Caerphilly

Caerphilly is a hard, crumbly white cheese that originated in the area around Caerphilly, S Wales and is thought to have been created for local coal miners. It has subsequently been suggested that the cheese's salt content helped manual workers and can be cut into wedges and does not dry out in the conditions underground. Caerphilly in that period had a greater moisture content and was made in local farms. At the start of the 20th Century, competition for milk in the local area saw production decline and Caerphilly production was gradually relocated to England.

During World War II production was stopped and diverted to Cheddar in English factories. Post-war, those factories began to produce Caerphilly as it could be made more quickly than Cheddar and so was more profitable. The majority of Caerphilly is now produced in Somerset and Wiltshire. Artisan cheesemakers still make Caerphilly in pre-war style and have been successful at the British Cheese Awards.

Caerphilly cheese, originally a moist curd made in local farms, has since been replaced with a much drier version produced on an industrial scale. However, some cheesemakers still produce Caerphilly in the old style on an artisan basis. Farmhouse Caerphilly production died out during World War II as it did not keep as well as Cheddar from English factories. Post-war those factories started making their own versions of Caerphilly, which matured very quickly and thus required less financing. Over time, the public forgot the difference between the old and new Caerphilly cheeses.

There was a resurgence in farmhouse-produced Caerphilly in the 1980s in Wales, as a result of the work of Cenarth Cheese. Milk quotas imposed at the time meant milk was being thrown away so Thelma Adams decided to make a business out of producing cheese from the excess milk.

By the late 1990s, no cheesemakers in Caerphilly made the cheese for which the town is known. Realising this, Castle Dairies began making it, shortly after they opened in the town. Rather than using factory methods, they use pre-war production techniques by hand and won a gold and a bronze award at the British Cheese Awards, 2000. In July 2015 Caerphilly cheese was one of nine Welsh products considered by the government as candidates for name protection under the geographical indications and traditional specialities in the EU rules, the only cheese considered as a candidate on the list.

Caerphilly is a light-coloured (almost white) crumbly cheese made from cow's milk, and generally has a fat content of 45%-55%. It has a mild taste, with a tang of lemon. A traditional Caerphilly must be made with pasteurised or unpasteurised milk produced by Welsh farms. It comes in organic and non-organic varieties.

It is created by adding rennet to buttermilk, resulting in curd production. This is then formed and cut, before being pressed lightly into a cylindrical mould. These rounds are then submerged in a bath of brine for 24 hours to cause the production of a rind. Rice flour is used to dust the outside, affecting the colour of the rind. The cheese ripens quickly, in as little as two weeks. Acid production is initially slow but builds up. This and the low temperature used during production mean that the acid naturally dries out the curd, causing the crumbly texture. The cheese is nicknamed "The Crumblies".

Traditional Welsh Caerphilly and Traditional Welsh Caerffili are both protected by European Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status.

A Chicago Sun-Times article in 1987 extolled the virtues of Caerphilly cheese, describing it as having a "mild, salty, buttermilk" flavour and being halfway between ricotta and cheddar.

Bee Wilson, in The Daily Telegraph on 9 October 2011, praised the old style of Caerphilly now made by small-scale producers such as Gorwydd Farm, comparing it to French cheeses and calling it "buttery" in comparison to the post-war mass manufactured type which she called "young and flavourless, with the texture of chalk".

An annual three-day festival to celebrate the cheese, entitled The Big Cheese (Y Caws Mawr) takes place in Caerphilly. Also there is a sculpture of a cheese. A best Caerphilly cheese category forms part of the annual British Cheese Awards. In 2004, Gorwydd Caerphilly won both the Caerphilly prize and the overall award for best traditional British cheese. It was made by brothers Todd and Maugan Trethowan at their family farm in Tregaron, Ceredigion. However, they failed to win Best Welsh Cheese. They have now moved to Somerset.