Cotherstone Cheese

© Copyright 2009. All rights reserved and enforced
Yorkshire Stilton

Cotherstone Cheese is a semi-hard cheese with a sharp, slightly tangy taste made in Cotherstone, Yorkshire, England.

It has a crust like Camembert, but is covered with yellow wax. Inside, the cheese has an "open" texture, like Wensleydale.

It is made from unpasteurized, full-fat milk, in rounds 8 inches (20 cm) wide and 4 inches (10 cm) tall, weighing 4 1/2 pounds (2 kg.) Vegetarian rennet is used.

Cotherstone Cheese needs to mature for at least 1 to 3 months. As it ages, the crust turns from gold to pink.

There are two versions of Cotherstone Cheese, a white version and a blue-veined version. The blue-veined version is sometimes referred to as "Yorkshire Stilton."


Nutrition
Cotherstone Cheese has a fat content of about 45%.

History
Cotherstone Cheese is surmised to be a variation of Wensleydale Cheese, possibly made as far back as the 1600s; the wax coating meant that it could be stored for up to a year.

Cotherstone is a village in County Durham that in the Domesday Book was referred to as Cudrestone.

The Cotherstone name was only applied to the cheese at the beginning of the 1900s. A woman named Mrs Birkett, who made the cheese up until 1940, helped to promote it as a cheese separate from Wensleydale.

Production ceased during the war and didn't begin again until towards the end of the 1900s.

Top...