Westcombe Dairy produces one of the 'big three' Somerset cheddars, the others being Keen's and Montgomery's. Although cheese had been made at Westcombe Farm, near Shepton Mallett, since the 1890s, there had been a gap when cheesemaking re-started in the early 1990s.
Richard Calver says that small volume and high quality have always been the key: "With the help of our cheesemaker Bob Bramley and his team we now produce about 100 rounds each week, aging the cheeses for up to 20 months. This means we have to wait longer for a return on our investment but the final product is a fine cheese that varies subtly with the seasons."
Keens, Montgomery's and Westcombe created one of the first UK Slow Food Presidia – for 'Artisan Somerset Cheddar'. Part of the Slow Food movement, its aim is to raise awareness of the special quality of traditional cheddar made using local raw milk and crafted by hand.
And the taste? Sarah Freeman says in The Real Cheese Companion that it "falls neatly between the softer, more flowery tones of Montgomery's and the altogether more robust character of Keen's." Westcombe also make the marvellous Westcombe Red, the cheese which single-handedly resurrected the idea of unpasteurized Red Leicester.
Note: from time to time you may find a bit of blue in these ultra-traditional cheddars. This is quite normal, and in fact the cheese may even be tastier because of it. The makers believe that full development of flavour means creating a cheese that can breathe as it matures - this means that a few of the bacteria which create blue cheese sometimes get in. A greater authority than I, Sarah Freeman, had this to say: "at this stage [i.e when very mature] may have developed a few knots of blue, probably near the rind, which is a recommendation rather than otherwise".
Unpasteurized
Just a thought ... if you like strong cheese, why not consider Diana Smart's Double Gloucester? A lovely, powerful cheese, but easily overlooked due to the gravitational pull of cheddar.
