A truly artisan cheddar from Somerset with a deep and complex flavour. Cheese has been made at Westcombe since the 1890s and they now remain as one of the last four traditional producers of Somerset Cheddar.
They have the status of PDO but the Calvers are also a member of the Slow Food Presidia for "Artisan Somerset Cheddar".
The criteria for this is much stricter than that for West Country Farmhouse Cheddar, and includes using raw milk from their own herd, pint starters rather than the more widely used powdered versions, and animal rennet. The cheese must never be made in a block form, and must be cloth-bound before being matured for at least one year.
The Calver family farm two farms with 400 cows and make Cheddar daily, using methods passed down over many generations. Tom Calver is the most recent generation working in the dairy. Under his guidance the cheese has gone from strength to strength as he has adjusted the recipe and refined the maturing. At the same time his father, Richard, has worked on improving the quality of the cows feed to get a better fat and protein content.
Westcombe Dairy is also the home of ‘Tina the Turner’, the UK’s first Cheddar turning robot. Tina patrols the rows of Cheddar, and flips each cheese over to ensure even maturation.
WHAT MAKES THIS CHEDDAR SPECIAL?
Westcombe Hand-Selected is exactly that. Ruth Raskin, Quality Manager at The Fine Cheese Co. regularly meets with Tom Calver to hand select our Cheddars.
These will be the very best cheeses from that month’s production. They are set aside for The Fine Cheese Co., and only released for sale when Tom and Ruth judges they are at their peak (any time from 14/15 months - up to 18 months).
This is Slow Food with real meaning.
*This is a hand-made, artisan cheese, which may contain naturally occurring blue veins. These are normal and intrinsic to the nature of this type of cheese and add to its character. We think they taste good too!
*A whole Westcombe Cheddar Hand-Selected weighs approximately 24kg. Smaller weights are a cut of a whole cheese.
