Britain’s love for its favourite cheese is undergoing a major transformation thanks to the changing British palate.
For centuries the most popular strength for Cheddar across the UK was mild and medium, but latest sales data can reveal that the fastest growing varieties are now the most powerful extra mature and vintage types.
Artisan Cheddar cheesemaker Ford Farms, based in Dorchester, which specialises in making the very strongest varieties, has seen demand soar.
And in order to meet the growing demand, supermarket Tesco has increased the pack sizes of its own label top strength cheeses while ordering more to be ready once they have matured for the requisite 18 months.
Cheese experts say the change is all down to our love of spicier food which now dominates British cuisine and has hardened our palates.
The latest 12-month volume sales data from all retailers analysed by Kantar showed the demand for vintage Cheddar growing by 5.4% and extra mature Cheddar up by 2%.
But sales of medium Cheddar has fallen by 5.6% and mild Cheddar down by 2.4%.
At Tesco, demand for extra mature and vintage Cheddar have increased by nearly 25% in the last year.
Tesco UK cheese buyer Darren Atherton said: “The gradual move towards stronger tasting Cheddar varieties has come about because of our love of spicy food.
“With curries, Asian and Mexican food now a regular part of the UK diet, our palates are acclimatising to these stronger and more exotic flavours so that we tend to go for more complex taste profiles.
“This has been especially recognised in the Cheddar industry where producers are widening the strength profiles of their cheeses to include varieties that pack more of a punchier taste.
“And they are achieving this by selecting different starter culture at the start of the cheesemaking process which then produce different flavour profiles over longer periods of maturation.”
As a result of the trend more Cheddar producers are now making stronger tasting varieties.
Artisan independent cheesemaker Ford Farm, which makes the famous Wookey Hole and Coastal Bite varieties, is also seeing a rising demand.
Head cheesemaker Martin Crabb said: “Demand for vintage Cheddar is going through the roof right now and is almost certainly at an all-time high.
“We created our Coastal Cheddar to appeal to the consumer demand for a rich, rugged Cheddar and we age it for up to 15 months which gives it an intense flavour while the culture used also adds a contrasting subtly sweet top note.”
