Kalkaber

In 2024 Kathy and Andy decided to go into partnership with a local farm to make a cheese on-site at The Courtyard Dairy, in a purpose-built room next to the shop. This cheese is in very short supply, because Kathy and Andy continue to experiment with it.

Not wanting to compete with their local farmhouse producers making classic territorial British cheeses from the North, they decided to develop a unique recipe, different from anything else on the shop counter.  A recipe that could fit in with the school day: starting after their children have had breakfast and allowing for the whole process to be completed before the kids arrive back on the school bus!

Taking inspiration from Spanish and French cheeses they had visited, Kathy and Andy combined methodologies: making a cheese similar to a Spanish mountain cheese called Garrotxa, but using French cultures from Abondance.  The make is quick: the curds set at a high temperature before being quickly cut, stirred, further heated and basket-lifted into moulds, then brined and aged for over nine months.

The milk comes from less than a mile away: 20 cows grass-fed on organic pasture and traditional meadowland in Keasden.  Colin and his dad, Alan, milk the cows and then the fresh, warm milk is collected straightaway and transported to The Courtyard Dairy.

Kalkaber is the name of the field on which The Courtyard Dairy is sited.  Appropriately it means ‘next to the limestone’ (the field is located right on the edge of the famous Yorkshire Dales limestone pavements).

This product will have two weeks’ 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.