Kirkham's Lancashire Cheese
Made by Graham Kirkham in Goosnargh, Lancashire
Winner of 'Gold' at the World Cheese Awards 2018
Gluten free, Unpasteurised
Graham Kirkham makes his cheese with the milk from his family’s own herd of Friesian cows.The cheese is made over three days, using a third of the curd from each day of cheese-making.
Kirkham's Lancashire is then cloth-bound and rubbed with the traditional butter, which allows the cheese to breathe and develop over a maturation period of two to six months.
The Kirkhams have been making cheese for three generations; and Graham learned to make cheese from his mother, who now helps her husband to milk the cows.
The family is the last maker of traditional Lancashire; and the three-day curd method comes from the days when farmers only had a few cows, and it would take three days to get enough curd to fill one cheese mould.
The flavour of the unpasteurised milk and the buttered muslin rind produces a rich and complex white Lancashire, which melts in the mouth. It also creates the desired ‘buttery crumble’, with a clean and lactic flavour.
* This is a hand-made, artisan cheese, which may contain naturally occurring blue veins. These are normal and intrinsic to the nature of this type of cheese and add to its character.