mother cultures in 3 groups of 6 does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step14 days – 12 monthsSet[wens-oj2013]Ripen
Saltup to 2.2 %Set[wens-oj2013]Salt by hand
AciditypH 4.4–5.4Set[wens-oj2013]Ripen

What makes this one different

Yorkshire Wensleydale is a firm but crumbly and flaky British territorial cheese, slightly acidic, and it can be sold at 2 weeks old or aged up to 12 months. Its flavour rests on the creamery's own system of 18 mother cultures, and the specification says it is softer, creamier and sweeter than Wensleydale made outside the dale.

Milk
Cow milk, fresh raw or pasteurised
Ripening
Sold from 2 weeks old; aged up to 12 months; at least one week of ripening in the area
Composition
Dry matter at least 54 %; fat at least 48 % of dry matter; sodium chloride at most 2.2 %

Related ferments

Safety

The specification sets limits for E. coli and S. aureus (under 100 colonies per gram) and requires Salmonella to be absent in 25 g. The cheese can be made from raw milk and sold at 2 weeks old. The US FDA says ageing raw-milk cheese for 60 days may not eliminate or adequately reduce E. coli O157:H7 and Salmonella, and Listeria may grow in some cheeses during ageing. The CDC says people at higher risk, including pregnant women, people 65 or older and people with weak immunity, should avoid raw-milk cheese unless it is heated to 165 °F (74 °C) or until steaming hot.

Hazards the sources name: Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus must each stay below 100 colonies per gram, and Salmonella must be absent in 25 g.

History and sources

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

Cistercian monks who settled in the dale in the 11th and 12th centuries made the first cheese, from sheep milk; cow milk took over after the monasteries were dissolved in the 16th century, and farm wives kept the craft (173 of them were still making it in 1939). Edward Chapman opened the first creamery at Hawes in 1897; Kit Calvert rescued it in the 1930s, and in 1992 a management team bought the Hawes creamery from Dairy Crest. Today the creameries at Hawes and Kirkby Malzeard make it. The name was registered as a PGI in 2013.

  1. [wens-oj2013] Publication of an application, single document 'Yorkshire Wensleydale', UK-PGI-0005-0652, Official Journal of the European Union C 231, 9 August 2013, p. 20 (2013/C 231/12), Publications Office copyspec
  2. [wens-reg2013] Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1401/2013 of 18 December 2013 entering 'Yorkshire Wensleydale' (PGI) in the register, Official Journal L 349, 21 December 2013, p. 60, Publications Office copyspec
  3. [wens-defra] Defra, Specification 'Yorkshire Wensleydale' PGI (main elements of the product specification), gov.uk protected food namesspec
  4. [fda-rawcheese2016] US Food and Drug Administration 2016, FY 2014–2016 Microbiological Sampling Assignment Summary Report, Raw Milk Cheese Aged 60 Daysgov
  5. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov