Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Britain’s cheese preferences are evolving, with a notable shift towards stronger cheddar varieties.
While mild and medium cheddars have historically dominated the market, sales data reveals a growing appetite for extra mature and vintage options.
Artisan cheesemaker Ford Farms, specialising in strong cheddars, has witnessed a surge in demand. This trend is further corroborated by Tesco, which has increased pack sizes and orders for its own-label top strength cheeses to meet the growing consumer interest.
These cheeses require a maturation period of 18 months before reaching peak flavour.
Experts attribute this shift to the increasing popularity of spicier cuisine in Britain, which has, in turn, accustomed palates to bolder flavours.
The latest 12-month volume sales data from all retailers analysed by Kantar showed the demand for vintage Cheddar growing by 5.4 per cent and extra mature Cheddar up by 2 per cent.
But sales of medium Cheddar has fallen by 5.6 per cent and mild Cheddar down by 2.4 per cent.
At Tesco, demand for extra mature and vintage Cheddar have increased by nearly 25 per cent in the last year.
Tesco UK cheese buyer Darren Atherton said: “The gradual move towards stronger tasting Cheddar varieties has come about because of our love of spicy food.
“With curries, Asian and Mexican food now a regular part of the UK diet, our palates are acclimatising to these stronger and more exotic flavours so that we tend to go for more complex taste profiles.
“This has been especially recognised in the Cheddar industry where producers are widening the strength profiles of their cheeses to include varieties that pack more of a punchier taste.
“And they are achieving this by selecting different starter culture at the start of the cheesemaking process which then produce different flavour profiles over longer periods of maturation.”
As a result of the trend more Cheddar producers are now making stronger tasting varieties.
Artisan independent cheesemaker Ford Farm, which makes the famous Wookey Hole and Coastal Bite varieties, is also seeing a rising demand.
Head cheesemaker Martin Crabb said: “Demand for vintage Cheddar is going through the roof right now and is almost certainly at an all-time high.
“We created our Coastal Cheddar to appeal to the consumer demand for a rich, rugged Cheddar and we age it for up to 15 months which gives it an intense flavour while the culture used also adds a contrasting subtly sweet top note.”
