Sparkenhoe Red Leicester

A wonderful, well-balanced Red Leicester, made with raw cow’s milk on the Clarke Family’s Dairy farm in Nuneaton.

Drawing on a combination of old books and local advice, David and Jo Clarke settled upon a recipe and set to converting the milk of their 150 cows into Red Leicester, using animal rennet and annatto, a natural plant dye obtained from a South American bush that has been used in the colouration of cheeses for almost 300 years. The cheese is clothbound with lard. As it matures, the texture dries and the flavour strengthens and deepens, from savoury, smooth and mellow, to nutty and rich.

Complex and balanced, nutty and mellow, this farmhouse revival of a classic British cheese is full flavoured without any aggressive acidity. It has a texture that is at once chewy and moist.

Britain, Warwickshire.