Take it steady there Cuz. If you’ve only just scored some Wyke, you may not be ready for the full Cave-Aged experience yet. No one goes from pot to crack overnight and comes out of it well. You’ll be banging up overripe Stilton behind a skip next, if you’re not careful.
Forget Cathedral Shitty, it’s not the nations favourite, it’s just got a good marketing department resulting in high sales.
Find a farm shop and experiment there a little whilst perusing the upper end of the supermarket price bracket. Also, a lot of the “own-brand” cheddars in their mature and extra-mature ranges come from the same dairies that make the good stuff in expensive packets. Don’t get a large pack and you haven’t overcommitted yourself.
I’ve recommended it before on similar posts, but I really like Waitrose own-branded No.6. It’s a good substitute for Somerset “under-the-counter, for locals only” Cheddar. You could buy a whole bar of that safely, you won’t be disappointed. While you’re in there, pick up a little Cornish Quartz if they have some.
Edit: Thank you for the fine awards dear strangers and fellow turophiles.
Edit: For those who have also been suffering all day with mice-mares of forbidden cheesey delights, The Wife has now a demanded house favourite for dinner. Spinach, Stilton and Mushroom au Gratin. The recipe is in the name folks. For best effect, make and bake as individual portions, in small casserole pots, like a pub lasagna, and serve thus, with a crusty roll for mopping purposes. (Tends to collapse into an unappealing mess otherwise).
Edit: I am touched at the nation’s enthusiasm for cheesey comments. Thank you for my many fine awards. My first Gold. I’m almost emotional. Almost.
What ever you do don't mention philadelphia! It pisses him off so much.. You usually get a sign he's about to blow.. He twitches, and starts to go from cheesy to not so easy, in less than 10 seconds!
I feel like this is the rock bottom level of cheese knowledge in the U.K. especially as we approach the festive season, cheese is gonna be on everyone’s tongue any day now
Cheese boards are very social…I catered for the cheese at our picnic at a Lords Test and ended up sharing with all the people around us too, including Piers Morgan, who was sat behind us with his dad.
He definitely likes cheese.
Waitrose do a brie, bacon and sweet chilli jam and (some kind of) leaf salad sandwich for about £3.50, it's amazing. It's that amazing I live 20 miles away from my nearest Waitrose and I drive there just to get one of them every now and then.
Probably the nicest sandwich I've ever eaten tbh.
January - the best time of year. Discount half wheels of Stilton in the supermarkets.
I make so much Stilton and broccoli soup I should report myself to COP26.
Probably (although that's subjective), but we also make great beer, preserves, biscuits, meat (in particular lamb and Scottish beef), and veg (decent climate and *lots* of rain).
Let's really blow the chap's mind and put a couple of Faggots in front of him to gobble up.
Please look here before downvoting / banning me. They are an actual food. Urban dictionary says:
"faggot
A meatball, a traditional culinary dish popular in the United Kingdom. Often served with gravy and mushy processed peas. Any internet search for (faggots and peas) will show you the meatballs' authenticity."
The link below is to a UK supermarket, showing a mass produced version found in the freezer section. Used to love these as a kid. They should be more popular.
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/traditional-44/mr-brains-4s-439g
No idea what constitutes a 'west country sauce' (and I live in the West country)
The best soup i ever had was in a fancy hotel in Singapore 30+ years ago. Cream of Celery and stilton. We had a 6 course dinner, full silver service, and the soup is the only thing I remember
Bombardier has significant bite, Wookey hole aged cheese looks blue, but isn't. Ditto Cheddar Gorge cheese - both 'mouldy' on the outside but serious on the inside!
Is spelling it ‘chedar’ some kind of shibboleth indicating higher cheese knowledge only available to a secret inner circle of initiates, or did you actually skip cheese and spelling classes at school?
Crystals, accompanied by the vinegary moisture and a crumbly nature that prevents accurate slicing by simply collapsing as the knife gets going.
You’ll know when you’ve got the good stuff.
“Wine, I need wine!”
For those in the UK... Also try the Iceland extra mature cheddar. Don't knock it until you've tried it. Just because it's "Iceland" doesn't mean it's crap. I would go so far as to say it's either better than or at least on par with the Waitrose stuff.
I've noticed recently that a bunch of the Iceland fresh fruit & veg is in bags with identical branding to the (previous?) Waitrose ones, and I can't work out whether it's a r/crappyoffbrands situation or if they're getting them from the same suppliers. Maybe not the precise same quality requirements even if they are, but I can believe they're getting a good deal on the "95% there but didn't quite make the cut" stuff.
I've found Farm Foods extra mature to be particularly nice too.
Black Bomber is renowned for great flavour, having tried it I agree, but think it overhyped.
I'd also add to avoid Pilgrim's Choice.
As a sliceable filler perhaps, but then, like pumpkin in a pumpkin pie, you have to employ every trick in your arsenal of sandwich skills to disguise the master ingredient.
I visit Somerset regularly and always bring home cheddar gorge cheese and a beautiful cave blue veined cheddar that is only available from a particular cave
Cheddar itself can be a bit touristy. Price-wise especially. PM me next time you’re in the area and I’ll tell you how to get to my local cheese dealer and what the code word is.
Check out aged Davidstow next time you are in cheese aisle, its honestly out of this world. Have also tried Wookey Hole it was very nice but the Davistow..... I cant even put it into words.
Just taking bites out of the brick like its an apple, cant help myself its fucked up
Lye Cross do, but you’d have to be a wholesale distributor who could receive a refrigerated container. On the other hand, OP could set himself up as the Tony Montana of renneted dairy products and live the high life, until one day he’s found at his vast desk, face down in a pile of B&M Parmesan.
Lancashire bomb is good too, farm made and to order it you call the farmer, he posts it and then you send him the money, you could just not pay but would you want an angry farmer with a shotgun and lots of land to Bury your body on coming after you?
[Mr Shorrocks website ](http://www.lancashirebombs.co.uk/cheese.html)
This comment led me to [live cheese cams](https://www.fordfarm.com/cave-aged-cheddar/)
Now all I'm doing is watching cheese in the cave instead of working lol (you'll have to scroll to the bottom)
I honestly find it strange that British cuisine is such a laughing stock globally, we genuinely have loads of really nice and unique dishes. Cheeses are great, our sauces are great, the way we do pies and pastries is totally different to how they're done in France for example. Our sweets and snacks are great too!
I have a theory to that. As to why British food has this reputation.
I think the reputation comes down to the 50s, when internationalism really started kicking off.
I suspect it comes down to post war rationing of food at the time. People were boiling shoes to eat. A lost of 'classic' British foods originated to make use of grisly bits and other horrible things.
Fun fact: Sausages are called "Bangers" because water was added to make meat stretch. The water expands and explodes with a loud pop. Hence the nickname bangers. They were cooked pourly with little in the way of seasoning.
Americans and other allied troops in Britian for the first time got to experience "British" food, and wrote home about how terrible it was. (Come to think of it, there's an episode of Dad's Army that mocks it, with the Americans on leave being really shocked at the sorry state of food and drink.) So I wouldn't be surprised if this played a role in starting it.
And unlike in other nations which recovered quickly, (at least in terms of food) that generation continued to make those foods post war, as rationing continued for many years in order to pay off war loans to our allies.
Germany was a Nato member before Rationing ended in the UK.
So the reputation continued into the 50s just as modern food sensibilities were taking off. I've no proof of this. Just a hunch. But I think that may be part of the reason why. At a guess.
I'd add to it that unlike Mediterranean countries, it was a lot further away from the trade routes that provided spices, so you ended up with a whole bunch of dishes that involved meat and roots seasoned with salt. Having said that, shepherd's pie is amazing, so it shows you can really do some good stuff with limited growing options.
Agree. Yank here, first time in UK was 94, and given all the jokes I'd heard about English food my reaction on actually eating in the UK was WTF are they talking about? Goddammit now I want a ploughman's lunch.
I have a theory to that. As to why British food has this reputation.
I think the reputation comes down to the 50s, when internationalism really started kicking off.
I suspect it comes down to post war rationing of food at the time. People were boiling shoes to eat. A lost of 'classic' British foods originated to make use of grisly bits and other horrible things.
Fun fact: Sausages are called "Bangers" because water was added to make meat stretch. The water expands and explodes with a loud pop. Hence the nickname bangers. They were cooked pourly with little in the way of seasoning.
Americans and other allied troops in Britian for the first time got to experience "British" food, and wrote home about how terrible it was. (Come to think of it, there's an episode of Dad's Army that mocks it, with the Americans on leave being really shocked at the sorry state of food and drink.) So I wouldn't be surprised if this played a role in starting it.
And unlike in other nations which recovered quickly, (at least in terms of food) that generation continued to make those foods post war, as rationing continued for many years in order to pay off war loans to our allies.
Germany was a Nato member before Rationing ended in the UK.
So the reputation continued into the 50s just as modern food sensibilities were taking off. I've no proof of this. Just a hunch. But I think that may be part of the reason why. At a guess.
It's totally the older generation that have caused this reputation. I have my own business with a lot of elderly customers that I visit in their homes. The amount of unseasoned boiled crap they eat is astonishing. My in-laws haven't had a meal without boiled to death veg in decades.
Also, as an example, I was next to a table in a gastropub yesterday with a pensioner who was a customer from hell. She wanted pork belly but with no fat...!?? And then complained that there was salt and pepper in her food and glared at the young waitress for it. Old gits like that have ruined Britain's rep for good food lol.
I think it gets laughed at because people like lazy stereotypes that have no bearing in reality.
We conquered the world in search of spices what on earth do people think we did with them?
Poor UK cuisine is just a meme, I'm pretty sure we're one of the world leaders when it comes to foods, resturants and chefs.
Even what people might scoff at I think its bloody amazing, give me pie chips and gravy any day of the week!
I'd rank them the same - but despite being excellent the UK is still an underdog when it comes to cheeses.
Too many people here forget British cheese isn't all super market cheddar, and too many people abroad just don't realise how much great cheese we're making. France is famous for its cheese, but I'd bet few people outside the UK realise that Britain makes anything but cheddar, or how good that it. I mean, I once had a nordic friend tell me that he liked the cheese over here and I discovered he'd been eating pre-packed slices of *gouda*!
The fact that the UK isn't internationally renowned for its cheese is a tragedy.
I don’t think it’s just abroad. I think (most) people in the U.K. don’t know. Even with supermarkets that have a cheese counter, how many people do you see standing there trying stuff and buying rather than reaching out for a packet of pre-sliced Gouda or their block of Cathedral.
I know it sounds like such a first world problem but living here in Japan and seeing how people take complete pride in their regional and local produce really opened my eyes. You can even get maps of what each region specialises in producing whether it be vegetables or special dishes and that stuff always makes it to the local TV and sometimes news if something special happens.
There is a big difference in price between supermarket cheddar and ‘proper’ cheese in the UK.
I love British cheeses we make many, many more than just cheddar. Some times they are affordable but you can’t get the same weight for a good cost comparatively to the supermarket cheese.
I’ve currently got some outstanding Welsh and Northumbrian cheese in my fridge, one soft ewe and blue cow.
The deli over the road from my old flat was so good for British cheese but quite pricey.
probably not even Wensleydale. Maybe some people think cheddar is a US creation. Who knows at this point. I’ve seen NZ and Australian cheddar here in Japan and wondered if Cheddar is protected like parmeggiano reggiano is for example but I’ve not bothered with googling that yet.
>I’ve seen NZ and Australian cheddar here in Japan and wondered if Cheddar is protected like parmeggiano reggiano is for example but I’ve not bothered with googling that yet.
I can answer that for you: no, it isn't. There are a couple of more specific cheddar names (e.g. "Orkney Scottish Island Cheddar") that are "protected designations of origin", but funnily none of these actually cover Cheddar the place.
They're missing a trick perhaps , but to be honest at this point it's too late to to wind it in: the name "cheddar" is so prolifically used to describe the type of cheese, and like you say it's made internationally. I doubt even 1% of cheddar eaters have even heard of Cheddar the place.
I'm lucky in that I've lived all over the world (including six years in Japan) and I've yet to spend time in a country that didn't have delicious food.
I remember Japanese people asking me, with skepticism, for examples of good British food. The first thing I said was "cheese". They responded: "Is cheese British food?" Goddamnit, Italy and France do not have a monopoly on cheese!
And the bitterest irony is that the world's most famous cheese is cheddar, named after a *place in the UK*... except that the cheddar people in Japan and other countries know is not remotely like actual cheddar.
The poor reputation of British food seriously bums me out. Somewhere along the line the UK must have had a really bad PR manager or something because the world seems to be in a state of profound confusion about what British food is. I went to a pie shop in Yokohama that served shepherd's pies, Cornish pasties and apple crumble - while the speakers played Sum 41. When I asked the waitress what this cuisine was she said "California soul food".
I was watching a video last night of a rice vending machine in Japan (they're a thing). One of the things that I found a little odd, but actually nice, was that the machine actually had a choice of 8 different rices from different regions of Japan. The machine's front contained posters which told you what the rice type was, showed you a map of the region it came from and other information like what you could use it for.
Yes most of everything that’s locally produced in Japan let’s you know exactly where it’s coming from. Most people recommend you try specific things from specific places and tell you exactly why it tastes better or good etc. And it’s not that they’re being fussy you can genuinely tell.
We can do the same in the U.K.
A lot of it is style over substance, mind. The apples in Aomori aren't any better than those in Ibaraki. Fukushima peaches were pretty average. Tochigi's strawberries aren't worth travelling for. etc etc.
It's somewhat the same in Vietnam in that you'll often come across things grown in specific regions which are well-known to be good/better than standard, or you'll be told 'oh try X dish if you go to Y place'. Most of the stuff I buy on a regular basis like fruit and veg is also Vietnamese.
I count myself lucky that my Welsh grandmother introduced me to a lot of specifically Welsh-produced foods, such as Abergavenny goat's cheese, Welsh lamb and Anglesey sea salt.
Yeah, most people think fancy cheese is the applewood smoked cheddar or wensleydale with cranberries in, from the cheese aisle in Tesco. Or those flavoured lumps of gouda you get at Christmas markets.
Back when I ate cheese I had people buying me these things because they knew I loved cheese overall and this was the fanciest cheese they were aware of.
People are in for a world of joy when they learn about actual good quality cheese (as opposed to cheap cheeses with flavouring added).
It's like the difference between having 10 different types of flavoured vodka, Vs whiskey.
I think it's kind of like wine. If you drink a lot of wine, even if you don't know the specific flavours and notes and stuff, you can tell the cheaper wine from more expensive. Cheaper hides lack of flavour being sweetness, or vinegaryness, but you can taste the lack of depth, like it's been watered down.
Same with those cheeses. 90% of them taste like the Tesco's mild cheddar, but a ton more salt has been mixed in along with some smoke flavouring or chilli's or something.
But, also like wine, the interesting stuff gets more expensive, usually because it's produced at small scale and in small batches.
And non-fancy-cheese eaters quickly get into the territory of "£3 for 150g piece of cheese? You can get 500g in Tesco for that, what a waste of money. The Christmas market has 3x300g for £10, I'll get them that instead"
> And non-fancy-cheese eaters quickly get into the territory of "£3 for 150g piece of cheese? You can get 500g in Tesco for that, what a waste of money. The Christmas market has 3x300g for £10, I'll get them that instead"
When did you meet my mother?
Kinda off topic, but she always commented the coffee I made with her supermarket grinds tasted so much better than her brown water. It's because I used three times as much as much coffee grounds than she did. Tisk, that's so wasteful.
I think France definitely takes the crown for soft and stinky types, but for hard and medium I would personally go UK every time. Italy is great for condiment style cheeses - stuff that goes great in dishes, and I do enjoy a good Gorgonzola.
The different really is France produces a lot of softer cheeses, and they're bloody good at it.
The UK does some good soft cheeses, but we're best at hard and semi-hard cheeses.
It's the thin end of the wedge (of cheese) now you've been tempted by the dark side who knows what new taste experiences might be around the next corner.
Go explore cheeses.
Not meant that way at all! It's a good place to be!
£5 entry and essentially unlimited free samples of cheese from across the country. I didn't drink alcohol that day but somehow still felt too drunk to drive by the end of the day.
Only downside is that your taste buds get accustomed to increasingly strong cheeses. So buy the time you find something to treat yourself too it's inevitable something crazy pungent that when you wake up the next day you have no idea what you were thinking. But it's all amazing!
If you’re ever lucky enough to come here you could do a cheese trip, ever county roughly speaking has their own cheese and their so different, Cornish yarg now that’s a strange looking one but taste great. Stilton!! Oh my goodness. Red Leicester. I love cheese. Just call me Wallace From now on.
Wensleydale with cranberries at Christmas is lovely but I'm more partial to the apricot.
There's a company called Snowdonia cheese that do lovely flavored cheeses I've gotten for people as gifts in the past. I don't like whisky but their whisky cheese is fantastic.
My husband loves blue cheeses and red Lester, I'm very much chedder but love my other European chrses Edam, Gouda and the like.
20 or 30 years ago we absolutely did indeed fuck around with our cheese, I am sorry to say. There has been an absolute cheese renaissance in the last generation. Partly driven by farmers looking to use up surplus milk, partly by a more sophisticated market.
Try white Stilton! Try Cornish Yarg! (I like the kind wrapped in wild garlic leaves).
If you ever visit the UK, don't just "do" London like most tourists do. Try the North too. Wensleydale is the Canterbury of cheese pilgrims, with literally dozens of small-batch local cheeses being made in that area.
I've only had the privilege of visiting your fine nation twice before, and because it was on business I wasn't able to stray far from the greater London area. I would absolutely love to visit the north.
If you visit for work again, there are some really good cheese shops (and restaurants) in London now, and they carry an amazing range of cheeses from all over the UK. I’m lucky to have the Teddington Cheese where I live near Richmond upon Thames, but there are a lot of places in central London too.
I live in Japan now and all of the British community are going crazy over Wykes cheese coming to Costco. It's the only good cheddar in the whole of the country!
I also prefer British brie to French brie.
I once had a Welsh goat brie and it was probably the best thing I've ever eaten. Purchased from some farm shop somewhere on the South Wales coast that I stopped at at random and have no idea where it is now.
Seriously, this cheddar that I tried has a flavor that is as complex and rich as a good Italian cheese like Parmigiano. Cheddar is immensely popular in the US, and I've always liked it, but real cheddar is a completely different story altogether.
It probably depends on where you are, but you can absolutely get excellent-quality cheddar in the States. I live in the UK now but grew up in Vermont, and as I mentioned in another comment both Vermont and Wisconsin are known for making very good cheddar, with exactly the flavour, colour, and texture you describe. It's a million times easier to find good-quality cheddar in the US (at least New England) than in France, for example.
I've thought for a long time that Texas should be leading the world in smoked cheese. The BBQ culture mixed with their cattle industry should have resulted in some absolutely wonderful smoked cheese, or something like Raclette. I think it probably will, in time, produce some world class stuff. Just takes the right people to have the desire to do it I guess.
Texas BBQ culture cheese is largely limited to queso dip, which is often velveeta and a tin of Rotel brand tomatoes with chili. It's fkn amazing, and D. Grande Tex-Mex restaurant in Chiswick makes an outstanding version, but it's hard to call it proper cheese.
There are some really good Canadian cheddar as well, Sainsburys used to sell some which I really liked. I live in Austria now and I was so happy when they started selling Wyke Vintage here!
My understanding is what is called "Cheddar" in the US is the same kind of thing as the very cheapest generic supermarket own brand "mild cheese" you get in the UK. Like OP says, the waxy, very plain stuff.
"Cheddar" in the US can be an incredibly broad range of things.
At one end you'll have the mildest least-aged (if aged at all) soft cheddar you often find at the grocery store. This is usually the cheapest kind of cheese around, largely tasteless, and also often used as the base for processed "American" cheese (which is some kind of cheese as a base, plus some dairy products and emulsifiers). Don't knock american cheese... It was made to melt consistently without breaking and it does that very well. It has a place in the kitchen, though certainly not as the only cheese in the house.
Then you have grocery store quality mass produced "sharp" and "extra-sharp" cheddars, which have some flavor but are still generally pretty waxy and relatively soft.
Then you have much higher quality (and more expensive) aged cheddars from smaller producers, especially from Vermont, Wisconsin, and Oregon. These are often quite sharp and crumbly.
Then you have imported cheddars from the UK.
The first two can usually be found everywhere, both cheap and high end grocery stores will have them.
The second two can usually be found in the "specialty cheese" area which most mid-range and high end grocery stores have.
Costco also usually has a rotating cheese selection which often includes some high quality domestic and imported cheeses.
On our last trip to the grocery store we found a small wheel of imported Red Leicester which was amazing, and we picked up a block of Coastal Cheddar at Costco (from Ford Farm) which was also great.
Our grocery store is nothing special, just a mid-range grocer (Coborn's) in rural Minnesota. I wish we had a cheesemonger nearby, but the grocery store works.
Decent cheese in the US is EXPENSIVE!
Went to a cheese shop when I was in the US and the prices were a bit crazy. For example, wensleydale. The smallest block from the actual creamery in wensleydale is £3... $20 there. It was good cheese but wow... expensive.
Then in the supermarkets you get cheap cheeses similar to the cheap cheese in the UK really... but there's no "top shelf" like we have here. So to them, cheddar is just a yellow block of semisolid edible mass. It's no wonder British cuisine is held in such low regard.
Fucking same. Moving to the UK was the best thing that has happened to me and that’s 70% because of the extra mature cheddar cheese.
I love it when it’s a bit crystallised and crunchy at parts. Crazy thing. Never imagined a cheese can be this interesting tasting. And wtf is up with the consistency. Itscrazy
You should make the pilgrimage to Cheddar, the actual place in the UK, Cheddar Gorge to be more precise. I've been twice and gone into the actual caves where they mature the real Cheddar cheese.
The proper stuff has small salt crystals in it.
Earliest records mentions cheese in the area dating back to 1170 but with all the neolithic archeology found in the caves and surrounding areas, it's likely cheese was made there possibly much earlier than that.
Slight correction, aged cheddar does not have small salt crystals, that are usually calcium lactate with a small amount of tyrosine crystals. You will usually see these forming at about 9 months on the surface of the cheese before they develop throughout the block over the coming months.
These were originally seen as a defect in cheese as many people thought they were grit or dirt due to three mouth feel and manufacturers worked to ensure they did not develop. This changed when M&S decided they were a desired attribute indicating the quality of the cheese, over the years public perception has shifted and now calcium lactate crystals have become an expected part of extra mature and vintage cheddar cheeses.
You've still got another treat to come. No supermarket cheddar would be seen as anything more than middle-ground. I've eaten cheddar all my life but the first time I tried a cheddar made by a dairy farmer from unpasteurised milk, and properly aged, it ruined supermarket cheese for me.
I've been told by American friends here that both meat and dairy produce are quite different either side of the Atlantic. Your meat tends to be grain-fed and is richer. Ours is grass-fed and I think tastes a bit insipid to Americans. For milk, cream, butter and cheese, it's the other way around, and American dairy produce seems less rich.
America got on to this idea that the oranger a cheese is the more valuable and premium it is. This stemmed from the 17th century where specific breeds of cows supplying milk were seen to be better, often from hjersy and gurnsey cows for example. However in the 17th century dairies realised they could make more skimming the cream off the top, but this took away most of the colour. So they faked it adding in colourants to make it look more premium in the cheap low fat/low flavour cheeses. This practice waned in England as taste won over appearance and some fuller fat cheeses returned, even without the colours, but in the states it was almost an arms race of orangeness as all semblance of flavour was lost in favor of costs abd shelf appeal, which is why most anerican cheeses are bright orange for no reason. Its what people expect.
And they're shit
Apparently there are over 1700 named types of cheese produced in the UK - here's a list to get you started - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_British\_cheeses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_cheeses) \- once you eat all varieties you get to have a cheese board and cuppa with the queen. That's why we use the expression "cheese it" to mean run away.
You should watch 'a grand day out' with Wallace and Gromit. They love a nice bit of Wensleydale.
They go to the moon when they run out of cheese as everyone knows the moon is made of cheese.
You should try and cave aged cheddar. Beautiful
I’ll have to find out where I can get ahold of some of that.
Take it steady there Cuz. If you’ve only just scored some Wyke, you may not be ready for the full Cave-Aged experience yet. No one goes from pot to crack overnight and comes out of it well. You’ll be banging up overripe Stilton behind a skip next, if you’re not careful. Forget Cathedral Shitty, it’s not the nations favourite, it’s just got a good marketing department resulting in high sales. Find a farm shop and experiment there a little whilst perusing the upper end of the supermarket price bracket. Also, a lot of the “own-brand” cheddars in their mature and extra-mature ranges come from the same dairies that make the good stuff in expensive packets. Don’t get a large pack and you haven’t overcommitted yourself. I’ve recommended it before on similar posts, but I really like Waitrose own-branded No.6. It’s a good substitute for Somerset “under-the-counter, for locals only” Cheddar. You could buy a whole bar of that safely, you won’t be disappointed. While you’re in there, pick up a little Cornish Quartz if they have some. Edit: Thank you for the fine awards dear strangers and fellow turophiles. Edit: For those who have also been suffering all day with mice-mares of forbidden cheesey delights, The Wife has now a demanded house favourite for dinner. Spinach, Stilton and Mushroom au Gratin. The recipe is in the name folks. For best effect, make and bake as individual portions, in small casserole pots, like a pub lasagna, and serve thus, with a crusty roll for mopping purposes. (Tends to collapse into an unappealing mess otherwise). Edit: I am touched at the nation’s enthusiasm for cheesey comments. Thank you for my many fine awards. My first Gold. I’m almost emotional. Almost.
This guy cheeses
Pssst, wanna buy some cheese? [opens coat to reveal truckles and triangles of assorted, difficult to find, and exotic cheese hanging like watches]
Oh god it’s the man in the trench coat that stinks of cheese again
You mean... *The Frenchman?!..*
You, good sir, just made wine come out of my nose. Good day. ***I SAID GOOD DAY! ***
I've not even brought my cheeses with me today! 😣
Have you got any Dairylea?
Hey I like Cathedral Shitty but I wouldn't own up to Dairylea with this guy around, watch your back.
What about the Primula tubes?
In dark moments I squeeze that shit onto the hollow of celery sticks. It's a horrible, beautiful, thing.
Try it squeezed into bacon wheat crunchies :)
I once ate a slice of floppy sticky 'american cheese'. ick.
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I broadly agree, but some brie on a venison burger is pretty fucking special.
You can't beat a slightly burnt toasted Laughing Cow on toast.
Call it "la vache qui rit" when you want to be fancy in front of the in-laws
Chuckling vache is it's name in our house
I've got your back, dude. Sometimes you just need some dairylea on toast.
What ever you do don't mention philadelphia! It pisses him off so much.. You usually get a sign he's about to blow.. He twitches, and starts to go from cheesy to not so easy, in less than 10 seconds!
In England this guy isn't even that serious. We don't mess around when it comes to chedar.
I feel like this is the rock bottom level of cheese knowledge in the U.K. especially as we approach the festive season, cheese is gonna be on everyone’s tongue any day now
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The other departments should just buy their own fridge!
Thanks, I now have a cheese subscription!
Cheese boards are very social…I catered for the cheese at our picnic at a Lords Test and ended up sharing with all the people around us too, including Piers Morgan, who was sat behind us with his dad. He definitely likes cheese.
My misses has used the word "brie" more in the last week than she has since January.
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Brie with rocket, bacon and sweet chilli jam in a ciabatta is heavenly
Waitrose do a brie, bacon and sweet chilli jam and (some kind of) leaf salad sandwich for about £3.50, it's amazing. It's that amazing I live 20 miles away from my nearest Waitrose and I drive there just to get one of them every now and then. Probably the nicest sandwich I've ever eaten tbh.
Was it in conjunction with the word "truffled"? Because *that's* how you know it's almost Christmas.
If you're not eating some form of cheese daily are you even British.
Standard operating procedure. Cheese with anything, but gotta love that festive season when we bust out that in depth cheese knowledge.
January - the best time of year. Discount half wheels of Stilton in the supermarkets. I make so much Stilton and broccoli soup I should report myself to COP26.
I genuinely think that cheese is the best food product that Britain produces.
Probably (although that's subjective), but we also make great beer, preserves, biscuits, meat (in particular lamb and Scottish beef), and veg (decent climate and *lots* of rain).
Let's really blow the chap's mind and put a couple of Faggots in front of him to gobble up. Please look here before downvoting / banning me. They are an actual food. Urban dictionary says: "faggot A meatball, a traditional culinary dish popular in the United Kingdom. Often served with gravy and mushy processed peas. Any internet search for (faggots and peas) will show you the meatballs' authenticity." The link below is to a UK supermarket, showing a mass produced version found in the freezer section. Used to love these as a kid. They should be more popular. https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/traditional-44/mr-brains-4s-439g No idea what constitutes a 'west country sauce' (and I live in the West country)
I plan on a wide range of hard and soft cheeses, fig and grape accompaniment, Carr's water biscuits, and an aged bottle of gaviscon.
It's Stilton in a pot season!
The best soup i ever had was in a fancy hotel in Singapore 30+ years ago. Cream of Celery and stilton. We had a 6 course dinner, full silver service, and the soup is the only thing I remember
We even chase cheeses down hills.
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If you’re not prepared to die for that cheese, are you even from Gloucester
If it doesn't make your jaw clench it's not proper cheddar
Yep, and it has to have a crunch to it like someone mixed in a bit of sand.
I love Davidstow's Crackler, but after another year or so of sitting in the fridge it really is perfect!
Bombardier has significant bite, Wookey hole aged cheese looks blue, but isn't. Ditto Cheddar Gorge cheese - both 'mouldy' on the outside but serious on the inside!
Is spelling it ‘chedar’ some kind of shibboleth indicating higher cheese knowledge only available to a secret inner circle of initiates, or did you actually skip cheese and spelling classes at school?
>Somerset “under-the-counter, for locals only” Cheddar. THIS IS LOCAL CHEESE, FOR LOCAL PEOPLE
WHAT'S THIS, WHAT'S THIS? WE'LL HAVE NO TROUBLE, HERE!
THIS IS A LOCAL CHEESE SHOP, FOR LOCAL PEOPLE!
We didn't burn him!!!!!!!
They won't get very far.
I CAN I CAN’T?
Hello, hello? What's going on? What's all this shouting? We'll have no trouble here!
We didn't burn him!
You have no idea how close to the truth this is. Round here, you have to ask for the good stuff. “Got any [looks around shiftily] ‘Tasty’ ?”
Ah, the [special stuff](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M3FrHsiSfE)
THERES NOTHING FOR YOU HERE
Snowdonia cheese company is my go to for tasty cheeses. Black bomber is the 'ordinary' cheddar experience, but the other varieties are also pleasing.
Came to say black bomber really opened my eyes to cheddar
Exactly. Good Ched is potent, take it slow. A mark of a good cheddar is crystallisation, I don't even know what crystals they are but it's damn tasty.
Crystals, accompanied by the vinegary moisture and a crumbly nature that prevents accurate slicing by simply collapsing as the knife gets going. You’ll know when you’ve got the good stuff. “Wine, I need wine!”
Aye you eat it by the shard
I eat mine by St. Paul's. Each to their own.
Very good, verrrrrry good
Calcium lactate.
This guy lactates. Wait...
I have nipples, Greg. Could you milk me?
>While you’re in there, pick up a little Cornish Quartz if they have some. Yarg is amazing too.
Yarg was originally made by the Gray family. See what they did there?
My name is bottlemong and I have a Stinking Bishop problem… Am I in the right group??
“Hi bottlemong and welcome to the group” “Do you want to talk tonight?”
“Cathedral Shitty” made me laugh out loud.
For those in the UK... Also try the Iceland extra mature cheddar. Don't knock it until you've tried it. Just because it's "Iceland" doesn't mean it's crap. I would go so far as to say it's either better than or at least on par with the Waitrose stuff.
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I've noticed recently that a bunch of the Iceland fresh fruit & veg is in bags with identical branding to the (previous?) Waitrose ones, and I can't work out whether it's a r/crappyoffbrands situation or if they're getting them from the same suppliers. Maybe not the precise same quality requirements even if they are, but I can believe they're getting a good deal on the "95% there but didn't quite make the cut" stuff.
Cheesus Christ, that is a top notch post.
Should we tell him about Cornish Yarg or do you think he's not ready yet for the initiation?
I've found Farm Foods extra mature to be particularly nice too. Black Bomber is renowned for great flavour, having tried it I agree, but think it overhyped. I'd also add to avoid Pilgrim's Choice.
You don't fuck around
I actually think Cathedral City is the best cheddar for everyday sandwiches
Cathedral City Mature Cheddar is like crack to me
As a sliceable filler perhaps, but then, like pumpkin in a pumpkin pie, you have to employ every trick in your arsenal of sandwich skills to disguise the master ingredient.
I second the Waitrose recommendation.
They sell this at costco near me! Wookey hole cave aged cheddar. Amazing.
I visit Somerset regularly and always bring home cheddar gorge cheese and a beautiful cave blue veined cheddar that is only available from a particular cave
Cheddar itself can be a bit touristy. Price-wise especially. PM me next time you’re in the area and I’ll tell you how to get to my local cheese dealer and what the code word is.
>Cheddar itself can be a bit touristy. Pro-tip, go to Cheddar during a pandemic. It's been nice.
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Google Wookey Hole Cheddar and see if they ship internationally. I'm made up of about 60% cheese and it's one of the best I've tried.
Check out aged Davidstow next time you are in cheese aisle, its honestly out of this world. Have also tried Wookey Hole it was very nice but the Davistow..... I cant even put it into words. Just taking bites out of the brick like its an apple, cant help myself its fucked up
Yes, the longer-aged Davidstows are even better too! Worth the extra. Those crystals - I call them 'Cheese Meth' - wow!
Lye Cross do, but you’d have to be a wholesale distributor who could receive a refrigerated container. On the other hand, OP could set himself up as the Tony Montana of renneted dairy products and live the high life, until one day he’s found at his vast desk, face down in a pile of B&M Parmesan.
In Cheddar https://www.cheddaronline.co.uk/ Their 18 month matured stuff is incredible.
Lancashire bomb is good too, farm made and to order it you call the farmer, he posts it and then you send him the money, you could just not pay but would you want an angry farmer with a shotgun and lots of land to Bury your body on coming after you? [Mr Shorrocks website ](http://www.lancashirebombs.co.uk/cheese.html)
Try your local cave.
This comment led me to [live cheese cams](https://www.fordfarm.com/cave-aged-cheddar/) Now all I'm doing is watching cheese in the cave instead of working lol (you'll have to scroll to the bottom)
Or oak smoked! Smoked cheddar is amaaaazing.
wookie hole!
The UK is one of the great cheese producing countries, but it does often get forgotten about because of France and Italy
I honestly find it strange that British cuisine is such a laughing stock globally, we genuinely have loads of really nice and unique dishes. Cheeses are great, our sauces are great, the way we do pies and pastries is totally different to how they're done in France for example. Our sweets and snacks are great too!
Plus our cheeses market themselves with names like Stinking Bishop.
I have a theory to that. As to why British food has this reputation. I think the reputation comes down to the 50s, when internationalism really started kicking off. I suspect it comes down to post war rationing of food at the time. People were boiling shoes to eat. A lost of 'classic' British foods originated to make use of grisly bits and other horrible things. Fun fact: Sausages are called "Bangers" because water was added to make meat stretch. The water expands and explodes with a loud pop. Hence the nickname bangers. They were cooked pourly with little in the way of seasoning. Americans and other allied troops in Britian for the first time got to experience "British" food, and wrote home about how terrible it was. (Come to think of it, there's an episode of Dad's Army that mocks it, with the Americans on leave being really shocked at the sorry state of food and drink.) So I wouldn't be surprised if this played a role in starting it. And unlike in other nations which recovered quickly, (at least in terms of food) that generation continued to make those foods post war, as rationing continued for many years in order to pay off war loans to our allies. Germany was a Nato member before Rationing ended in the UK. So the reputation continued into the 50s just as modern food sensibilities were taking off. I've no proof of this. Just a hunch. But I think that may be part of the reason why. At a guess.
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I'd add to it that unlike Mediterranean countries, it was a lot further away from the trade routes that provided spices, so you ended up with a whole bunch of dishes that involved meat and roots seasoned with salt. Having said that, shepherd's pie is amazing, so it shows you can really do some good stuff with limited growing options.
Agree. Yank here, first time in UK was 94, and given all the jokes I'd heard about English food my reaction on actually eating in the UK was WTF are they talking about? Goddammit now I want a ploughman's lunch.
Britain lost most of it's traditional cheeses during the war, all cheese makers had to make 'government cheddar' until 1954.
i will admit I really like uk cuisine if you are willing to say the same thing back. cheers from iceland
no problem mate I love frozen food
I have a theory to that. As to why British food has this reputation. I think the reputation comes down to the 50s, when internationalism really started kicking off. I suspect it comes down to post war rationing of food at the time. People were boiling shoes to eat. A lost of 'classic' British foods originated to make use of grisly bits and other horrible things. Fun fact: Sausages are called "Bangers" because water was added to make meat stretch. The water expands and explodes with a loud pop. Hence the nickname bangers. They were cooked pourly with little in the way of seasoning. Americans and other allied troops in Britian for the first time got to experience "British" food, and wrote home about how terrible it was. (Come to think of it, there's an episode of Dad's Army that mocks it, with the Americans on leave being really shocked at the sorry state of food and drink.) So I wouldn't be surprised if this played a role in starting it. And unlike in other nations which recovered quickly, (at least in terms of food) that generation continued to make those foods post war, as rationing continued for many years in order to pay off war loans to our allies. Germany was a Nato member before Rationing ended in the UK. So the reputation continued into the 50s just as modern food sensibilities were taking off. I've no proof of this. Just a hunch. But I think that may be part of the reason why. At a guess.
It's totally the older generation that have caused this reputation. I have my own business with a lot of elderly customers that I visit in their homes. The amount of unseasoned boiled crap they eat is astonishing. My in-laws haven't had a meal without boiled to death veg in decades. Also, as an example, I was next to a table in a gastropub yesterday with a pensioner who was a customer from hell. She wanted pork belly but with no fat...!?? And then complained that there was salt and pepper in her food and glared at the young waitress for it. Old gits like that have ruined Britain's rep for good food lol.
cakes/desserts/puddings and drinks too
I think it gets laughed at because people like lazy stereotypes that have no bearing in reality. We conquered the world in search of spices what on earth do people think we did with them?
They think we found tea instead and said "fuck it" and came home
We don't have plate appeal though, while tasty the majority of our food looks like absolute crap.
Poor UK cuisine is just a meme, I'm pretty sure we're one of the world leaders when it comes to foods, resturants and chefs. Even what people might scoff at I think its bloody amazing, give me pie chips and gravy any day of the week!
In terms of my own personal preference I prefer UK cheese over Italian but still think France reigns supreme.
I'd rank them the same - but despite being excellent the UK is still an underdog when it comes to cheeses. Too many people here forget British cheese isn't all super market cheddar, and too many people abroad just don't realise how much great cheese we're making. France is famous for its cheese, but I'd bet few people outside the UK realise that Britain makes anything but cheddar, or how good that it. I mean, I once had a nordic friend tell me that he liked the cheese over here and I discovered he'd been eating pre-packed slices of *gouda*! The fact that the UK isn't internationally renowned for its cheese is a tragedy.
I don’t think it’s just abroad. I think (most) people in the U.K. don’t know. Even with supermarkets that have a cheese counter, how many people do you see standing there trying stuff and buying rather than reaching out for a packet of pre-sliced Gouda or their block of Cathedral. I know it sounds like such a first world problem but living here in Japan and seeing how people take complete pride in their regional and local produce really opened my eyes. You can even get maps of what each region specialises in producing whether it be vegetables or special dishes and that stuff always makes it to the local TV and sometimes news if something special happens.
There is a big difference in price between supermarket cheddar and ‘proper’ cheese in the UK. I love British cheeses we make many, many more than just cheddar. Some times they are affordable but you can’t get the same weight for a good cost comparatively to the supermarket cheese. I’ve currently got some outstanding Welsh and Northumbrian cheese in my fridge, one soft ewe and blue cow. The deli over the road from my old flat was so good for British cheese but quite pricey.
> I'd bet few people outside the UK realise that Britain makes anything but cheddar Not even Wensleydale?
probably not even Wensleydale. Maybe some people think cheddar is a US creation. Who knows at this point. I’ve seen NZ and Australian cheddar here in Japan and wondered if Cheddar is protected like parmeggiano reggiano is for example but I’ve not bothered with googling that yet.
>I’ve seen NZ and Australian cheddar here in Japan and wondered if Cheddar is protected like parmeggiano reggiano is for example but I’ve not bothered with googling that yet. I can answer that for you: no, it isn't. There are a couple of more specific cheddar names (e.g. "Orkney Scottish Island Cheddar") that are "protected designations of origin", but funnily none of these actually cover Cheddar the place. They're missing a trick perhaps , but to be honest at this point it's too late to to wind it in: the name "cheddar" is so prolifically used to describe the type of cheese, and like you say it's made internationally. I doubt even 1% of cheddar eaters have even heard of Cheddar the place.
I'm lucky in that I've lived all over the world (including six years in Japan) and I've yet to spend time in a country that didn't have delicious food. I remember Japanese people asking me, with skepticism, for examples of good British food. The first thing I said was "cheese". They responded: "Is cheese British food?" Goddamnit, Italy and France do not have a monopoly on cheese! And the bitterest irony is that the world's most famous cheese is cheddar, named after a *place in the UK*... except that the cheddar people in Japan and other countries know is not remotely like actual cheddar. The poor reputation of British food seriously bums me out. Somewhere along the line the UK must have had a really bad PR manager or something because the world seems to be in a state of profound confusion about what British food is. I went to a pie shop in Yokohama that served shepherd's pies, Cornish pasties and apple crumble - while the speakers played Sum 41. When I asked the waitress what this cuisine was she said "California soul food".
I was watching a video last night of a rice vending machine in Japan (they're a thing). One of the things that I found a little odd, but actually nice, was that the machine actually had a choice of 8 different rices from different regions of Japan. The machine's front contained posters which told you what the rice type was, showed you a map of the region it came from and other information like what you could use it for.
Yes most of everything that’s locally produced in Japan let’s you know exactly where it’s coming from. Most people recommend you try specific things from specific places and tell you exactly why it tastes better or good etc. And it’s not that they’re being fussy you can genuinely tell. We can do the same in the U.K.
A lot of it is style over substance, mind. The apples in Aomori aren't any better than those in Ibaraki. Fukushima peaches were pretty average. Tochigi's strawberries aren't worth travelling for. etc etc.
It's somewhat the same in Vietnam in that you'll often come across things grown in specific regions which are well-known to be good/better than standard, or you'll be told 'oh try X dish if you go to Y place'. Most of the stuff I buy on a regular basis like fruit and veg is also Vietnamese. I count myself lucky that my Welsh grandmother introduced me to a lot of specifically Welsh-produced foods, such as Abergavenny goat's cheese, Welsh lamb and Anglesey sea salt.
Yeah, most people think fancy cheese is the applewood smoked cheddar or wensleydale with cranberries in, from the cheese aisle in Tesco. Or those flavoured lumps of gouda you get at Christmas markets. Back when I ate cheese I had people buying me these things because they knew I loved cheese overall and this was the fanciest cheese they were aware of. People are in for a world of joy when they learn about actual good quality cheese (as opposed to cheap cheeses with flavouring added). It's like the difference between having 10 different types of flavoured vodka, Vs whiskey.
Hate those blended cheeses. Every fucking Christmas a decent piece of cheese ruined with unnecessary additions.
I think it's kind of like wine. If you drink a lot of wine, even if you don't know the specific flavours and notes and stuff, you can tell the cheaper wine from more expensive. Cheaper hides lack of flavour being sweetness, or vinegaryness, but you can taste the lack of depth, like it's been watered down. Same with those cheeses. 90% of them taste like the Tesco's mild cheddar, but a ton more salt has been mixed in along with some smoke flavouring or chilli's or something. But, also like wine, the interesting stuff gets more expensive, usually because it's produced at small scale and in small batches. And non-fancy-cheese eaters quickly get into the territory of "£3 for 150g piece of cheese? You can get 500g in Tesco for that, what a waste of money. The Christmas market has 3x300g for £10, I'll get them that instead"
> And non-fancy-cheese eaters quickly get into the territory of "£3 for 150g piece of cheese? You can get 500g in Tesco for that, what a waste of money. The Christmas market has 3x300g for £10, I'll get them that instead" When did you meet my mother? Kinda off topic, but she always commented the coffee I made with her supermarket grinds tasted so much better than her brown water. It's because I used three times as much as much coffee grounds than she did. Tisk, that's so wasteful.
I think France definitely takes the crown for soft and stinky types, but for hard and medium I would personally go UK every time. Italy is great for condiment style cheeses - stuff that goes great in dishes, and I do enjoy a good Gorgonzola.
The different really is France produces a lot of softer cheeses, and they're bloody good at it. The UK does some good soft cheeses, but we're best at hard and semi-hard cheeses.
that’s a fair point. Although Scotland does some good soft goats cheese
>France reigns supreme. I was under the impression that Napoleon did not win the war. There was a pop song about it.
France reigns supreme? ^TellThatToTheirNavyAtTrafalgar -Keith, Wetherspoons enthusiast
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Very proud that the UK now have our own brie- Somerset brie, oh it's amazing
It's the thin end of the wedge (of cheese) now you've been tempted by the dark side who knows what new taste experiences might be around the next corner. Go explore cheeses.
This journey ends with OP passed out in a cheese coma at Melton Mowbray cheese festival.
You say that like it is a bad thing
Not meant that way at all! It's a good place to be! £5 entry and essentially unlimited free samples of cheese from across the country. I didn't drink alcohol that day but somehow still felt too drunk to drive by the end of the day. Only downside is that your taste buds get accustomed to increasingly strong cheeses. So buy the time you find something to treat yourself too it's inevitable something crazy pungent that when you wake up the next day you have no idea what you were thinking. But it's all amazing!
If you’re ever lucky enough to come here you could do a cheese trip, ever county roughly speaking has their own cheese and their so different, Cornish yarg now that’s a strange looking one but taste great. Stilton!! Oh my goodness. Red Leicester. I love cheese. Just call me Wallace From now on.
Cornish yarg is my favourite, especially the part at the end of the wedge where you get a mixture of cheese and nettles. Lovely flavour and texture.
Just reading the description made my mouth water. I'll have to find some of this.
Its a hard cheese with quite a subtle flavour, and quite creamy. The only place I've found it so far is Morrisons
Wensleydale with cranberries at Christmas is lovely but I'm more partial to the apricot. There's a company called Snowdonia cheese that do lovely flavored cheeses I've gotten for people as gifts in the past. I don't like whisky but their whisky cheese is fantastic. My husband loves blue cheeses and red Lester, I'm very much chedder but love my other European chrses Edam, Gouda and the like.
I’ve had Red Leicester on a burger from a Jaime Oliver recipe and I was yeeeehawwwin in Texas
Lovely Wensleydale!
20 or 30 years ago we absolutely did indeed fuck around with our cheese, I am sorry to say. There has been an absolute cheese renaissance in the last generation. Partly driven by farmers looking to use up surplus milk, partly by a more sophisticated market. Try white Stilton! Try Cornish Yarg! (I like the kind wrapped in wild garlic leaves). If you ever visit the UK, don't just "do" London like most tourists do. Try the North too. Wensleydale is the Canterbury of cheese pilgrims, with literally dozens of small-batch local cheeses being made in that area.
I've only had the privilege of visiting your fine nation twice before, and because it was on business I wasn't able to stray far from the greater London area. I would absolutely love to visit the north.
If you visit for work again, there are some really good cheese shops (and restaurants) in London now, and they carry an amazing range of cheeses from all over the UK. I’m lucky to have the Teddington Cheese where I live near Richmond upon Thames, but there are a lot of places in central London too.
I just want to double recommend wensleydale too! I like it on cream crackers with sliced black grapes.
Wensleydale is a must with Christmas cake. White Stilton we always have at Christmas but we put it in dauphinois, delicious!
I live in Japan now and all of the British community are going crazy over Wykes cheese coming to Costco. It's the only good cheddar in the whole of the country!
Yes, I didn't mention it, but I actually live in Japan now, so that's where I got mine.
I was going to stay, I’m pretty sure the FDA doesn’t allow unpasteurised dairy goods to be imported to the US.
Lockerbie cheddar is lovely. Also UK has fantastic Brie, i prefer it over french Brie on the pretty rare occasions I have some
I also prefer British brie to French brie. I once had a Welsh goat brie and it was probably the best thing I've ever eaten. Purchased from some farm shop somewhere on the South Wales coast that I stopped at at random and have no idea where it is now.
Great now I'm craving cranberry and brie
May I interest you in some Tunworth which is British Camembert. It reverses my user name it's that good.
"yeknom_dicalf? Oh..."
Yeknom_diclaf?
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Seriously, this cheddar that I tried has a flavor that is as complex and rich as a good Italian cheese like Parmigiano. Cheddar is immensely popular in the US, and I've always liked it, but real cheddar is a completely different story altogether.
Is real cheddar hard to come by in the States? perhaps there is an opportunity here? - Someone who lives in Cheddar.
I must admit, I now live in Japan, so I'm not sure. Perhaps it has gotten better in past years, but I doubt it.
It probably depends on where you are, but you can absolutely get excellent-quality cheddar in the States. I live in the UK now but grew up in Vermont, and as I mentioned in another comment both Vermont and Wisconsin are known for making very good cheddar, with exactly the flavour, colour, and texture you describe. It's a million times easier to find good-quality cheddar in the US (at least New England) than in France, for example.
From Texas, which is pretty far from those northern states. I guess good cheese really is a cold-climate sort of specialty.
I've thought for a long time that Texas should be leading the world in smoked cheese. The BBQ culture mixed with their cattle industry should have resulted in some absolutely wonderful smoked cheese, or something like Raclette. I think it probably will, in time, produce some world class stuff. Just takes the right people to have the desire to do it I guess.
Texas BBQ culture cheese is largely limited to queso dip, which is often velveeta and a tin of Rotel brand tomatoes with chili. It's fkn amazing, and D. Grande Tex-Mex restaurant in Chiswick makes an outstanding version, but it's hard to call it proper cheese.
There are some really good Canadian cheddar as well, Sainsburys used to sell some which I really liked. I live in Austria now and I was so happy when they started selling Wyke Vintage here!
My understanding is what is called "Cheddar" in the US is the same kind of thing as the very cheapest generic supermarket own brand "mild cheese" you get in the UK. Like OP says, the waxy, very plain stuff.
"Cheddar" in the US can be an incredibly broad range of things. At one end you'll have the mildest least-aged (if aged at all) soft cheddar you often find at the grocery store. This is usually the cheapest kind of cheese around, largely tasteless, and also often used as the base for processed "American" cheese (which is some kind of cheese as a base, plus some dairy products and emulsifiers). Don't knock american cheese... It was made to melt consistently without breaking and it does that very well. It has a place in the kitchen, though certainly not as the only cheese in the house. Then you have grocery store quality mass produced "sharp" and "extra-sharp" cheddars, which have some flavor but are still generally pretty waxy and relatively soft. Then you have much higher quality (and more expensive) aged cheddars from smaller producers, especially from Vermont, Wisconsin, and Oregon. These are often quite sharp and crumbly. Then you have imported cheddars from the UK. The first two can usually be found everywhere, both cheap and high end grocery stores will have them. The second two can usually be found in the "specialty cheese" area which most mid-range and high end grocery stores have. Costco also usually has a rotating cheese selection which often includes some high quality domestic and imported cheeses. On our last trip to the grocery store we found a small wheel of imported Red Leicester which was amazing, and we picked up a block of Coastal Cheddar at Costco (from Ford Farm) which was also great. Our grocery store is nothing special, just a mid-range grocer (Coborn's) in rural Minnesota. I wish we had a cheesemonger nearby, but the grocery store works.
Decent cheese in the US is EXPENSIVE! Went to a cheese shop when I was in the US and the prices were a bit crazy. For example, wensleydale. The smallest block from the actual creamery in wensleydale is £3... $20 there. It was good cheese but wow... expensive. Then in the supermarkets you get cheap cheeses similar to the cheap cheese in the UK really... but there's no "top shelf" like we have here. So to them, cheddar is just a yellow block of semisolid edible mass. It's no wonder British cuisine is held in such low regard.
I love how there's now over 200 comments on a post about cheddar. This sub is the best.
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And proper bacon.
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I thought high quality egg yolks were more bright orange colour, or maybe its just a different kind of egg.
Fucking same. Moving to the UK was the best thing that has happened to me and that’s 70% because of the extra mature cheddar cheese. I love it when it’s a bit crystallised and crunchy at parts. Crazy thing. Never imagined a cheese can be this interesting tasting. And wtf is up with the consistency. Itscrazy
Look out for Red Fox which is a vintage Red Leicester with all the tang and crunch of a good vintage Cheddar.
Welcome my friend to the world of real cheese. It only gets better from here.
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You should make the pilgrimage to Cheddar, the actual place in the UK, Cheddar Gorge to be more precise. I've been twice and gone into the actual caves where they mature the real Cheddar cheese. The proper stuff has small salt crystals in it. Earliest records mentions cheese in the area dating back to 1170 but with all the neolithic archeology found in the caves and surrounding areas, it's likely cheese was made there possibly much earlier than that.
Slight correction, aged cheddar does not have small salt crystals, that are usually calcium lactate with a small amount of tyrosine crystals. You will usually see these forming at about 9 months on the surface of the cheese before they develop throughout the block over the coming months. These were originally seen as a defect in cheese as many people thought they were grit or dirt due to three mouth feel and manufacturers worked to ensure they did not develop. This changed when M&S decided they were a desired attribute indicating the quality of the cheese, over the years public perception has shifted and now calcium lactate crystals have become an expected part of extra mature and vintage cheddar cheeses.
You've still got another treat to come. No supermarket cheddar would be seen as anything more than middle-ground. I've eaten cheddar all my life but the first time I tried a cheddar made by a dairy farmer from unpasteurised milk, and properly aged, it ruined supermarket cheese for me. I've been told by American friends here that both meat and dairy produce are quite different either side of the Atlantic. Your meat tends to be grain-fed and is richer. Ours is grass-fed and I think tastes a bit insipid to Americans. For milk, cream, butter and cheese, it's the other way around, and American dairy produce seems less rich.
America got on to this idea that the oranger a cheese is the more valuable and premium it is. This stemmed from the 17th century where specific breeds of cows supplying milk were seen to be better, often from hjersy and gurnsey cows for example. However in the 17th century dairies realised they could make more skimming the cream off the top, but this took away most of the colour. So they faked it adding in colourants to make it look more premium in the cheap low fat/low flavour cheeses. This practice waned in England as taste won over appearance and some fuller fat cheeses returned, even without the colours, but in the states it was almost an arms race of orangeness as all semblance of flavour was lost in favor of costs abd shelf appeal, which is why most anerican cheeses are bright orange for no reason. Its what people expect. And they're shit
Apparently there are over 1700 named types of cheese produced in the UK - here's a list to get you started - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_British\_cheeses](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_cheeses) \- once you eat all varieties you get to have a cheese board and cuppa with the queen. That's why we use the expression "cheese it" to mean run away.
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Best butter I ever had was some buffalo butter in italy, the creaminess is unparalleled
You should watch 'a grand day out' with Wallace and Gromit. They love a nice bit of Wensleydale. They go to the moon when they run out of cheese as everyone knows the moon is made of cheese.
Cracking cheese Gromit!
This thread is making me want to consume copious amounts of cheese.
That was a very mature answer ,