Cheshire Cheese
Cheshire is a hard cheese with a light, flaky texture and salty-sweet flavour said to be due to salt under the soil (which can be detected in the Cheshire area by the suffix ‘wich’ to the names of towns, e.g. Nantwich, where the famous Midlands cheese-show is held). The cheese is usually coloured orange with annatto, although ‘white’ (undyed) and blue versions are also traditional. Until the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when the Cheddar method of making cheese was popularized and Cheddar began to be made in factories, Cheshire was easily the most widely sold British cheese: in old cookery books, it was generally taken for granted that Cheshire would be the kind used for flavouring in the same way as Cheddar is today. The traditional Cheshire cheese area is the fertile crescent on the west coast of England around the estuary of the river Mersey, which extends not only through Cheshire but into parts of Lancashire to the north and Shropshire and Staffordshire to the south. At present there is only one producer making raw-milk cheese from their own herd, Edward Appleby, who makes about 80,000 kg a year.
Contact:
Edward Appleby 01948 840221 www.applebysofhawkstone.co.uk
Three Counties Perry
Perry is a little-known traditional English drink made from the fermented juice of perry pears, small, bitter fruits with such a high level of astringent tannins that they are almost impossible to eat raw. Perry has been made in Southern England for centuries, and the name “perry” once referred to all wild pear trees as well as to the beverage. The trees bear viable fruit only after a few decades of growth and the best can be over a century old. The ancient perry orchard is a classic part of the British landscape and its tall, majestic trees provide the basis for an important ecosystem, considered a unique habitat by British naturalists. There are over 100 different varieties of perry pears, but many varieties only have a few remaining specimens and are in danger of disappearing completely. Perry, like cider, was once made on the farm for the farmer’s family and workers and is not suited to large-scale production, as the production of each batch varies greatly with the mixture of pear varieties used.
The method for producing perry is the same as that of producing hard cider. The fruit is harvested, milled to a pulp, and pressed to extract the juice, which is then fermented: some perry undergoes a second inbottle fermentation to make a sparkling beverage. Almost all British perry is produced in the Three-Counties area of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire, and is consumed almost exclusively in the region of production. It is a classic accompaniment to traditional British cheeses such as Single and Double Gloucester, Cheshire, and Lancashire. Real perry contains no additives. It can be dry, medium or sweet in taste, and still or sparkling. The quality can vary from “rough” like scrumpy hard cider to an almost wine-like drink. The flavour of farm made perries is variable: they may be fermented to dryness but will retain a distinct pear aroma.
The Presidium:
Under present market conditions the remaining perry producers are struggling: few of them make a living from producing only perry, and many of them produce it in their spare time simply because of their love of their product and its heritage. There is little or no marketing of perry and the tiny local market continues to diminish year after year. There is now increased awareness amongst the producers of the need for high quality standards if perry is to be promoted among attentive consumers. The Three Counties Perry Presidium is working to raise awareness of high-quality perry made from the bitter perry pears, not from fleshy cooking or eating pears. The Presidium is also working to establish guidelines for a select group of producers to stabilize quality, while retaining the natural variety of a product made from various perry pear varieties. The Presidium producers are working to define the full list of the pear varieties traditionally used for perry production.
In 2006, presidium producers drafted a production protocol to define rules for growing and harvesting pears and producing perry.
Production Area:
Counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire
Presidium Coordinator:
Oliver Carpenter: thegang@jigsawmarketing.co.uk
Old Gloucester Cattle
The Old Gloucester is one of Britain’s oldest native cattle breeds and was once common throughout the West Country. Once referred to simply as the Gloucester cow—for its eponymous home county—the name 'Old' has been added in recent years. Old does not refer to the breed's antiquity, but is a local slang term, which means 'dear' or 'affectionate'—a sign of the deep esteem locals had for this breed. The Old Gloucester was already well known in the thirteenth century, when it was used for beef, milk, and draft work on Gloucestershire farms. The Old Gloucester's fortunes began to decline in the eighteenth century with the development of more specialized meat and milk breeds. Interest revived around 1896 when the last two herds were divided up and sold to various breeders, but the numbers continued to dwindle as newer breeds gained in popularity. By 1930 only 142 Old Gloucesters remained, and the Gloucester Cattle Society stopped operating. In 1972, when only one viable herd remained, the Old Gloucester breed was classified as endangered. When the breed reached this critical point, close to extinction, local farmers cooperated by reforming the breed society to save it, and in the past thirty years they have brought it back from the verge of disappearance.
The Old Gloucester has lived in Gloucestershire for nearly a millennium and is a remarkably hardy and well-adapted animal for the region. It thrives with little care and produces fine quality meat that improves with the animal's age, reaching its peak when a cow is over two years old. The beef is currently experiencing a renaissance with local food lovers, who find it well adapted for the traditional local dishes that involve slow cooking. It is exceptionally flavorful and pairs well with Gloucestershire's traditional Tewkesbury mustard seasoned with horseradish.
The Presidium
Work is currently being undertaken to define standards of production for the presidium.
Production Area:
Gloucestershire County
Presidium Coordinator:
Marion Conisbee-Smith, 01452 770915, marionbisley@toucansurf.com
Single and Double Gloucester Cheeses
The county of Gloucestershire, which comprises both the Cotswolds and the low-lying Severn Valley, has been a center of British cheese production for centuries. The making of cheese for export from this region has been documented as early as the eighth century, though no records exist describing the nature of early Gloucester cheese. Signs of the region’s cheesemaking history dot the landscape: traditional farmhouses in the region are often equipped with a special third-story cheese-aging room with louvered windows and many of the region’s festivals and celebrations include cheese rolling. As early as 1500, the city of Gloucester was famed for its cheese, butter, and meat markets, and two centuries later the region’s Double Gloucester cheese was regularly exported to the North American colonies.
The original Gloucester cheese was a colored cheese made from full-cream milk from the local Old Gloucester cow. Today, Gloucester cheese has two versions: Double and Single Gloucester, which are linked by history and a common ancestor, but that have evolved in the past two centuries into quite different products.
The cheeses were so named because the Double is a richer full cream product, while the Single was frequently made of part-skimmed milk or when the cows were on inferior forage. The Double Gloucester was designed for durability, was made from full-fat milk and was sold nationally. The Single was the cheese that the poorer, local people ate, made in thinner forms from partially skimmed milk after the butterfat had been taken off for butter. Traditionally, Gloucester cheese was produced with milk from the local Old Gloucester cattle breed, which produced milk with small fat globules and high protein content exceptionally well suited to cheesemaking. Sadly, as the production of Gloucester cheeses boomed, the use of traditional Old Gloucester cow’s milk was phased out. The animals could not compete with the specialist dairy breeds for gross milk production, and were gradually replaced by Longhorns, Shorthorns and, finally, the black and white Holstein Friesians. By 1975 only one viable herd of Old Gloucesters remained, yet today through the concerted efforts of the Gloucester Cattle Society, the breed is no longer quite so endangered with close to 400 breeding females now surviving.
The Presidium:
Work is currently being undertaken to define standards of production for the presidium.
Production Area:
Gloucestershire County
Presidium Coordinator:
Marion Conisbee-Smith, 01452 770915, marionbisley@toucansurf.com
Lincoln
The Lincoln Longwool is a large framed sheep (the largest of the longwool sheep) with a heavy fleece of curly wool. It has a polled white head with a broad forelock of wool. The breed was developed over the centuries to produce a heavy fleece of strong wool for making cloth. With the advent of man-made fibers it became a dual purpose breed also renowned for its large mutton carcass.
Longwools are an 'arable' breed fo sheep, meaning they were traditionally fed on swedes and beet crops which formed part of a
At slaughter the lambs should weigh 42/43 kg in a minimum of 9 months. Mutton from these animals is particularly good eating.
Production area
Contact:
Slow Food
The Lincoln Longwool Association, www.lincolnlongwool.co.uk
The Shropshire Prune
The Shropshire Prune, a type of damson, is a subspecies of the plum, and is thought to be a hybridization of the bullace (the wild plum). The damson has a distinguished heritage, having been introduced to the
The Shropshire Prune is a small (1cm x 1 cm) drupaceous, clingstone fruit, oval, and pointed at one end. Uncooked, its skin is dark blue to indigo, its flesh yellow-green. Cooked, the flesh transforms into a dazzling deep red. The damson tree bears magnificent white blossom in April, and the fruits, if the weather is kind, are ready for harvest from September to October. Even the appearance of the remarkable blossom is a cause for celebration in local communities.
In terms of flavour, the Shropshire Prune is the essence of ‘plum’, and its versatility means it is excellent for both sweet dishes, such as jams and jellies, and savoury dishes, such as chutneys and relishes. The Shropshire Prune is also used to make a range of distinctive alcoholic drinks such as damson wine, damson liqueur and damson gin.
The Shropshire Prune trees are a distinctive feature of the local landscape, marking the changing seasons through the gnarled form of ancient trees in winter, blossom in spring and deep purple fruits in autumn. Mixed hedgerows including the Shropshire Prune are typical of the area and provide valuable food for livestock and birds.
The Shropshire Prune was common in
Many Shropshire Prune trees were planted in the 19th century to provide dye. The damson crop was sent, for example, to the
The Shropshire Prune is no longer used for its dye for military uniforms, carpets and gloves. This lack of demand means that for decades, Shropshire Prune trees have not been planted on a large scale. It also accounts, to a large extent, for why so many of the old orchards have been neglected or grubbed up.
Similarly, there is currently no significant commercial culinary use of the Shropshire Prune. Supply (or production) and demand are inextricably linked. If the Shropshire Prune is not being grown, consumers won’t ask for it; if consumers don’t ask for it, it won’t be grown. Culturally, knowledge and usage of the Shropshire Prune in domestic settings tends to be more common in older people, and there is a danger that this knowledge will die out unless we can capture it now and build on it.
Contact:
Slow Food Ludlow Marches, Sue Chantler sue.chantler@btinternet.com
