Cheesy Reading
Wensleydale Cheese by Andy Swinscoe
Andy Swinscoe, a Yorkshireman through and through, is not one to waste words. Often his emails consist of a one word response to my question, which is usually ‘Aye’. The people of Yorkshire are a can-do lot. I am reminded of this habit by the cover of his new book, Wensleydale Cheese, which in a no-nonsense sans serif font, tells you what to expect inside: ’A complete guide into the current state of Wensleydale cheese.’ The description continues in some detail, sacrificing another stereotypical Yorkshire trait - brevity - for one more - clarity.
Actually the book is a masterpiece of both. Andy, cheesemonger and co-owner of one of the UK’s most successful and well-loved cheese shops, The Courtyard Dairy, packs a lot into this slim volume. The first part tells the story of Yorkshire’s signature cheese - its Roman precursors, medieval monastic origins, rise from the Victorian period to a peak in the 1930s, and post-war fall - at least in its farmhouse version. All is not lost though, because the next part describes the resurgence of farmhouse Wensleydale over the last ten years, a movement that Andy and the Courtyard Dairy have been at the heart of. Happily there are now three producers, Tom and Clare Noblet (Fellstone), Andrew and Sally Hattan (Stonebeck) and Ben and Sam Spence (Yoredale), whose stories and distinctive cheeses are described in mouthwatering detail. The second part of the book is a more technical account of the methods for making Wensleydale, covering each individual maker’s practice as well as some industrial methods. Perhaps this part is less for the general reader, although I would argue that anyone with any sort of geekish tendencies would be intrigued. Cheese professionals and enthusiastic amateurs will be enthralled.
Now if you’ve only had the rather bland supermarket version of Wensleydale, dry, crumbly, more often than not flavoured to add some character, you might wonder how this would justify a whole book. The farmhouse version however, is different thing, and contains multitudes, as Swinscoe’s fellow cheesemonger, business partner and wife Kathy tells us, ‘Wensleydale is a paradox: firm but not dry or hard; soft and creamy but with a crumble; sweet and milky but fresh and tart…’ Much more appetising.
In a way this book is about more than just Wensleydale. In his stirring afterword, Andy reminds us that ‘all British historic cheese recipes are a true reflection of the farm they come from,’ - a pretty neat definition of terroir - and that proper cheese is more than a delicious and nourishing food: ‘true regional British cheeses are part of Britain’s social history and food culture.’ Self-published, with charming illustrations by cheesemaker and illustrator Naomi Johnson, this book is truly a labour of love. Written as Andy said to me, ‘to create a record of what we’d done and found - the idea was to make a book that I would have loved to have found when I was researching.’ Again, Kathy has put it best, ‘Wensleydale is a state of mind.’
You can buy Wensleydale Cheese on the Courtyard Dairy’s Website
It is an excellent book, and useful for my research too.