Lancashire Cheese - Creamy Lancashire

Creamy Lancashire

For centuries, Lancashire dairy farmers' wives have made cheese from surplus milk. On small farms there was insufficient milk from a single day to make a cheese, and so each day's milk was curdled and accumulated for several days until there was enough curd to make a cheese. Uniquely amongst all British cheeses, two or three days' curd of varying maturity are blended together, giving Lancashire cheese a distinctive character. The traditional method was standardised in the 1890s by Joseph Gornall of Garstang and Pilling, a county council employee, who visited many Lancashire farms to establish a method and recipe that is still used today – the "Gornall method". His "Gornall Patent Cheesemaker" was sold between 1892 and 1919.

Creamy Lancashire cheese is made by this traditional method and matured for a period of four to twelve weeks. It has a fluffy texture and creamy flavour, and is good for toasting, as it does not become stringy when melted.

"Beacon Fell Traditional Lancashire Cheese" is a Protected Designation of Origin name. The name can be used only for cheese from milk from an area north of the River Ribble including the Fylde, Preston, and Blackpool and made in the same area by a designated method. It is named after Beacon Fell within the designated area. Kirkham's Lancashire, made by the Kirkham family in Goosnargh near Preston, is the only creamy Lancashire still to be made on the farm from a single herds unpasteurised milk using two-day curds. It has the slow food arc protected status.