Aldred’s Fine Cheese

03/02/2025

We’ve still got a small amount of availability for catering in 2025 and lots of dates 2026 and 2027 onwards 😁🥰 if you’ve got a date your looking at get in touch 🥳

We have lots of catering options available and new package deals for full day catering or just one course:
Wood fired pizza
Hog roast
BBQ
Buffets - hot or cold
Curry packages
Pigs and pizza combo
Canapes
Festival street food
Dessert tables
And lots more options…

02/02/2025

Celebrating Stilton Cheesemaker Colston Bassett in this weeks cheese selections. Book your cheese selection now for delivery on Thursday 🧀🚗😊

https://www.aldredsfinecheese.co.uk/buy-cheese

Colston Bassett is one of only four cheesemakers producing PDO Stilton in the UK. Down from six producers in the last few years alone.

An intensely rich and creamy stilton with gentle blueing evenly spread throughout, it offers deep, complex flavours both on the paste and on the rind, which is like a taste sensation experience all on its own and together with the paste, it’s a heavenly experience. Colston Bassett is one of the last remaining dairies to hand-ladle their Stilton; it is this gentle, non-mechanical process of hand ladling that adds to the outstanding texture and creaminess experienced with this cheese that you just cannot achieve when not done by hand.

Production started at Colston Bassett Dairy, Nottinghamshire, in 1913 following the vision of a local doctor, Dr William Windley. He saw an opportunity for local farmers to work together for a common goal and create a product that would benefit the local area, he encouraged local farmers to join forces and raise the capital to build a dairy. He also convinced many locals to get involved and buy shares in the idea; around forty people invested in the endeavour, raising £1000 between them (a sum worth around £78,000 in 2017 financial value, to put this into context, worked out using the National Archives Currency Converter). The capital raised was used to purchase half an acre from the local squire and to build the dairy. Initially, there were sixteen local farmers, all within a two-mile radius of the dairy supplying milk to the enterprise, and all of whom had shares in the operation.
A hard-pressed Cheddar was the first cheese to be produced; this was due to wartime restrictions that meant blue cheese was seen as too luxurious at that time. In the 1920s, Stilton production started at the dairy and continued up until World War II, when rationing came into force in January 1940, and Stilton production had to once again cease. Only government-approved cheese styles were allowed until the end of rationing in 1954 (Fourteen long years of food restrictions that nearly saw the end to all British artisan cheese production). Following the recommencement of production, Stilton was produced all year around. The farmers supplying the dairy have today reduced to four, but this is due to farms becoming larger and land consolidated under one farm rather than the loss of any particular farm suppliers, it’s still the same pastures that have been grazed for over 100 years for Stilton production with the same traditional make methods used. This setup is perfect for cheese production, offering careful management of milking herds and the quality of the milk, which is able to offer consistency for the cheese. The cattle used for milk production across the four farms consist of Friesian, Ayrshire, and Holstein Friesian, which are all high-volume producing cattle and are all regularly seen as cheesemaking milk favourites.
Colston Bassett is produced today by Billy Kevan and his cheesemaking team, along with the company’s other flagship cheese, Colston Bassett Blue Shropshire. Since the company launched over a century ago, only four head cheesemakers have been at the helm, and this shows in the consistency of this spectacular cheese.
Colston Bassett is an exemplary version of Stilton and is one of only four cheesemakers now licensed to produce Stilton under its PDO (Protected Designation of Origin), which has been in place since 1996. This has dropped from six producers just in the last few years.

Since 1996, for a cheese to use the name Stilton, it must conform to certain criteria stipulated in its PDO, such as the cheese must be produced in one of the three adjacent counties of Derbyshire, Leicestershire or Nottinghamshire, and only pasteurised milk can be used. It must have the traditional cylindrical shape, form its own crust/coat and not be pressed during the making process. It also must have the taste profile of a typical stilton and contain the delicate blue veining radiating from the centre.

Learn more about artisan cheese @
https://www.aldredsfinecheese.co.uk/talesofcheese

30/01/2025

Cheese deliveries are back!! 🧀 🚗 Book your delivery now for cheese delivered to you on Thursday 6th February.

We’ll be offering weekly changing cheese selections delivered to your door with new selections available every week.

🧀 Standard Selection - 3 Artisan Cheese £17.50: Montgomery’s Traditional Clothbound Matured Cheddar, Cambazola (Creamy Blue), Smoked Brie

🧀 Flavoured Selection - 3 Flavoured Artisan Cheeses £17: Charcoal Cheddar, Double Gloucester with Horseradish & Mustard, Wensleydale and Apricot

🧀 Prestige Selection - 5 Artisan Cheeses £30: Colston Basset Stilton, Vacherouse d’Argental, Manchego 12 month Matured, Comte and Tomme de Savoie

🧀 Suprise Selection - 3 Artisan Cheeses £15: It’s a Suprise!!!

Check out our website to get your order booked in today https://www.aldredsfinecheese.co.uk/buy-cheese

29/01/2025

Get your orders in now for delivery this week.
Cheese orders close at 7pm (Wednesday) for Thursday delivery 🧀🚗

We’re so excited to be back

https://www.aldredsfinecheese.co.uk/buy-cheese

24/01/2025

Do we have exciting news for you!!! Cheese deliveries are back!! 🧀 🚗

After a lot of requests we’re thrilled to announce weekly cheese deliveries will be start again on Thursday 30th January.

We’ll be offering weekly changing selections delivered to your door with new selections available every week.

🧀 Standard Selection - 3 Artisan Cheese £17.50: Rutland Red Leicester, Black Bomber Cheddar, Blue Shropshire

🧀 Flavoured Selection - 3 Flavoured Artisan Cheeses £17: Charcoal Cheddar, Wensleydale and Cranberry and Sticky Toffee Cheddar

🧀 Prestige Selection - 5 Artisan Cheeses £30: Delice de Bourgogne, Talleggio, Fourme d'Ambert, Montgomery's Traditional Cheddar, Morbier

🧀 Suprise Selection - 3 Artisan Cheeses £15: It’s a Suprise!!!

Check out our website to get your order booked in today https://www.aldredsfinecheese.co.uk/buy-cheese

13/01/2025

Roll on the summer and cheese towers 🧀This particular one I loved creating Weddings at Scarborough Spa

🧀 Aldred’s Fine Cheese

📸 Myriad Films

10/01/2025

TALES OF CHEESE

Appleby’s Cheshire & A History Of Cheshire Cheese:

Cheshire is one of Britain’s oldest cheeses; for centuries, it was more famous and popular than cheddar. Sadly, after WWII, it fell out of popularity; Appleby’s Cheshire is the last remaining farmhouse Cheshire still in production today, and it’s a beautiful example of how Cheshire cheese should be, traditionally made using raw milk and cloth-bound matured.

The History of Appleby’s Cheshire:
Appleby’s cheese production was set up in 1952, on the exact farm where it’s still made today, at Hawkstone Abbey Farm in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. It was developed by Lucy Appleby at Reaseheath College and then made alongside her husband Lance. Lucy came from a long line of Cheshire cheese-making matriarchs and wanted to continue the production of Cheshire and her ancestral cheesemaking line. Appleby’s is produced today from the same recipe that Lucy developed but is now made by Lucy and Lance’s grandchild, Paul Appleby, a third-generation cheesemaker who devotes his time to Cheshire cheese alongside his wife Sarah and their head cheesemaker Garry Grey.

Paul and Sarah live on the family farm with their five children and continue the legacy that is now even more special and precariously tragic for British cheese. Appleby’s is the very last, traditional, raw milk Cheshire cheese in production in the UK. They also use milk from their own herd to produce this glorious example of Cheshire, once the star of the show.

History of Cheshire Cheese:
What’s so interesting about this is how many producers of Cheshire cheese there used to be; it was once the most famous of all the British Territorial cheeses. In the early 1900s, there were over two thousand Cheshire Cheese producers in the UK, and this wasn’t even the height of the Cheshire cheese boom. To understand a little bit more about this change, we must delve into history.
Cheshire-style cheese is one of the oldest cheeses in the UK and has been produced since Roman times, with mention in the 1086 doomsday book plus multiple mentions in other historical texts. It first started its steady incline to fame in the 1600s; during this time, most of the London cheese market was filled with butter and cheeses from Suffolk, but in 1640, the area around Suffolk suffered a disaster, mass flooding led to diseases in the cattle and highly decimated the Suffolk dairy trade.
Following this, the quality of Suffolk cheese dropped significantly, farmers were skimming the cream from the top of the milk and using it for butter production and faster turnaround of profit; this quickly became a standard practice, leaving Suffolk cheese of poor quality and lacking in any real taste.
There is mention of this in Samuel Pepys’ diary from the 1660s, ‘The quality of Suffolk cheese was so bad that even the servants complained about being asked to eat it’. This huge drop in quality alongside a rather entrepreneurial businessman named William Seaman, opened up the trade of Cheshire Cheese to…..

Read the whole article on Tales Of Cheese

https://www.aldredsfinecheese.co.uk/talesofcheese

26/12/2024

Booking your wedding and looking for catering to suit your style 🌟

We have lots of catering options available and new package deals for full day catering or just one course:
Wood fired pizza
Hog roast
BBQ
Buffets - hot or cold
Curry packages
Pigs and pizza combo
Canapes
Festival street food
Dessert tables
And lots more options…

19/12/2024

Tales Of Cheese: Putting together the perfect festive cheeseboard

This doesn’t need to be a task that makes you want to hide in the broom cupboard. It’s all about balance and excitement. Your local cheesemonger will always be able to advise and help you with the task but if you wish to go solo there’s a few rules you can follow to help you along the way.

Firstly, you need to decide whether the cheeseboard is your main food or whether it is to be eaten after a meal as this will dictate how much cheese per person and other nibbles are needed.

If it isn’t the main food at your event, I would advise 100g of cheese per person. If your cheeseboard is the main food at your event, I would suggest 200g of cheese per person as a minimum plus other nibbles alongside the cheese.
Cheese portions I would advise these to be a minimum of 200g each, this is about how it looks on the board. Much less than 200g of cheese and it starts to look very sad, like everyone won’t get to try that particular one. This can’t be helped in cheeses that are produced in a smaller size than 200g such as a Crottin de Chavignol but you can counter this by adding two.

Now the exciting bit of choosing your cheese, there are thousands of cheeses in the world but if you go by some simple category rules you can put together a well-balanced cheese board without knowing the complete taste profile of every cheese you choose.

For a simple board of three to four cheeses you might want to go along the lines of a cheeseboard we are all familiar with, Brie – SOFT, Cheddar – HARD, Stilton – BLUE, plus add a wild card to create interest. This could be the centre of your cheeseboard with your other three cheeses arranged around it, WASHED RIND or GOAT are good ones here and could be along the lines of:
Washed rind – Langres, Epoisses de Bourgogne, Vacherin Mont D’Or
Goat – Valencay , Crottin de Chavignol, Kidderton Ash, Dorstone

If you’re not one for sticking to rules and want a cheeseboard with a bit of difference you can still use the same idea but change the cheeses for ones that you’d prefer under the same categories of Soft, Hard, Blue.

A few example boards under these categories could be:
Rollright, Kit Calvert Wensleydale, Burt’s Blue
Vacherouse d’Argental, Saint Nectaire, Fourme d’Ambert

These options are both examples of a soft, hard and blue combinations that will create a well-rounded selection but don’t stick to conventional Brie, Cheddar and Stilton.
If you want to create a cheeseboard with five or six different cheeses you can add further categories to your creation.
Alpine style
Washed rind
Variety in milk style – Cow, Goat, sheep, buffalo,
Smoked
Flavoured
Soft
Hard
Blue
Once your selection is up to five or six different cheeses you can always add in a second blue cheese too, this should be in a different style to your first choice such as a soft blue or a blue from the opposite end of the flavour spectrum creamy or salty (further post of different blue cheese flavours coming soon). You can also look at the different shapes and colours of the cheeses to add interest to your selection.

Accompaniments for your cheese board can be chutney or marmalades these add new flavours that can be similar or contrasting with your cheese. Membrillo (Quince paste) is always a good choice, its most known for its pairing with Manchego but pairs well with a variety of cheeses and looks interesting on your cheeseboard. Honey is another good addition and easy to dunk into or drizzle onto your cheese.

Dried fruit such as dried dates, apricots, figs, ginger, and cranberries are all good examples of dried fruit to add as an accompaniment.
Fresh fruit cuts through many of the flavours of the cheese and can refresh the palate. Grapes, strawberries, figs, currents or berries, sliced apple or something more unusual like persimmon or pineapple can pair with vintage aged hard cheeses.

Nuts – walnuts, pistachios, almonds, brazil (most nuts pair well with cheese)

Pickled - walnuts (or other pickled nuts), gherkins, onions

Charcuterie or pate – A nice selection of charcuterie alongside your cheeses can always add another level of interest, there’s so many different ones to choose from. A varied selection always works well such as spicy chorizo, serrano ham and Milano salami are a good combination you could add to.

Crackers – A subjective one here as everyone’s got their favourites, I’m all for a nice none flavoured cracker or oat cake as I enjoy the flavours coming through from the cheese and not being overpowered or sometimes tainted from odd cracker flavours. I must however admit to being partial to a nice beetroot cracker on occasion or an interesting Cajun one I’ve recently stumbled upon. Whichever crackers you choose remember they are transport for something whether its cheese or charcuterie so try not to buy anything too overpowering.

https://www.aldredsfinecheese.co.uk/talesofcheese

08/12/2024

EDIT: Now serving pizzas 🍕

The weather is causing quite a few issues for pizza 🌧️ 🌪️ 🍕 last night and today.

We’ve been down to access the safety of doing pizzas today for Oxford house candles
wonderful Christmas fair Burniston & Cloughton Village Hall
At the moment it’s not safe enough to light the oven but we’ll access again at 10am as the wind direction is meant to change 🤞

02/12/2024

Not long until Friday! Just a bit of important info... we are so pleased that Aldred’s Fine Cheese will be with us both nights serving wood fired pizzas fresh to order!

We've also got cask beer back on tap from The Wold Top Brewery - only £4 a pint, along with a wide range of other beers and wines. Please don't bring your own booze - don't forget all proceeds as ever are going to Saint Catherine's Scarborough.

See you all at the weekend! 😎

23/11/2024

Reviews ❤️

19/11/2024

Today seems an apt day to shine a light on the lack of support for British farmers from the UK Government. How their policies, taxation, and often ridiculous choices have detrimentally affected farming, including a huge loss of British-made products over the past sixty years, nearly decimating the cheese industry along the way.

Across many industry sectors throughout the UK, we have seen the government show no support for British-made products. Offering tenders to outside countries, often for the sake of a few pounds saved while parroting their hypocritical support of British companies. The most recent glaring example of this that I can think of is passports. Need I say more…..

Anyway, back to farming.

Over the past sixty years, farmers have been forced to produce higher quantities to stay in business, adding faster ways to milk and higher yields on less land, but has that reduced the overall quality?

The average herd size for a farmer in 1954 was just 16 cows, and each farm would have been mixed farming, producing beef, milk, arable crops and raising other livestock. Today, the average herd size is 216 cows, with some ‘super’ dairies holding as many as 8000 cows. At those numbers, that’s not sustainable farming; that’s just a factory production line.

The start of this increase in production needs for farmers to stay in business began with The Milk Marketing Board, a government idea to stabilise the milk market by offering dairy farmers a set price for their milk. This meant, in theory, farmers had more financial stability and didn’t need to go to the effort of making cheese anymore to add extra profit, they could milk their cows and get paid. What it also meant, unbeknownst to everyone at the time, was the Milk Marketing Board wanted every farmer to join, so they held the market monopoly, able to make factory-made block cheese fast and sell at whatever price they wanted to. If farmers wanted to make their own cheese with excess milk beyond their contracted production amounts, they had to buy their milk back from the Milk Marketing Board who started to add extra clauses into contracts and make it as difficult as possible for this to happen. They also hounded anyone who had not joined up and claimed sole use of certain words used to describe cheeses, such as Farmhouse, which they used on all their factory-made block cheese and disallowed artisan cheesemakers to use. The milk marketing board finally closed in 1994 after nearly sixty years of tyranny over the cheese industry.

Gradual regrowth has happened since then, with some calling the last fifteen years a cheese renaissance. Yet sadly, many of the recipes and cheese-make knowledge that would have been passed down through the generations has been lost to farm closures.
Unlike France and many countries in the EU who celebrate their products and want to ensure their survival, we seem to have a government that relishes quick decisions for cost-saving initiatives. This isn’t about which party is in power; this has been the same problem across so many industry sectors for the past century and no doubt before then, too.
Do we need to change our culture in how we think about British products? Celebrate the hard work of local small businesses and reduce our product travel miles. I think so, but we need to change the opinions and the culture at the top for long-term sustainability and to see British products and businesses thrive.

https://www.aldredsfinecheese.co.uk/talesofcheese

19/11/2024

We are absolutely thrilled to find out that we’ve won two awards for catering 🥳

Within the Prestige Awards series, as previous winners in the Cheesemonger category, we were entered this year as Event Caterers and Specialist Caterers.

You’re reviewed on the quality of your products, the range that you offer, customer feedback and high quality service 🥰🥳

Winners of Specialist Catering Company 24-25, Northern England

Winners of Event Catering Company 24-25, Yorkshire

16/11/2024

A mini-history of Stilton cheese - An important road, a savvy innkeeper and a female entrepreneur of the 1700s, it’s quite the story.

The history of Stilton is a story that I love to share, it shows the direct correlation in human history between industrial development and how that impacts our food, our farming and our food production.

We know that Stilton cheese has enjoyed a rather extensive and interesting past that’s kept its popularity alive for well over 250 years. Sadly, many of the exact facts surrounding how and where Stilton was first developed have been lost over time. There are patchy mentions in historical texts, but these are difficult to piece together, along with direct mentions of a similar cheese in and near the village of Stilton, starting around the early 18th century. What we do know for sure is that The Bell Inn, situated in the centre of Stilton village played a leading role in its rise in popularity, starting around the mid 1700’s.

Two leading figures starred in this entrepreneurial adventure that put Stilton on the map, Cooper Thornhill an innovative landlord of The Bell Inn between 1730-1759, and Frances Pawlett, a local skilled cheesemaker, dairywomen and entrepreneur of her time. Between them, they managed to exponentially increase Stilton’s popularity throughout the UK and make their local cheese a sought-after luxury treat that meant travellers on the Great North Road would stop for a visit at The Bell Inn. After trying the cheese they’d then take their experience across the UK, spreading the word far and wide.

Achieving this grand endeavour in a time before national newspapers even existed was no mean feat, advertising was purely based on word of mouth and Cooper Thornhill made sure everyone who visited his Inn heard about the local cheese.
To understand the full story and how impressive this early marketing was, one must understand travel in the UK at that time. During the 1700’s travel throughout the UK was slow and arduous, poor quality roads and a lack of roads outside of main towns made transport dangerous and difficult. Road reforming decrees were issued by King Charles II and the toll-road acts of the 18th century started the process of UK roads becoming more connected and increasing the ease of travel. The town of Stilton sat alongside the Great North Road, one of the oldest coaching routes throughout the UK, allowing access between London and Edinburgh. Today we know this same road as the A1/A1M which mainly parallels the original route of the Great North Road, but now bypassing towns rather than going through them.

As the popularity of their superior product grew, so did their production needs. Frances Pawlett of local Wymondham was originally the main cheesemaker of this endeavour, but she could no longer keep up with customer demand alone when popular London Cheesemongers were now demanding wheels upon wheels be transported to London. She began to rally the local women, teaching them the recipe and adding more cheesemakers to their production team, this allowed for increased distribution to London, further increasing Stilton’s popularity and higher demand as more people tried it. As popularity grew, Cooper Thornhill expanded his business too, buying stagecoaches and more coach houses along the Great North Road. At the height of its popularity, he owned a fleet of stagecoaches and expanded his business owning a second inn, The Angel.

We don’t know for sure what sort of cheese Stilton was in the 1700s or whether the blue veining was accidental fault lines from cracks in the cheese or purposefully created. It is however certain, that this point in history was the first commercialisation of Stilton cheese and was certainly the start of its story, leading to the Stilton that we know and love today.

Interesting fact for you on why Stilton is often associated with Christmas. Stilton was traditionally produced during the summer months when the milk was at its richest from cattle grazing the quality summer pasture. Stilton then needs three months to mature after being made into cheese, meaning the best quality Stilton from summer grazing is always ready just in time for Christmas. The same now as it was a few hundred years ago, this is the exact reason why Stilton is associated with being eaten at Christmas time.

Pairing suggestions: You’re pretty spoilt for choice with pairing suggestions for this one, most full-bodied red wines, port, sauternes, sweet sherry.

Aldred’s Favourite Pairing: Grahams 10yr Old Tawny Port & 20yr Old Tawny Port, Sauternes, Bourbon Barrel Aged Cabernet Sauvignon, Blandy’s Duke of Clarence Madeira Full Rich

30/10/2024

It’s been a really busy month, the sort that you blink and it’s gone. From summer to all the autumnal feels of 2024.

Look at those wonderful twinkle lights at Pinewood Park 🥰 🌟