List of British cheeses facts for kids

The United Kingdom is famous for its many types of cheese! Did you know there are over 700 different kinds of British cheeses? Cheese from the UK has become very popular around the world. It is now an important product that the UK sells to other countries.

A tasty piece of West Country Cheddar cheese from Somerset.

Blue Cheeses: The Mouldy Marvels

Blue cheese is a special type of cheese. It can be made from cow's, sheep's, or goat's milk. These cheeses have a special kind of mould called Penicillium added to them. This mould makes blue, blue-grey, or blue-green spots and veins inside the cheese. It also gives blue cheese its unique, strong flavour.

Dorset Blue Vinney cheese.

Shropshire Blue cheese.

Stichelton cheese.

Here are some cool British blue cheeses:

• Barkham Blue – A creamy and rich blue cheese with a mouldy rind.
• Beenleigh Blue – A soft blue cheese from Devon, England. It's made from organic, unpasteurised sheep's milk.
• Blue Monday – This cheese is shaped like a cube. It's named after a famous song!
• Brighton Blue – A mild and creamy blue cheese made from cow's milk.
• Buxton Blue – This cheese is made in Derbyshire.
• Cornish Blue – From Cornwall, this cheese is made by the Cornish Cheese Company.
• Devon Blue – A creamy blue cheese from Devon. It's aged for four months.
• Dorset Blue Vinney – A traditional blue cheese from Dorset, England. It's hard and crumbly.
• Dovedale – A semi-soft blue cheese made in the Peak District.
• Harbourne Blue – A goat's cheese from Devon. It has a firm texture and is made by hand.
• Isle of Wight Blue – A blue cheese from the Isle of Wight.
• Lanark Blue – A Scottish blue cheese made from sheep's milk.
• Oxford Blue – A blue cheese from Oxford.
• Renegade Monk – An English soft blue cheese washed in ale. It won an award in 2020!
• Shropshire Blue – A blue cheese made from cow's milk.
• Stichelton – Similar to Stilton, but made with unpasteurised milk.
• Stilton – A very famous English cheese. The blue kind has a strong smell and taste. There's also a milder white Stilton.
• Blue Wensleydale – A crumbly cheese from North Yorkshire.
• Yorkshire Blue – Another blue cheese from Yorkshire.

Hard Cheeses: Firm and Flavourful

Hard cheeses are made by stirring and draining the cheese mixture many times. Some hard cheeses are aged for a long time, even years! This process gives them a firm texture and rich flavour.

Caerphilly cheese.

Swaledale cheese.

Here are some popular British hard cheeses:

• Ashdown Foresters – A cow's milk cheese from England with a sweet, nutty taste.
• Caerphilly – A light-coloured, crumbly cheese from cow's milk. It has a mild, slightly sour taste.
• Cheddar – One of the most famous cheeses in the world! It's a hard, pale yellow cheese. It first came from the village of Cheddar in Somerset, England. Many countries now make Cheddar-style cheeses.
  • Pilgrims Choice
  • Cathedral City Cheddar
  • Davidstow Cheddar
  • Dorset Drum
  • West Country Farmhouse Cheddar
  • Applewood
• Cheshire – A dense and crumbly cheese from Cheshire, England.
• Duddleswell – A hard, creamy cheese with a nutty flavour.
• Dunlop – A mild cheese from Scotland. It's similar to a soft Cheddar.
• Hereford Hop – A firm cheese with a rind covered in toasted hops.
• Lancashire – A cow's milk cheese from Lancashire. There are creamy, tasty, and crumbly types.
• Lincolnshire Poacher – A hard cheese made from unpasteurised cow's milk in Lincolnshire.
• Red Leicester – An English cheese similar to Cheddar, but it's crumblier. It's coloured orange with a natural extract called annatto.
• Staffordshire – A crumbly white cheese from Staffordshire.
• Swaledale – A hard cheese from North Yorkshire.
• Teviotdale – A hard cheese from the border between Scotland and England.
• Y Fenni – A Welsh cheese. It's Cheddar cheese mixed with mustard seeds and ale.

• 

  Cheshire cheese

• 

  Dunlop cheese

• 

  Lancashire cheese

• 

  Red Leicester

• 

  Y Fenni cheese

Semi-Hard Cheeses: Not Too Soft, Not Too Hard

Semi-hard cheeses are in between soft and hard cheeses. Cheddar is a good example of a semi-hard or hard cheese. These cheeses are made by cutting, heating, piling, and stirring the cheese curds before pressing them.

Cornish Yarg with wild garlic.

Sage Derby cheese.

Here are some British semi-hard cheeses:

• Coquetdale – A semi-hard cheese from cow's milk.
• Cornish Yarg – A semi-hard cow's milk cheese from Cornwall. It's wrapped in nettle leaves as it ages, which creates a special rind.
  • Wild Garlic Yarg – A version of Cornish Yarg with wild garlic.
• Cotswold – This cheese is made by mixing chives and spring onions into Double Gloucester cheese. It's orange, like the famous Cotswold stone.
• Derby – A mild, semi-firm cheese from Derbyshire. It has a smooth texture and buttery taste.
  • Little Derby – A Derby-style cheese without the orange colouring.
  • Sage Derby – A Derby cheese with a green, marbled look and a sage flavour.
• Gloucester – A traditional semi-hard cheese from Gloucestershire, England. There are two types: Single and Double.
  • Single Gloucester
  • Double Gloucester
  • Goosnargh Gold – A rich Double Gloucester cheese with a buttery flavour.
• Keltic Gold – A Cornish semi-hard cheese that is dipped in cider!
• Red Windsor – A pale cream Cheddar cheese marbled with wine.
• Wensleydale – This cheese is also made as a blue cheese. Many types include additions like cranberries or ginger.

• 

  Double Gloucester cheese (centre)

• 

  Red Windsor cheese

• 

  Wensleydale cheese

• 

  Wensleydale with cranberries

Soft and Semi-Soft Cheeses: Creamy and Mild

Soft and semi-soft cheeses have a lot of moisture. They are often milder in flavour compared to harder cheeses. They can be very creamy and spreadable.

Stinking Bishop cheese.

Tintern cheese.

White Stilton cheese with blueberries.

Here are some British soft and semi-soft cheeses:

• Bath Soft Cheese – A soft cheese from Bath.
• Beacon Fell traditional Lancashire – A semi-soft cheese from Lancashire.
• Bonchester – A Scottish soft cheese made from cow's milk.
• Brie – A soft cow's milk cheese, originally from France.
  • Cornish Brie – A Brie-style cheese from Cornwall.
• Caboc – A Scottish cream cheese rolled in toasted oatmeal.
• Chevington – A semi-soft, mould-ripened cheese from Northumberland.
• Crowdie – A low-fat Scottish cream cheese. It's often eaten with oatcakes.
• Fine Fettle Yorkshire – A sheep's milk cheese.
• Oxford Isis – A soft cheese with a honey-mead washed rind.
• Parlick Fell – A white cheese made from ewe's milk. It has a tangy, nutty flavour.
• Renegade Monk – An English soft blue cheese washed in ale.
• Stinking Bishop – An award-winning cheese from Gloucestershire. It has a strong smell!
• Sussex Slipcote – A fresh cheese made from ewe's milk.
• Tesyn – A soft Cornish goat's milk cheese.
• Tintern – A soft, creamy Cheddar cheese mixed with chives and shallots.
• Tunworth – A soft, nutty cheese.
• Waterloo – A semi-soft cheese made from unpasteurised Guernsey milk.
• White Stilton – A semi-soft cheese. Some types have fruits like blueberries added.
• Whitehaven – A white mould-ripened cheese made from goat's milk.
• Winslade – A mild soft cheese from Hampshire.

Other British Cheeses

There are many other unique and delicious cheeses made across the UK. Here are a few more to explore:

A display of local cheeses at the Mid-Somerset Show.

Huntsman cheese.

• Allerdale – A moist, sweet cheese.
• Berkswell – A cheese with a unique shape.
• Brinkburn – A cheese from Northumberland.
• Caithness – A Scottish cheese.
• Cotherstone – A cheese from Yorkshire.
• Coverdale – Another cheese from Yorkshire.
• Croglin – A cheese from Cumbria.
• Dorstone – A goat's cheese.
• Farleigh Wallop – A cheese created by musician Alex James.
• Goldilocks – A soft cheese made from organic Jersey cow's milk.
• Golden Cross – A soft white goat's milk cheese.
• Grimbister – A crumbly, white cow's milk cheese from Orkney, Scotland.
• Gruth Dhu – A soft Scottish cheese.
• Harlech – A Welsh cheese.
• Huntsman – A special cheese that combines Double Gloucester and Stilton!
• Isle of Mull – A Scottish Cheddar cheese made from raw cow's milk.
• Little Wallop – A cheese from Somerset.
• Pantysgawn – A Welsh goat's milk cheese.
• Suffolk Gold – A cheese from Suffolk.
• Wiltshire Loaf – A traditional cheese from Wiltshire.
• Wyfe of Bath – A cheese from Bath.
• Village Green Goat – A goat's cheese.

See also