Wensleydale

Description

Wensleydale is a hard cheese made from cow's milk from Hawes, a village in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales. Wensleydale is known as Wallace's favorite cheese from the puppet series Wallace & Gromit.

Wensleydale cheese dates back to the 12th century. Originally, Cistercian monks handed down the recipe of the cheese when they settled in Jervaulx. In the 14th century, sheep's milk was gradually replaced by cow's milk, until finally Wensleydale was made almost exclusively from cow's milk with only a small dash of sheep's milk. The knowledge was further transferred to the farmers of the region, who initially produced the cheese only for their own use. During the ripening process, cracks often formed on the surface of the cheese, allowing natural blue mold spores to penetrate the cheese from the outside. A large part of the Wensleydale produced at that time were therefore blue mold cheeses, Wensleydale without mold, on the other hand, formed rather an exception. Today, on the other hand, Wensleydale with blue mold is rather rare.

The puppet characters Wallace & Gromit (Wensleydale is Wallace's favorite cheese) contributed significantly to the popularity of the cheese. Today, Wensleydale cheese is very popular in the UK, its producers have already won several awards.

There are five different varieties:

Real Yorkshire Wensleydale has a mild cheese flavor with a slightly acidic flavor and hints of honey. Real Yorkshire Wensleydale comes in a variety of sizes and weights, from small, round loaves coated with a layer of wax to larger loaves. Real Yorkshire Wensleydale has a moist, crumbly texture and is popular on dark bread or with apple pie.

Mature Wensleydale is aged longer than Real Yorkshire Wensleydale and has a firmer texture and stronger cheese flavor than it.

Extra Mature Wensleydale is aged for 9 months and has the strongest cheese flavor of all Wensleydale cheeses.

Blue Wensleydale is infused with veins of blue mold. It has a strong cheese flavor, but is not as salty as a Blue Stilton, for example.

Oak Smoked Wensleydale is cold smoked over oak wood, giving it a very special cheese flavor and texture.