Description
Westcombe cheddar is made by Tom Calver and his family to a time honoured recipe devised by Mrs Brickell in the 1890s. Toms family farm two farms originally with a herd of 400 Friesian cattle but recently these have been replaced by a herd of British Shorthorns, a heritage breed whose diet is solely that of grass and silage found on Westcombe Farm in Evercreech. The fresh warm milk reaches the dairy soon after milking and is poured into the large vats whilst it’s still warm from the cows. Each cheese is lovingly made by hand, with the curds cut and stacked in the vat. Layer upon layer to allow the excess whey to drain away. This process is known as Cheddaring. The curds are then passed through an old peg mill, to mill them down to small cubes; this allows more liquid to drain away. The drier the curd the harder the Cheese. Salt is then added and the cubes pressed into large cylindrical cheddar moulds. After a few months the cheese is wrapped in larded cloth, stored on wooden shelves and left to mature for up to 18 months and, sometimes, much longer. This attention to detail produces an outstanding Cheddar that truly deserves it PDO status.
The cheddar has a rich and mellow taste with long notes of hazelnut, caramel and citrus that will stay on the pallet. Somerset legend states that Cheddars like this should “have 5 miles of taste” meaning that the taste will stay with you 5 miles down the road! Westcombe Cheddar won Best Cheddar at The British Cheese Awards 2017 and again in 2018.
