A visit to Doddington Dairy by The Courtyard Dairy Team
A great day out for The Courtyard Dairy team visiting the fabulous makers of Doddington Cheese up in Wooler, Northumberland; here is cheesemonger Gail’s blog:
“I came to help out at the farm for a couple of weeks. That was ten years ago” James Maxwell tells us. Back then James decided he liked making cheese a lot more than milking
cows – which is great news for us, because he’s really good at it.
Reassuringly few things have changed since our last cheesemonger team visit to North Doddington Farm in 2018. Most notably, renowned cheesemaker Margaret Maxwell has
handed the reins to her nephew James, after a thorough apprenticeship. James has also taken on a young local cheesemaker to help out, and their range of cheeses has expanded
from six to eight.
The four of us were here to see Doddington cheese being made. Like many British greats, Doddington came from a mix of influences and evolved into something quite unique; a Red Leicester recipe (without the ‘Red’ colouring), strongly influenced by visits to lots of different cheesemakers in France and the Netherlands.
Cheesemaking starts in the morning with the first and freshest 2000 litres of unprocessed milk, brought across the farm while it’s still warm – James likes to start with the milk at a temperature of 30-31 degrees. Working with such fresh raw material is key to the quality of Doddington’s cheeses. The usual cheesemaking processes follow – culture and rennet added, then cutting, scalding and stirring to gradually remove moisture from the curds. The whey that’s drained off after a couple of hours is fed back to the dairy cows. The mat of curd that forms is split into blocks, left for a matter of minutes to reach the perfect level of acidity, then milled, salted and moulded. The cheeses are pressed overnight in their disc-shaped gouda moulds. Next day the refinement begins; every cheese is painted with bright scarlet wax. This colour gradually fades to a mottled brick red over its 18 month maturation while the final flavour develops – sweet and rich, with a hint of cheddary sharpness.
On our way home, we had time to stop at the retro Doddington Milk Bar in Wooler for a delicious ice cream – also made at North Doddington Farm!
Here at the Courtyard Dairy, alongside Doddington we also stock ‘Berwick Edge’ – a Dutch farmhouse style aged gouda – and the ‘Darling Blue’ cheese that James developed himself which is a firm customer favourite; creamy, firm, and sweetly delicious.
If you want to know more about the history of North Doddington farm, check out our 2018 blog.
You can buy Doddington, Berwick Edge and Darling Blue and don’t forget to follow Doddington Dairy on Instagram too!
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