Tasteless, plastic mild cheese may be about to disappear from fridges for good as Britons become a nation of Wallace and Gromits.
Over the years we are developing a more mature palate when it comes to our cheddar and are increasingly leaving mild-flavoured cheese on the shelf. A stronger, more mature flavour is even more important than price when we are choosing our cheese, say market researchers Mintel.
Last year sales of extra mature cheddar soared by 12 per cent but we only bought £161 million worth of mild cheddar, a fall of six per cent on last year and a tiny fraction of the £2.6 billion cheese market.
With less than one in five wanting their cheese to have a mild flavour, sales of blue cheese have also gone up – by 14 per cent – and continental cheese by 10 per cent.
The trend is good for West Country cheesemakers such as the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company, which only sells hand-made products matured between 12 and 20 months.
Owner John Spencer said the longer the product was matured the stronger the flavour.
"Tastes have changed and cheese now is a far cry from the bog-standard basket filler it once was," he said. "People are more discerning and prefer to have less of something with more flavour than a lot of something with less flavour. It's not about filling bellies, it's about enjoying what they eat."
Growing interest in artisan cheese at home and abroad doesn't surprise Charles Martell who produces Stinking Bishop, made famous by Wallace and Gromit, and other Gloucester cheeses at his farm at Dymock, in the Forest of Dean.
Next week he is a judge at the World Cheese awards in Birmingham and says people from all over the world will come to England to sample cheese made by over 600 small producers.
"My father used to say the best English cheese is the best in the world and the worst English cheese is the worst in the world," he said. "I started selling cheese on street markets in 1977 and over the last 30 years people's tastes have improved no end. The supermarkets used to dictate what we eat, but over the last ten years people have started going to independent shops which sell a wider range of cheeses and actually talk to customers about what they are buying.
"Instead of selling any old block cheddar and a bit of Edam and Danish, the supermarkets have had to up their game, but the independents are still holding their own."
He said Stinking Bishop was like a scary dog, "the bark is worse than the bite". However, he said tastes often went in cycles and the trend towards more mature cheeses could produce a shortage that could leave us paying a premium or eating more mild.
The good news for the West Country is that 92 per cent of British adults eat cheese, 43 per cent almost every day, and more than half of that is cheddar. The Mintel report found that the supermarkets were cashing in on the trend and Tesco said sales of French cheese such as chaource, comté and langres had risen by 350 per cent, 180 per cent and 160 per cent respectively.
Joseph Heler, based near Nantwich in Cheshire, started exporting mild cheese as the popularity of vintage lines in the UK started to grow.
Mild is used for macaroni pies in the Carribean and is popular in restaurants in the Middle East and China.
Manager David Wells said: "There will always be a demand for mild cheese too. Children like it and lots of people like it for things like grating on a baked potato, where it creates a lovely creamy texture."
The move towards stronger cheese has been confirmed by Rich Clothier, managing director of Wyke Farms, based in Bruton in Somerset, who noticed the decline in mild cheeses start a couple of years ago. Even the French are turning to good, mature, British cheese now, said Mr Clothier, whose vintage produce is sold to supermarkets across the channel as well as 160 other countries worldwide. He said people were asking more questions about how their cheese was made and how their animals were looked after as they became increasingly keen to eat natural and wholesome food.
"Ever since the horse-meat scandal people are more interested in where their food comes from and how it is prepared," he said.
Mr Clothier, whose family has been making award-winning farmhouse cheddar since 1861, is celebrating the success of Ivy's Vintage, named after his grandmother and matured for 15 months, which is enjoying 100 per cent market growth. "Once people discover these sorts of cheeses they eat them all the time," he added.
Meanwhile, Orkney Scottish island cheddar was yesterday granted sought after Protected Geographical Indication status after the producers told EU officials it was made with locally sourced milk from a 1946 recipe.
General manager Tim Deakin claims it differs from other traditional cheddars due to its unique dry-stir production method.
The name cheddar cheese is not protected but only cheese made from milk within the four counties of South West England may use the name West Country Farmhouse Cheddar.
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