British Cheddar from Madame Fromage

[liuzhou]

Cheddar cheese, by an amazing coincidence, originated in the small town of Cheddar in Somerset, Western England. Unfortunately, the Chedderites were too busy making and enjoying their cheese to remember to apply for protection for the name. So, today Cheddar is made everywhere from Somerset to Inner Mongolia. In 2007,  "West Country Farmhouse Cheddar" was granted protected status, but that only applies in the European Union. The USA, while bleating on about copyright protection for everything else, blatantly ignores European protection of foods and wines.

 

Cheddar cheese sales in the UK account for over 50% of the market and is the second most popular in the USA (after mozzarella). Yet, few people have tried a real non-industrial, raw milk, cloth wrapped cheddar.

 

Cheese author,  Tenaya Darlington, aka all things cheese blogger, Madame Fromage, based in Philadelphia,  has blogged a "Guide to Great British Cheddars" which has left me sitting here in China weeping over my plate of Inner Mongolian factory cheddar.

 

Of those she mentions, I have only sampled two - The "Isle of Mull" and the "Montgomery" . Both were great, but the "Montgomery" is sublime. I can only agree with her notes -swoon-worthy cheese.

 

Note: I have no connection with this blog or blogger, but merely pass this on in my determination to bust the ludicrous, ignorant reputation that the UK has for its food. We have some of the best in the world.

(I'll be in England next February for a short time. Cheese and seafood are top of the list. Then I might go visit my family!)