🧀 Bonchester cheese

Bonchester cheese is a British soft cheese with a white coat and a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO, registered in 1996). According to the specification, it is a full-fat cheese with at least 20% milk fat and at most 60% water, made from unpasteurised whole milk of Jersey cows. ³

How it is made. The cheese is made from the morning and evening milk of Jersey cows, not heat-treated in any way. The chilled evening milk is warmed to 32 °C and mixed with the morning milk; starters are added and the milk is kept at 25–30 °C for 1.5 hours. After rennet is added, the curds are cut after one hour, left to settle for half an hour and put into moulds. The cheeses are turned, then brined at 13 °C (20 minutes for small ones, 40 for larger ones), kept four days at 13 °C and turned daily, and finally matured at 11 °C. The cheese is not pressed; it ripens with time and temperature. ³

Look and taste. The cheese is a cylinder with a white coat, in two sizes: small, 78 mm across and at least 100 g, and medium, 130 mm across and at least 280 g. The colour of the paste runs from yellow to deep yellow depending on ripeness; the texture is close and smooth. A young cheese tastes clean and milky and is moderately firm; a mature cheese is stronger in taste, more yellow and soft, and flows when cut open if ripe. An over-ripe curd becomes runny. ³

Area and history. The Jersey herds, the cheese-making and the maturing are all in the border lands of England and Scotland, including the river systems of the Tyne, the Tweed and the Solway Firth, within 90 km of the summit of Peel Fell in the Cheviot Hills. According to the specification, the cheese was developed at Easter Weens Farm, Bonchester Bridge, in 1980–81 using the Camembert method as a guide, and production started in 1982. According to the specification, it was meant to be available from April to December, with little or none made in January and February. ³

The label. It shows the hill Ruberslaw as seen from Bonchester, a scallop from the family coat of arms and a Jersey cow with the word unpasteurised. ³

Why it matters to you. Can you still buy it? A food reference says production ended in 1998. The name stays protected and its specification was last revised in 2007, but we found no current maker, so you may not find this cheese on sale. ³⁴