Kirkham’s Lancashire – 250g

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Ingredients: Milk, salt, cheese cultures and rennet.

Made by the Kirkham family in the village of Goosnargh near Longridge.

Graham learnt to make Lancashire cheese from his mother (the famous Mrs Kirkham) who learnt from her mother, and there is an even longer history of cheese-making in the Kirkham family.

Kirkham’s Lancashire Cheese is the last and only farmhouse Lancashire made from unpasteurised milk. The history of Lancashire cheese dates back to the 13th century but it fell out of favour in recent generations. It was even banned during the second world war, as it was inefficient to make compare with other recipes like Cheshire and Cheddar – the 200 farm producers in 1939 simply stopping producing creamy Lancashire.

The Kirkham family have continued to make both creamy (aged up to 12 weeks) and tasty (aged over 12 weeks) Lancashire cheese. This is a more traditional version of Lancashire than the crumbly Lancashire now made by many modern dairies. The modern dairy version was an invention to speed up the process of making cheese by making a drier, more crumbly, tart cheese.

Traditional creamy and tasty Lancashire is made over two-days (or sometimes even three or four). It involves using curd from both days (this method originated because some small farmers in Lancashire did not have a big enough herd to make cheese on one day, so would combine several days’-worth of curd). Using the two-day curd method produces a rich yet light and fluffy texture, and helps develop the yoghurty, fresh acidic flavours.

Kirkham’s Lancashire is then traditionally clothbound and ‘buttered-up’ (enclosing the cheese in a buttered cloth to enable it to breath) and aged for 3-6 months.

Over recent years Graham Kirkham has expanded output (increasing the herd from 40 to 100 cows), built a new dairy and returned to even more traditional ways of making Lancashire cheese, producing a lactic, yoghurty-buttery flavour with a fluffy texture that melts in the mouth. This gives Kirkham’s Lancashire Cheese the ‘buttery crumble’ that Lancashire folk love! Graham’s favourite way to cook his cheese is the way his Mum (Mrs Kirkham) taught him – ‘Cheesey Eggs’.

Kirkham’s Lancashire cheese at The Courtyard Dairy comes from traditional, large 25kg truckles. Made to order for The Courtyard Dairy, these larger cheeses are more traditional and age slower, producing a better long-lasting flavour. (Most Kirkham’s Lancashire is now found in the smaller ‘midi’ size – 10kg – because many wholesalers and shops find it easier to deal with.)