Oh, and of course I also met ‘Tina the Turner’ – the world’s first Cheddar robot. After dabbling briefly in the manufacture of block Cheddar in the 1970s, Richard Calver decided in 1999 to return the dairy to its traditional roots, making raw milk cheese. Last year, Neal's Yard (via Whole Foods) introduced me to Isle of Mull Cheddar, which remains one of my favorite cheeses ever. For example, their wheat crop planted in autumn 2020 needed no further nitrogen boost because their preceding cover crops had succeeded in fixing all that was needed in the soil. An alternative is to manage nitrogen levels through natural sources like manure and nitrogen fixing crops. Both are hard cheeses made from raw cow's milk, and both pack a punch, especially the Llangloffan. Be the first to review “Westcombe Cheddar”. I visited this beautiful place to see the dairy, cheese store and shop. Your basket will receive free delivery (England, Wales & Central Scotland), This site uses cookies. Meet up in London at Neal’s Yard Dairy with Cheese Journeys owner Anna Juhl and cheese writer Tenaya Darlington - aka Madame Fromage - before we travel west to North Cadbury Court, one of the finest historic properties in Somerset, England. Cheese Journeys offers journeys in several different locations, including Italy, France, Switzerland, Vermont, Philadelphia, Amsterdam, and soon—the west coast! All came from Neal’s Yard Dairy, another stop on the Cheddar Odyssey! I spoke with Tom who divulged the fascinating history of the place. It will take time for the changes made at the farm level to come through fully in the cheese, but we are already noticing differences in structure and flavour, particularly in Westcombe’s territorial cheese Duckett’s Caerphilly (inherited from Somerset cheesemaker Chris Duckett) which is made with the same milk as their Cheddar. Coffee and caramel notes combine with the deep, nutty richness of the cheese, with a campfire-smokiness that elevates any food it touches, from burgers to gratins. After 48 hours of smoking over beechwood, the cheese takes on a whole new level of complexity. “Personally, I see cheddar as cow’s milk cheese.” (Interestingly enough, current British food-labeling regulations for cheddar … Westcombe Cheddar. Tom and Richard have been gradually scaling back their use of inorganic fertilisers for years, and with the increased use of nitrogen-fixing crops like vetches and peas in their wholecrop cereal mixtures they are seeing their requirement for inorganic nitrogen sources take a steep nosedive. For a couple of years, the “King of Cheddars” has taken a back seat to our other favorites, Keen’s and Westcombe. More Info. This system allows the plants to fully recover after being defoliated by the cows and before the next round of grazing. Your email address will not be published. While the team at Westcombe may be making a cheese inspired by a 19th century recipe, they have brought their farming and cheesemaking practices firmly into the 21st. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. 7:00pm Neal’s Yard Dairy: Eating my Emotions with cheesemonger Ellen Hunter. They work with around 40 cheesemakers and select, mature and sell farmhouse cheese from the UK and Ireland. Taste British cheese at the Neal’s Yard Dairy Shop near Borough Market UPTOWN 5004 Prytania St. (504) 899-4737 MON - SAT 11-6 SUN 11 … Westcombe's head cheesemaker Rob Howard in a field of buckwheat. In addition to herdsman Nick Millard (who before coming to Westcombe spent five years as herdsman at Holden Farm, makers of Hafod cheddar), head cheesemaker Rob Howard (also formerly of Holden Farm) joined in September 2019 to take over their Cheddar making. But that’s about to change. We’ve also started making charcuterie from our bull calves and locally reared pork. Located next to the city’s famous Borough Market, foodies flock here at the weekend to stock up on farm cheeses from around the British Isles. The experts at Neal's Yard Dairy regularly visit the cheesemakers to taste their cheese with them and select the batches they want to mature and sell. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Tom, like many of our producers, now uses milk from his own herds on his own farms to make his cheese, which provides him with greater control over the quality of the milk. Encouraged by his old Neal’s Yard mentor Randolph Hodgson, he sought to improve the quality of the cheese by mastering every aspect of its process, from ensuring the milk was as good as possible, to understanding the interplay of traditional cultures and rennets on the milk’s natural bacteria. Westcombe Cheddar is our flagship cheese – a handcrafted, traditional clothbound Somerset cheddar made from unpasteurised milk in much the same way it was produced here at Westcombe Dairy by Mrs Brickell over 100 years ago. Westcombe Dairy in East Somerset craft the finest traditional West Country Cheese, everything they do on their farm revolves around the quality of their fresh raw milk, from the wellbeing of their cows to working in harmony with their land. Neal’s Yard Dairy is a London landmark for cheese-lovers where the emphasis is on ‘taste before you buy’. Heath Farm We visited Westcombe recently to see their changes first-hand and to learn what Tom and Richard Calver and their team envision for the future. Off the fields and back at farm headquarters, sustainability is still a guiding force and the Calvers try not to let anything go to waste. “As a simple rule,” Nick explains, “the more species of grass, plants and herbs present in the pastures that the cows are grazing, then the greater the flavour potential is for cheesemaking. Milks can taste pretty similar when in their fresh state, but made into cheese and matured for weeks, months, years, then you’ll have very different flavour profiles from a milk that is from cows who eat flowery, multispecies grass leys, when compared with one that has a high cereal diet, with lots of maize silage and grass silage made from a ryegrass monoculture.”. Farmer’s market stalls in Bath and Sloane Square, London on Saturdays sell Westcombe cheddar and it is included in the Westcountry Farmhouse Cheese Board at Waitrose. Cheddar has been made at Westcombe Farm since the late 19th century, and the cheese produced there today is much the same as it would have been back then. Photo by Nick Millard. A Neal’s Yard Selection The man spearheading much of the activity in the pastures is herdsman Nick Millard. This diversity in plant life is wonderful for the soil, as the plants all have root structures of varying depths that benefit the soil structure and could make the fields more resilient to variable weather and drought conditions associated with climate change. Reviews (0) Westcombe Cheddar has a softer texture than our other cheddars. You can find fescues, timothy, cocksfoot, yarrow, plantain, chicory, parsley, burnet, as well as white, red, Alsike, and sweet clovers all growing together in Westcombe’s grazing pastures. Sign up to our mailing list for news from the maturing rooms, and 10% off your second online order. Shelford Bottom Westcombe Dairy draws on the milk of three farms run by Richard Calver. Inorganic fertilisers are widely used to provide immediate, concentrated boosts of nitrogen to the plant, but they can be easier to over-use and don’t do much to benefit long-term soil health. At first glance, Westcombe looks like an ordinary farm with its jumble of outbuildings and barns. £24.90 per Kg Richard started cheesemaking in the 1990s - although cheese has been made on the Westcombe site since the 1880s - and got together with fellow makers Keens and Montgomerys in 2002 to form what the Slow Food movement calls a Presidium, devoted to protecting traditional artisan foods, in this case Somerset cheddar. The Calvers are also changing the way that their herd uses these fields by moving to a system of paddock grazing, which will see the cows fully grazing an area of the field before moving onto the next. The world famous Neal's Yard dairy selects, matures and sells outstanding British cheese. UK-wide delivery excluding Northern ireland. 8:00pm Francis Gimblett: Gimblett’s British Cheese Road Trip. Our cows graze here in East Somerset on the lush Westcombe pasture, nourished by its diverse flora. The Calvers are in the process of turning all of their grazing pastures to multispecies ‘herbal leys.’ This means that the cows will graze on a diverse mixture of grasses, legumes, and herbs that is based on the mixes championed by Frank Newman Turner, the British pioneering organic farmer whose books 'Fertility Farming' and 'Fertility Pastures' are regarded as classics of practical organic husbandry. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. Tom took over cheesemaking at Westcombe Dairy in 2008. The Gog Farm Shop Add Westcombe Cheddar and/or Duckett’s Caerphilly to your next order. This cow’s milk Ricotta is crafted from the whey left over from Tom's make of Westcombe Cheddar and has a moussier, lighter texture than is typical of many continental versions. Cheddar has been made at Westcombe Farm since the late 19th century, and the cheese produced there today is much the same as it would have been back then. The company was launched in 1890 by Edith Cannon, whose traditional Cheddar was legendary in the region. CB22 3AD. Made at Westcombe Dairy, near Shepton Mallet in Somerset, home also to a fabulous and really powerful cheddar. Like many regenerative farming practices, the benefits travel full circle to affect the soil, the environment, and the animals. Tell a friend about the Gog & get £10 off your next online order.*. Country England Flavor Sharp, Tart Intensity Medium Milk Treatment Un-Pasteurized, Cow Producer FW Reed and Son's Similar To Cheddar Style Cheddar, Meltable Texture Smooth Type Hard. Nick is a passionate advocate for the benefit farming practice and animal diet can have on the sensory properties of cheese, even writing his BSc dissertation on the topic. Fertile, nutrient-rich soil provides the foundation for healthy crops and animals, which in turn helps to produce high-quality milk and delicious cheese. This is primarily because of the associated heightened risk of soil erosion but also because the crop wasn’t doing much to contribute to their cheese’s sensory profile. Calver, son of Westcombe’s owner Richard, is given credit for the quality of cheese Westcombe is now famous for. 19 December 2020 at 1.10 pm Reply. Origin: Somerset, England Very well balanced cheddar with deep lingering flavors, mellow tang and pleasant sweetness. A trained chef and whispered to be one of Jamie Oliver’s best friends, Calver apprenticed at Neal’s Yard and then came back to Somerset, intent on perfecting his unpasteurized Cheddar. Records show that unpasteurised cheese was being made at Westcombe Dairy as far back as the 1890s, however it wasn’t until Tom Calver joined his … However, Randolph Hodgson of Neal’s Yard Dairy visited the old-fashioned farmhouse cheese-makers and told them they had something truly special. Westcombe cheddar can be found at Neal’s Yard in London and at delicatessens across the country; ‘If you find one that doesn’t stock it, have words with them!’ Tom jokes. With thanks to the editorial team at JamieOliver.com for the kind invitation to this event. Cover crops help to prevent soil erosion as the roots of the plants can improve the structure of the soil and helps to fix nitrogen in it. After dabbling briefly in the manufacture of block Cheddar in the 1970s, Richard Calver decided in 1999 to return the dairy to its traditional roots, making raw milk cheese. Westcombe is farming in a way that benefits their cheese, milk, animals, and the health of their land. We can’t overlook the valuable resource that is the experience in the current Westcombe team itself. As the Westcombe team recently described on their Instagram, “[Duckett’s Caerphilly] has advantages to us in the form of a kind of milk barometer, almost instantly (in cheese terms, at least) expressing the changes we are making to our farming practices and their effect on the milk and its cheesemaking ability. Find Duckett’s Caerphilly in all our shops, and Westcombe Cheddar on the counter in Islington and Borough Market. For more on regenerative agriculture methods, consider exploring these recommendations from Tom and Nick. ‘Dirt to Soil’ by Gabe Brown‘English Pastoral’ by James RebanksThe World Ending Fire by Wendell Berry‘Fertility Pastures’ by Frank Newman Turner‘Native: Life in a Vanishing Landscape’ Patrick Laurie ‘A Sand County Almanac’ Aldo Leopold  And for something completely different, listen to what it’s like to be a cow in Nick’s milking parlour on Milton Farm, where he often plays classical music for them whilst milking. Beethoven’s Complete Symphonies (particularly Nos. While the team at Westcombe may be making a cheese inspired by a 19 th century recipe, they have brought their farming and cheesemaking practices firmly into the 21 st . Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Tom Calver took over cheesemaking at Westcombe Dairy from his father almost 15 years ago, following an apprenticeship at Neal's Yard Dairy. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. From left to right: Westcombe Cheddar (on the Cheese Journeys itinerary! We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. ), Hafod cheddar, and Shropshire blue. Tell a friend about The Gog & get £10 off your next online order. Neal's Yard Dairy has been bringing the world top quality cheeses since 1979. Neal's Yard Dairy, the London retailer and exporter of fine British cheese, typically sells Westcombe cheddar at about 18 months. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. When the Calvers needed to replace their old maturing room in 2015, they undertook the enormous project of building a facility into a hill on the Westcombe farm full of insulating clay. Neal’s Yard Dairy select batches for us with warm, round flavours and a balance of milkiness and juicy acidity. Required fields are marked *. Over in the dairy itself, the cheesemakers use the whey that is a by-product of cheesemaking to make ricotta, which is a favourite ingredient amongst our restaurant customers and is also available in our retail shops. Neal's Yard Dairy is the home of British Farmhouse Cheese, they have played an integral role in the development of Westcombe Cheddar. Although the Westcombe Truffle Cheddar is unlikely to be available to buy, original Westcombe Unpasturised Mature Cheddar is stocked by Waitrose and by Neal’s Yard, as well as being available in the Westcombe Dairy Farm Shop. In the early 1900s, records show a “Mr. WELCOME TO WESTCOMBE DAIRY We make traditional clothbound Cheddar, Aged Caerphilly, Ricotta, Smoked Cheddar (and more) from unpasteurised cow’s milk. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. They will be one to watch over the coming years as the results of the changes made on their farm and the passion and expertise of their team continue to influence their cheese. Caerphilly cheese has been made by Somerset Cheddar makers since the 1800s, its smaller format and younger maturation period providing valuable cashflow while their longer maturing cheddars came of age. The benefits of flowering cover crops like peas and vetch extend past soil coverage and nitrogen fixation. One change that the Calvers are proud to have made is to have stopped growing maize. Neal’s Yard Dairy select batches for us with warm, round flavours and a balance of milkiness and juicy acidity. Nick can sum up the direction of Westcombe’s farming and cheesemaking in one sentence: “I have come to the conclusion that if your dairy farming is doing good things for biodiversity, and therefore good things for nature and the wider environment, then it is doing good things for your cheese.” Our recent visits to Westcombe have been an inspiring insight into the work they are doing to continually improve their land and refine their cheesemaking. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. Westcombe Cheddar has a softer texture than our other cheddars. They produce meat as well as cheese by rearing the herd’s bull calves in the same high welfare, free-roaming manner that they do the dairy cows. Enjoy chef-prepared meals, tour scenic farms, and witness Cheddar making first hand.