British Cheese

• Cheese is made from milk and it takes around 10 litres of milk to make 1kg of hard cheese.
• Cheese can be made from lots of different types of milk, such as buffaloes' milk, sheep's milk and goats' milk; most of the cheese eaten in the UK is made from cows' milk.
• We all know that "Little Miss Muffet sat on her tuffet, eating her Curds and Whey" but I bet you didn't know that to make cheese, milk has to be separated into curds which are the lumpy bits and whey which is the liquid bit. We make cheese with the curds!
• Some cheeses, like Mature Cheddar, are stored for one year or longer before they are ready to eat. They are kept in special rooms and sometimes even caves!
• There are over 700 different named cheeses produced in Britain.
• Cheddar is named after the Cheddar Gorge caves in Somerset where the cheese used to be stored to ripen. Cheddar is one of the most widely made cheeses in the world. King Henry II declared Cheddar cheese to be the best in Britain!
• The majority of Shropshire Blue is not actually made in Shropshire, but in Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.
• Cheshire is one of the oldest British cheeses. It dates from Roman times and even gets a mention in the Domesday Book
• Cornish Yarg came from a recipe found in a book in a farmer's attic - his name was Mr Gray (Yarg spelt backwards!)
• Caerphilly was traditionally eaten by Welsh coal miners for their lunch.
• Every spring sees locals in the village of Stilton, Peterborough, race along a course rolling Stilton shaped wheels.
• Cheese comes in many different colours, textures, tastes and appearances. They can be hard, soft and some are runny!
• Cheese is packed with the protein that we all need for growth and development.
• Hard cheese is source of calcium with a matchbox-sized piece providing a third of an adult's daily requirement for calcium.
• Cheese is a source of vitamin B12, which you need for red blood cell formation.
• Each day our friends in France, Italy, Greece and Germany eat more than twice as much cheese, per person, as we do.
• Cheese is one of the most versatile foods around and can be used as a starter, a main course or as a dessert - you can't do that with many other foods

TYPES OF CHEESE:

• Buxton Blue
• Caerphilly
• Cheddar
• Cheshire
• Cornish Yarg
• Derby
• Double Gloucester
• Dovedale
• Gruyere
• Lancashire
• Red Leicester
• Sage Derby
• Shropshire Blue
• Stilton
• Wensleydale
• White Stilton

For more very interesting information and great recipes go to: http://www.britishcheese.com

Jamie Oliver also has some great recipes with cheese, why not try one of them? Here´s the link:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/steak-guinness-and-cheese-pie-with-a-puf