Good Afternoon Cheesy1’s,
Today we are going to appreciate the raw milk cheese Lincolnshire Poacher from Ulceby, North Lincolnshire. It is an extremely popular and well known English cheese but I haven’t talked about it on my blog before. I will start with where I got this cheese and the example I have is a Waitrose 1 variety. Lincolnshire Poacher is readily available from most supermarkets now and is also available here. A brief history of the cheese is that the farm where it is made is on its fourth generation and has been a farm since 1917. Simon Jones decided to start making cheese returning from a cheese making course and with the lush pastures that sit on chalky land, enabled a successful dairy farm. They are very scarce in particularly cheese making in the area. Simon and cheese maker Dougal Campbell made their first batch of cheese on February 17th 1992. The cheese was so popular that the local cheese shop had to ration customers to a ¼ of a pound. In 1995 the creation of a larger cheese dairy was finished and now cheese is made seven days a week. The vast majority of the milk produced on the farm, with the exception of a small quantity is bottled and sold at Farmers Markets and the rest being made into Lincolnshire Poacher.
So what does it taste like? Well in terms of texture it is most similar to an aged cheddar because it has a crumbly tendency. A continental starter culture has been used so it has a golden firmness like a Comte or Gruyere. Its taste is fruity, nutty, a minor hint of coffee with a subtle sweetness. It has a delicate complexity that gives it an interesting edge but isn’t salty or bitter. Although it is very similar to Cheddar it isn’t because it hasn’t been through the cheddaring processes, its actually a territorial hard cheese and I think its uniqueness helps separate it from the crowd. The fact that it won a gold award at the International Cheese Awards also cements its flavour profiles as something to celebrate. I appreciated this cheese with a crisp apple cider or juice, but of course on its own is just fine.
If you haven’t already then it might be time to try Lincolnshire Poacher for yourself the next time you are looking for a flavour packed cheese.
The Cheesy1
🧀 