How Sparkenhoe is Saving Red Leicester Cheese

Leicesterchire Cheese. Leicester cheese. Red Leicester. All of these names refer to the eye-catching orange/red colored cheese we know today as Red Leicester. One of the British territorial cheeses, like Double Gloucester or Cheshire, it is named for the area where it was originally made. Today there is only one farm in Leicester that still makes Red Leicester using a traditional recipe with raw milk.

Background

Leicestershire County is in the East Midlands, an area known for the Battle of Bosworth Field— the last War of the Roses—about an hour from London. Red Leicester cheese has been made in Leicestershire County since the 17th century. Often, it was created by the same producers who made Stilton; because of the different maturation times, it provided a more stable income for the farmers. Read more about Stilton.

In 1759, a market in the city of Leicester was established for buying and selling Leicestershire cheese. The market also established guidelines and regulations to control the quality and production of the cheese. The market became so important that the name of the cheese changed to Leicester Cheese, after the city. To be sure the guidelines were met, a town crier read aloud the punishment that would befall anyone trying to pass off inferior cheese.

What is Red Leicester?

Sparkenhoe Red Leicester wedge on slate — Sparkenhoe Red Leicester on slate by Pierre-Yves Beaudouin / Wikime d ia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0

Traditional Red Leicester cheese is an artisan product handmade with raw milk, wrapped in cloth, and covered with lard. It is then aged 6–14 months. The cheese wheel is large and flat, weighing 10–20 kilos each, which results in a dry, crumbly cheese. The striking color is obtained by adding annatto, a natural food coloring obtained from the seed of the achiote tree. It’s believed that the coloring was added to distinguish Leicester Cheese from other hard cheeses, like Cheddar.

As with many cheeses in Britain, once there were hundreds of producers of artisan Red Leicester. However, industrialization saw the end of small farms and artisan cheese makers. By the 1950s, the only Red Leicester available was sold in blocks in the supermarket.

Reviving Traditional Red Leicester at Sparkenhoe

And that’s the way it was for decades until one farm in western Leicester County revived the tradition of making raw milk Red Leicester. In 2005, Jo and David Clarke acquired the family farm, Sparkenhoe, along with pedigree Holstein Friesian cows, descendants of the original herd purchased by David’s grandfather in the 1940s. They began making Red Leicester to bring value to the farm and to avoid selling the herd. Coincidentally, at about this same time, they learned that Red Leicester had been produced at Sparkenhoe around 1756 with milk from Longhorn cows at Leicestershire Handmade Cheese Co.

Today, Sparkenhoe is the only producer of traditional raw milk Red Leicester in the country and is recognized by the Slow Food Presidium. Since there wasn’t any Red Leicester to replicate, the Clarks worked with neighbors in the area and tested old recipes until they eventually achieved consistency; they also embraced the slight differences in each batch, which are part of the charm of handmade, artisan cheese.

Red Leicester is a hard, pressed cheese, similar to Cheddar in texture. Unlike Cheddar, if you try to bend it, it should snap like a carrot, according to Jo Clarke. Its slightly sweet, nutty taste, with notes of caramel and a somewhat citrus finish makes it an everyday favorite cheese.

Red Leicester is the perfect addition to a traditional cheese board when you want to add color. It’s also a good cheese to cook with as it melts easily into sauces and soups. Jo Clare shares “The absolute best way to enjoy it is melted on toast, especially with a bit of fresh tomato and onion. We use it like parmesan.”