Cheshire cheese is reputed to be the oldest cheese in England. Traditionally it came in cloths which had a picture of a large, grinning cat on. Hence the phrase " grinning like a Cheshire cat " came from this tradition. Lewis Carrol in his book "Through the Looking Glass" makes reference to a large grinning cat, The Cheshire Cat.
Cheshire cheese comes in three colours, red, white and blue and for this reason is known as the most patriotic of all cheeses. There are other smaller companies making cheese in Cheshire, such as The Cheshire Cheese Company and Bexton Cheese. The cheese is slightly crumbly and slightly salty.
Many recipes special to Cheshire contain Cheshire cheeses. Cheshire also boasts very fine asparagus crops, rhubarb crops and apple crops. Cheshire lamb is particularly fine. Our salty soil gives a natural flavour to the local produce.
Cheshire recipes have been noted for centuries.
Hannah Glasse’s 1747 Cheshire Pork Pie recipe for example is typical of Cheshire and is sometimes known as Fidget Pie. It contains Pork and apples. In fact, I bought one from the butcher's on Wednesday this week. I have included two different Cheshire Pork Pie recipes.
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Comments
Regarding cheese, The Bexton Cheese Company and Cheshire Cheese Company are outstanding cheese makers .
The Cheshire climate is rainy, as especially in the north it is close to the Irish Sea and receives Atlantic rains. This makes for lush grass and therefore well fed cattle. Almost all of Cheshire is prime agricultural land.
yes indeed ty
Your introduction speaks of Cheshire's soil being salty,but that is only in places where springs from the deep-lying salt layers come to the surface. The salt mines are deep down. The soil also contains a basis of new red sandstone overlain by glacial clay and some alluvial deposits from the now filled up lakes. Agriculture focuses much on dairy farming, on the rich grass of Cheshire. This means cheese and butter as well as milk
Here's a link to a new Cheshire food recipe c/o The Cheshire Cheese company website .
This is new, not traditional but surely a winner. Cheshire cheese, spinach, shallot and ginger pie.
Cheshire is similar to feta.
Click the link if you are interested.
http://www.cheshirecheesecompany.co.u...
Thank you, how kind. These 2 pages and the Irish Christmas foods get massive visitor numbers, Which is very reassuring . Despite our sophistication in 21st C , people love the traditional.
Your focus on traditional recipes from Lancashire and Cheshire is a very productive area of writing that makes a valuable contribution to Wizzley. No one else has, to the best of my knowledge, done anything in this area. Every one of us needs a niche area, and you have created a good one for yourself from which we all benefit.
Hi Marie
They just make a good alternative to pie at times and can have grated cheese or oats added. My lot enjoy a Cheshire lamb crumble. But you can put anything underneath the topping.
I absolutely love crumbles but I've only ever had fruit ones and not savory. That is something interesting to try. Yum.
Yes I like to do traditional recipes sometimes and my family eat most thing. I think the traditional recipes like my Traditional Lancashire recipes are bourn out of the hardships of the people
Cheshire cheese is my absolute favourite cheese along with Lancashire. I only use Cheddar for cooking.