🧀 Single Gloucester

Single Gloucester is an English full-fat hard cheese, uncoloured, made from cows' milk produced in Gloucestershire. The name is protected in the EU as a PDO (eAmbrosia PDO-GB-0281; registered by Regulation (EC) No 1107/96).

The milk, pasteurised or unpasteurised, must whenever possible include milk from Gloucester cows kept within the county; exceptionally, milk from other breeds from the same area may be used. The specification explains that the Gloucester cow is a rare breed that milks better in summer, so its milk is sometimes supplemented with that of other breeds on the same farms. After the starter culture, rennet (or non-animal coagulants) is added; the curd is cut, scalded up to 32-35 °C, drained, milled, salted, moulded and pressed. The cheese is ready for consumption at about two months.

It has the shape of a flat disc. The typical composition is 58% fat in dry matter and 42% moisture. A lower-fat version is allowed at the cheesemaker's discretion and is always shown on the label. The smell is lactic, particularly in young cheese; the taste is mild, lactic and buttery; the texture is smooth and creamy, and the body yields under hand pressure.

According to the specification, the cheese was traditionally made flat because the moulds were turned on a lathe from a block of elm, and for easy storage on shelves in farmhouse lofts.