Cheshire - The Cheese That Defines Us
19th December 2011
Categories: News
Cheshire cheese, or a version of it, dates back to Roman times.
Stephen Wundke writes
It is said that when the Romans arrived at what was to become their stronghold at Chester the locals were consuming a naturally salty cheese, which the Romans loved. Much of the pasture land on which the animals grazed was salt marsh, because of the tidal nature of the Dee, and so the cheese that they made had a lovely salty flavour and a longer shelf life.
It would be wrong to suggest that Joseph Heler, the founding owner of Joseph Heler Cheese, is directly connected to those ancient cheese makers but I bet if we searched long enough we could find a connection to them on the land just outside Nantwich, where his cheese is made.
For the Heler family it all started back in 1957 when a young Joseph Heler made the first wheel of Heler’s cheese and 54 years later his family – under the Directorship of son Mike – still make quality Cheshire cheese from their farm in the heart of Cheshire.
Things have come a long way in the last half a century, with the addition of Red Leicester, Double Gloucester and Cheddar to the Heler’s range, as well as a Queen’s award in 2001 for creation of a low fat cheese and recognition by the Cheese Industry for Joe Heler, for his Life Long Contribution to Cheese making. Sitting behind the awards and sales though is a burning desire for the country again to take Cheshire cheese back to their hearts.
Back in 1823 Cheshire produced 10,000 tonnes a year of the eponymously named cheese. That figure peaked in the 1960’s at around 40,000 tonnes and is today a relatively low 6,600 tonnes. Whilst much of this drop in demand is down to the overwhelming amount of cheeses available from across the world, Heler and fellow Cheshire cheese makers have a burning desire to get Cheshire cheese back to its rightful position as the UK’s number one cheese of choice.
There is every reason to believe that Cheshire can rule the roost in the UK again as Development Chef and regular recipes contributor Gaile Wundke explains: “There is no other cheese as versatile as Cheshire, you can crumble it over salads for the perfect Ploughman’s, melt it over vegetables, eat it by itself with some fruit or nuts and of course enjoy it with a nice glass of wine. Cheshire simply works with everything.”
Little has changed in the cheese making procedure at Heler, with the cheeses still being cloth bound to ensure the preserving process and retain that moist silky texture with a light salty, milky mellow flavour.
So the challenge is there; let’s see what we, the people of Cheshire, can do about getting Cheshire cheese on the menu of every restaurant and hotel in Cheshire and for the millions of people who visit our county every year to go away with a “taste of Cheshire”, because our Cheshire cheese is a piece of history in bite size, incredibly tasty mouthfuls. It’s down to all of us to keep spreading the word.
www.joseph-heler.co.uk
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