Swaledale Blue

Swaledale Blue takes the classic Swaledale cheese to a whole new level. It is a local delicacy providing an all round, fully flavoured blue cheese that doesn’t over power the palate but imparts a peppery flavour, giving it a slightly stronger and more well rounded taste than some of the more popular and familiar blue cheeses.

Cheese making in North Yorkshire is thought to have originated in the 11th Century when Cistercian monks settled in local abbeys, bringing with them their French cheese recipes that had originally evolved in England many centuries beforehand. On passing their knowledge to local farmers after the dissolution of the Monasteries in 1536, when King Henry VIII fell out with Rome and set up his own faith and the Church of England, Swaledale cheese was created. At this point in history the cheeses would have been made using ewes milk from the local herds, whereas today cows milk that has been pasteurised is used to make this unique and delicious cheese. Over the centuries the recipe has been passed on from one generation to another and the process was changed to include different varieties of milk, including cows and goats milk.

During the 20th century, the art of cheesemaking declined in Swaledale and by 1980 there was only one farm producing cheese. When the Longstaff family stopped farming and stopped producing cheese, Mrs. Marjorie Longstaff passed on the original Swaledale cheese process to the founders of Swaledale Cheese Company. The process has remained unchanged since the production of cheese began in 1987.