A white bloomy rind cheese like this 'er soft Bath cheese was once famous across the British Isles. In its heyday was recommended to Admiral Lord Nelson in a letter from his father (dated 1801).
Graham Padfield found the recipe in an old grocer's recipe book. It stipulates that the cheese must be made with full cream milk, that salt be sprinkled on the young cheeses with the aid of a feather, and that the cheese was soft and covered with white mould.
Well, they don't use the aid of feathers but all the other old-fashioned ways are honoured and this is quickly bringing this heavenly, Brie-like cheese back to its former glory.
Graham Padfield’s family have been milking their Somerset herd for three generations. A few years ago he started turning their creamy, organic milk into cheese in the same building where his grandmother used to make cheddar.
As in his granny’s day, everything’s made by hand, using historic recipes, and with a poetic appreciation of the process. “There is something uplifting about the spectacle of a herd of sun glossed black and white cows on a field of brilliant green,” Graham muses. “In the autumn when the nights are long and wet and the grass has stopped growing, it is very gratifying to provide the herd with silage to eat, straw to lie on, and shelter from the cold.”
There is an old farming saying “Look after your cows and your cows will look after you”
Organic milk (97.5%), Salt (2.5%), Traces of renet (<0.1%), Traces of starter (<0.1%), Traces of mould culture (<0.1%) (* = approved non-organic ingredient)
Dietary information: Contains Milk.
Not suitable for Vegetarians.
Nutritional Information per 100g/ml
Energy (kJ): 1,250.0
Energy (kcal): 310.0
Protein (g): 20.0
Carbohydrate (g): 0.3
Fat (g): 25.0
Store at less than 10C. Leave at room temperature for 20 minutes before eating.