The Wensleydale Project
Anybody interested in the geekery of cheese – this is not to be missed.
Earlier this year, The Courtyard Dairy ran a seminar and experiment with renowned cheese-makers to explore the burning question ‘What is Wensleydale cheese?’
The results of that experiment are in, and seven Wensleydale cheeses are now mature and ready to be compared.
You can taste those differences in this special side-by-side tasting of seven batches of Wensleydale, comparing how milk and technique affects flavour – even when the cheese-makers are trying to make the same cheese!
Awarded:
For this experiment, Wensleydale cheese-makers got together with us at The Courtyard Dairy as part of a Northern Dairy Cheese Seminar.
During one week in July 2024 and each made Wensleydale cheese here, following their recipe and method, and using the exact same equipment, source of milk (from the nearby Lawkland Hall Farm) and maturation methods.
During this week they also made cheese on their own farm following their recipe and method, using their own herd’s milk.
These controls allowed us to explore how the different makers’ tweaks to their Wensleydale recipe can impact the flavour of the cheese even when they all use the same equipment and milk source.
These cheeses can then be compared to the cheese they made on their own farm, allowing you to see the extent that their herds’ milk influences flavour.
This cheese selection includes 700g cheese:
Stonebeck. Unpasteurised cows’ milk. 100g. Made by Andrew & Sally
Stonebeck cheese offers a glimpse into the historic cheese past of the Yorkshire Dales. It is made seasonally (only spring-autumn when cows are out at pasture) with milk from the Northern Dairy Shorthorn, a native breed of cow, fed on the diverse pasture and wildflower hay meadows. The end result at three-months old is gentle cheese that has a rich, long, complex and multi-layered flavour, with pliant-yet-crumbly texture.
Fellstone. Unpasteurised cows’ milk. 100g. Made by Tom & Clare Noblet in Lunesdale.
Tom and Clare Noblet started to make cheese in 2015 on their dairy farm on the edge of the Lake District. Based on a traditional old ‘Dales’ recipe of the north of England, Fellstone is aged for three months by which time it has the fresh lemony-lactic flavours of a good Wensleydale, with a firmer texture.
Yoredale (Old Roan). Unpasteurised cows’ milk. 100g. Made by Sam & Ben Spence in Wensleydale.
In 1957 the single last farmer producing Wensleydale cheese in the Yorkshire Dales gave up. Over 50 years later in July 2019, third generation dairy farmers, Ben and Sam Spence re-started that tradition in the heart of Wensleydale. Using fresh milk from local cows, they make an old-fashioned Wensleydale cheese, not quite as crumbly as its modern relations, with a fresh, sharp yet light flavour and supple creamy texture.
4 x 100g Courtyard Dairy Wensleydale. Unpasteurised cows’ milk. Made by the Northern Dairy Cheese School in Settle.
Four variations of Wensleydale made on site at The Courtyard Dairy using Lawkland Hall Farm Milk in the corresponding week.
One made to an industrial modern-factory Wensleydale recipe and the other three made to Stonebeck, Fellstone and Yoredale recipes respectively by those cheesemakers but on site at The Courtyard Dairy using their equipment, milk source and dairy.
This product will have 10 days shelf life from the date of delivery. Conveniently, at checkout you can choose a delivery date even well in the future if you would like your cheese delivering for a specific event.
Ingredients in cheeses: Milk, salt, cheese cultures and rennet.
Did you know?
Key Facts
| Attributes |
|---|
| Unpasteurised |
| Cows' Milk |
