🧀 Traditional Welsh Caerphilly

Traditional Welsh Caerphilly (in Welsh, Traditional Welsh Caerffili) is the protected name of a Caerphilly-style hard cheese made in Wales from Welsh farm milk ¹. It was entered in the EU register by Regulation (EU) 2018/138 ³ and stands in the UK register as a PGI ²; the EU file number is PGI-GB-02090 ⁴.

The name sets firm limits. The cheese is a flat round of 2–4 kg, 20–25 cm across and 6–12 cm deep, from raw or pasteurised cow's milk, organic or not. Fat is 45–55% of the dry matter, a young cheese has at least 55% dry matter, and salt is 1–2%. It is sold "naked", not cloth-bound, and may carry a slight mould coat ¹.

Making it relies on hand and acidity checks. The curd is ready when it splits cleanly on the hand, then goes into 10–14 mm cubes; acidity is 0.12–0.16% on cutting, 0.15–0.23% when the whey drains and 0.23–0.30% before milling. Brining for 12–24 hours is optional, and the cheese is kept at 10–12 °C, ready from 10 days and up to 6 months ¹.

Every cheese can be traced to its farm. Tanker computers record farm, volume, temperature and date; the production sheet follows each batch; and each cheese is ticketed with its production date, best-before date, weight, ingredients, maker's address, the name and the producer logo. The inspection body named in the specification is Carmarthenshire County Council ¹.

Moulds, called "cawstell" in Welsh, were once made of native hardwood, mostly Welsh oak, bound with iron; today they are plastic. Cheeses were historically dusted with flour or fine oatmeal after 7 days ¹.

The applicant producer group listed four members. Awards the specification cites include gold at the 2012 Royal Welsh Show for Caws Cenarth, silver for Caerfai, and Best Welsh Cheese at the British Cheese Awards in 2005 and 2006. Judges quoted there call it a palate cleanser, good for Glamorgan sausages ¹.

Why it matters to you. The full name promises Wales, Welsh farm milk and a paper trail to the farm ¹. Only the full wording on the label does this, so look for it together with the producer logo. That this is "the only native cheese of Wales" is the producers' own claim ¹.