Smarts Double Gloucester

Gloucester cheese production is concentrated around the Vale of Gloucester and Berkley. To adhere to its PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) status granted in 1994 by the European Union, all Gloucestershire cheeses must be made with milk from the Gloucester Cow, a breed that almost faced extinction in the mid 20th century and which are now exceedingly rare and protected. 

Each of the Smarts Double Gloucester cheeses are made with the full cream milk from both the morning and evening milking and both milks remain unpasteurised. Vegetarian rennet is added, making this suitable for vegetarians and also for pregnant women. The unpasteurised milk is heated in large cheese vats following the traditional cheese making methods. During the cheese making process, annatto, a natural food colouring derived from the nut of the Achiote tree found in Central America, is added to give the cheese its distinctive orangey red colour. Originally used as a colour in tile production in the early 1600’s by the Portuguese, the Dutch and British cheese makers soon realised that this colour could also be used as a totally harmless food colour. 

The making of Double Gloucester cheese is an exacting process where, once formed, the curds are cut and heated for approximately 30 minutes at 35 degrees centigrade. After scalding, the curds are drained and milled using a traditional Victorian mill before salt is added. The curds are put into shallow circular moulds and put under 19th century cast iron cheese presses where weight is applied for up to 5 days before they are then transferred to the Smarts maturing rooms. This is where each cheese will sit for up to 2 months on wooden plank shelves, allowing the cheeses to breathe and their natural hard rinds to develop. 

The slightly open curd texture will rest on the tongue for many seconds before the mellow and grassy taste develops, leaving the eater wanting more.