Cheshire Cheese Research Articles

Cheesemaking in Cheshire 1550–1750

This article supports a material turn in agricultural and food history by focusing on the utensils and equipment, along with the embodied practices involved in cheesemaking. The period of interest is the long seventeenth century when rich source material is available in the form of probate inventories—lists of the movable goods owned by deceased persons, mainly adult males, and widows. Our laboratory will be Cheshire, an English county that for 200 years, from the mid-seventeenth century, dominated the cheese supply of London and the industrial towns and cities of the north of England. We use 1600 inventories transcribed by Cheshire local historians, a significant portion of which mention cheese and cheesemaking. We argue that the making and marketing of Cheshire cheese was distinctive but that there was nothing inevitable about its success.

Navy victuallers and the rise of Cheshire cheese

In the 1990s Charles Foster claimed that a commercial Cheshire cheese trade began in 1650, the year when the first coastwise cargo from Chester was recorded in the London port books. One purpose of this research note is to embellish Foster's claim by suggesting that an even greater influence on this trade was the adoption from the early 1840s by England's state-appointed victuallers of Cheshire cheese as one of their standard commodities. They then supplied it in bulk to the navy and also to army garrisons in theatres of war such as Ireland and Scotland. The victualler who played the principal role in this provisioning from the 1640s to the 1670s was Denis Gauden. His career is followed, and his final downfall, which was caused by inadequate and chaotic government financial systems.

A natural short pathway synthesizes roquefortine C but not meleagrin in three different Penicillium roqueforti strains

The production of mycotoxins and other secondary metabolites in Penicillium roqueforti is of great interest because of its long history of use in blue-veined cheese manufacture. In this article, we report the cloning and characterization of the roquefortine gene cluster in three different P. roqueforti strains isolated from blue cheese in the USA (the type strain), France, and the UK (Cheshire cheese). All three strains showed an identical roquefortine gene cluster organization and almost identical (98-99%) gene nucleotide sequences in the entire 16.6-kb cluster region. When compared with the Penicillium chrysogenum roquefortine/meleagrin seven-gene cluster, the P. roqueforti roquefortine cluster contains only four genes (rds, rdh, rpt, and gmt) encoding the roquefortine dipeptide synthetase, roquefortine D dehydrogenase, roquefortine prenyltransferase, and a methyltransferase, respectively. Silencing of the rds or rpt genes by the RNAi strategy reduced roquefortine C production by 50% confirming the involvement of these two key genes in roquefortine biosynthesis. An additional putative gene, orthologous of the MFS transporter roqT, is rearranged in all three strains as a pseudogene. The same four genes and a complete (not rearranged) roqT, encoding a MFS transporter containing 12 TMS domains, occur in the seven-gene cluster in P. chrysogenum although organized differently. Interestingly, the two "late" genes of the P. chrysogenum roquefortine/meleagrin gene cluster that convert roquefortine C to glandicoline B and meleagrin are absent in the P. roqueforti four-gene cluster. No meleagrin production was detected in P. roqueforti cultures grown in YES medium, while P. chrysogenum produces meleagrin in these conditions. No orthologous genes of the two missing meleagrin synthesizing genes were found elsewhere in the recently released P. roqueforti genome. Our data suggest that during evolution, the seven-gene cluster present in P. chrysogenum, and probably also in other glandicoline/meleagrin producing fungi, has been trimmed down to a short cluster in P. roqueforti leading to the synthesis of roquefortine C rather than meleagrin as a final product.

Introduction Irish Aestheticism

Introduction Irish Aestheticism Joseph Bristow (bio) The topic of Irish aestheticism is by no means as familiar in literary history as that of the Irish revival, the movement whose origins scholars frequently trace to Standish O’Grady, whose Early Bardic Literature of Ireland (1879) stands among the first of his long line of publications on Irish legend. O’Grady’s subsequent romances about ancient Ireland followed in the style of eighteenth-century Scottish scholar James Macpherson’s eloquent prose adaptations of the oral poetry from the Highlands and Hebrides that preserved the gallant stories of warrior Fingal, his blind poet son Ossian, and his valiant grandchild Oscar. O’Grady’s cousin, Standish Hayes O’Grady, was a founding member of the Ossianic Society of Dublin (1853–63), which took its name from Macpherson’s popular Works of Ossian (1765). After Charlotte Brooke published her fine anthology Reliques of Irish Poetry, Consisting of Heroic Poems, Odes, Elegies, and Songs, Translated into English Verse (1789), the Ossianic Society was the first group to dedicate influential amounts of research to recovering the rich heritage of Irish poetry, folklore, and tradition, especially the Irish versions of the Celtic histories that Macpherson had unearthed in their Caledonian forms. This reclamation of ancient Irish culture and its impact on the revival and its nationalist aims is familiar to students of modernism. The revival had its origins in the ethnographic turn that E. B. Tylor’s Primitive Culture precipitated in 1871, and its main progenitors included Charles Gavan Duffy, George Sigerson, and Douglas Hyde. As Gregory Castle has observed, these intellectuals—who “disseminated an ideology of ‘racial’ self-improvement and national education” aiming to “restore a belief in the essential [End Page 781] piety and nobility of the Irish people”—provided the framework for much of W. B. Yeats’s poetry from The Wanderings of Oisin and Other Poems (1889) onward, Augusta Gregory’s collections of Irish myths, John Millington Synge’s The Aran Islands (1898), and some of the early productions at the Abbey Theatre.1 Yet critics of Yeats also know well that his involvement with the Rhymers’ Club in London during the fin de siácle also brought him into contact with several poets whose works are associated with aestheticism and decadence. The attendees at the club, which met at the Cheshire Cheese public house, Fleet Street, included Ernest Dowson, Lionel Johnson, and Arthur Symons, whose work appeared in the famous Book of the Rhymers Club (1892) and the Second Book of the Rhymers Club (1892). Another of the writers on the edges of this circle was Oscar Wilde: the increasingly respected writer who had earlier enjoyed much celebrity—if not a large measure of notoriety—as a self-appointed “professor of aesthetics” who began to make his stylish presence and memorable pronouncements on art at several fashionable gatherings in the late 1870s. No other figure besides Wilde could stake a stronger claim as a champion of l’art pour l’art during this period. He was the quintessential aesthete of his time. Wilde was also, though there should be little need to note this fact, an Irishman. More to the point, he was raised in a household that in principle gave him everything he needed to become (had he wished) a figurehead in the revival. His mother, Jane Francesca Elgee—who established her career with polemical nationalist poems issued during the late 1840s under the name “Speranza”—expressed great pride in taking her youngest son’s given names from Macpherson’s Ossian; as she told a friend in a letter: “He is to be called Oscar Fingal Wilde. Is not that grand, misty, and Ossianic?”2 In 1857 Wilde’s father—the prominent ear surgeon and archeologist Sir William Wilde—participated in the British Association and Royal Irish Academy’s ethnological excursion to the Aran Islands. He was also a member of the Ossianic Society. Besides his scientific papers, Sir William’s numerous publications included A Descriptive Catalogue of the Antiquities of Stone, Earthen, and Vegetable Materials in the Royal Irish Academy (1857). Many years after her spouse had died, Lady Wilde published Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland (1887). This...

'Companions of the Cheshire Cheese': epistolary lives of contemporary Irish poets

'Companions of the Cheshire Cheese': epistolary lives of contemporary Irish poets

Exotic marbles on Cheshire cheese: High‐street geology in Bath

Most shoppers in Bath ignore the cladding on the front of the‘Co‐op’. Those pausing to look probably consider it marble. In fact, it is Larvikite, a type of syenite commonly used to clad high‐street stores throughout Britain. A survey of shop fronts, banks and other services in this city reveals a wide variety of exotic imported marbles and granites attached to local Bath Stone at street level. Modern stone cladding is also found to extend beyond the post‐war shopping area. Stromatolitic limestones and porphyritic granites peep out beneath Victorian shop windows in Milsom Street. Moreover, not all the cladding in this street is found to be modern. Scottish and Shap Granites, introduced into Bath in the nineteenth century, clad former banks and a Victorian department store.

A Socinian and Calvinist Compared: Joseph Priestley and Andrew Fuller On the Propriety of Prayer To Christ

On April 13, 1791, Andrew Fuller (1754-1815), pastor of Particular Baptist congregation in Kettering, Northamptonshire, sat down to write a letter to his close friend and fellow minister, John Sutcliff (1752-1814), concerning religious convictions of a mutual friend, Robert Hall, Jr. (1764—1831). Hall, a preacher of great brilliance, was of some concern to his friends at this point in time, for he professed a binitarian view of Godhead and maintained that Holy Spirit was merely a power or influence. His friends feared that he might drift even further from trinitarian orthodoxy towards Socinianism, which affirmed unipersonality of God and denied deity of Christ. Fuller, however, informed Sutcliff that in a recent conversation which he had had with Hall, latter complained of the ignorance, cant, & bigotry of Socinians. As to abilities, Hall told Fuller, they have great amongst them, but rest are in general but so many mites in a great Cheshire cheese.1 That one great man was none other than Joseph Priestley (1733-1804), for whom Hall had undisguised admiration, though he vehemently disapproved of Priestley's religious sentiments.2

Use of prolonged-release bovine somatotropin for milk production in British Friesian dairy cows. 3. Effect on manufacturing properties and quality of Cheddar, Wensleydale and Cheshire cheese

SUMMARYManufacturing properties and quality of Cheddar, Wensleydale and Cheshire cheeses made either with milk from cows treated with Sometribove, methionyl bovine somatotropin (BST), or with milk from untreated control cows were compared.The source of milk did not affect manufacturing properties in terms of processing time. Renneting times for Cheddar cheese made from control milk and that made from milk produced by cows treated with BST were 57 and 55 min, respectively. Corresponding values for Wensleydale and Cheshire cheeses were 50 and 53 min and 49 and 46 min, respectively. The source of milk did not influence cheese composition in terms of moisture, fat, protein and salt. When cheeses were submitted to the National Grading Service, those made from milk produced by BST-treated cows were indistinguishable from those made from control milk. The total points scored (maximum 100) for Cheddar, Wensleydale and Cheshire cheeses made with milk from control and BST-treated cows were 89 and 88, 85 and 85, and 86 and 86, respectively.

Cheddar and Cheshire Cheese Rheology

Textural differences between Cheddar and Cheshire cheeses were examined rheologically to provide a means of distinguishing these two English cheeses. Body breakdown of a 60-wk Cheshire sample occurred at a lower strain than did a 20-wk sample, whereas a 60-wk Cheddar sample did not break down under the same conditions. All cheeses followed the Arrhenius equation, and the energy of activation obtained varied with age and type of cheese. Other analytical techniques showed differences between the samples but were not suitable for distinguishing one type of cheese from the other.

Increasing cheese yields by high heat treatment of milk

SUMMARYMilk was heated at 97 °C/15 s to denature ∼ 30% of the whey protein and then used to make Cheshire cheese. Measurements of para-κ-casein production indicated that heating milk did not inhibit the enzymic action of rennet, but additional Ca and an initial pH of 6·4 were required for normal coagulation and curd-firming. In the experimental cheeses, about 4·5% more dry matter was recovered compared with controls made with pasteurized milk owing to a 6·7 and 0·7% increase in protein and fat recovery respectively. Experimental cheeses tended to be too moist and the curds did not fuse as well but these problems could be overcome by raising the scald temperature and cheddaring the curds. When the moisture in non-fat solids of control and experimental cheeses was similar (61%), the flavours and textures were not significantly different. The procedure requires little modification to existing commercial plant and should be suitable for varieties of cheese with higher moisture content and more crumbly texture than Cheddar.

Effect of variation in the composition of milk supply on the composition and quality of farmhouse Cheshire cheese

SUMMARYThe composition of the diet fed to cows, the composition and coagulating properties of the milk produced by them and used for cheesemaking, the cheesemaking methods and the chemical composition, texture and grade of Cheshire cheese obtained from four farmhouse producers during the period December to June 1982–83 were investigated. The presence of pockets of loose fat in the cheese structure, which can lead to downgrading in the late winter and spring, was not related to the chemical composition of the milk and may arise from the handling of the milk before cheesemaking. Generally the composition of the forage and the milk varied with date, but not between the different farms, whereas the composition and properties of the cheese were dependent on the manufacturers but were fairly constant during the period of study.

Interrelationships between the diet fed to cows, composition and properties of milk and composition and quality of Cheshire cheese from farmhouse manufacturers

SUMMARYInterrelationships between concentrations of constituents of forages in diets fed to the cows, milks and cheeses, rennet coagulation properties of milks, manufacturing methods and the grades and textural properties of the cheeses produced by four farmhouse producers of Cheshire cheese were studied during the period December 1982 to June 1983. Many intercorrelations occurred in concentrations of constituents of the milks and ultrafiltrates. Rennet coagulation properties were related to concentrations of many of the constituents of the milks and forages in the diet. Many interrelationships in parameters of cheese texture and components of cheese composition were observed. Compositions and texture of the final cheeses were generally not related to the composition of the milks used in their manufacture.

Yeoman and Colliers in Telford: Probate Inventories for Dawley, Lilleshall, Wellington and Wrockwardine, 1660-1750.

One of the most thorough surveys of probate inventories yet published, it is based on an analysis of 846 inventories made in the parishes of Dawley, Lilleshall, Wellington and Wrockwardine between 1660 and 1750. All are listed and the texts of 265 of the most interesting are printed in full. Agriculture is also examined in depth and the large farms on the fringe of the Cheshire cheese region contrasted with the smaller holdings on the coalfield. There is a detailed analysis of the mercers of Wellington, together with surveys of the dyeing, leather and other trades.

The Secret Agent: The Agon(ie)s of the Word

Under his hat, worn with a slight backward tilt, his hair had been carefully brushed into respectful sleekness. 1 Tenniel's illustration of Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland supplies Conrad with model for Verloc's (and other anarchists') dandyism, though not without his consciousness of masculine fripperies in fashionable circles of London. Appropriately, Verloc later morosely ponders his failure to dynamite Greenwich Meridian Observatory in the little parlour of Cheshire (SA, 191) as Conrad's reminder that Cheshire Cat directs Alice to Mad Tea-Party. Later he also salutes Humpty-Dumpty for his inspiration in molding arbitrary word-worlds of his characters in novel. Immediately pun on sleekness, to conceal, betrays deceit of Verloc's respectability. However, Cheshire Cheese also directs attention to another facet of contemporary literary history. The name of a club in London, it headquartered Rhymer's Club, founded by William Butler Yeats to promote esthetic fantasies of Walter Pater. Verloc's dandyism, no

Some Tiles from the Old Cheshire Cheese, London

Some Tiles from the Old Cheshire Cheese, London

The uptake and degradation of pirimiphos-methyl by cheshire cheese

The uptake and degradation of pirimiphos-methyl by cheshire cheese

USE OF MILK CONCENTRATED BY ULTRAFILTRATION FOR MAKING HARD CHEESE, SOFT CHEESE AND YOGHURT*

Whole milk was concentrated by a factor of two by ultrafiltration. It was used directly for making Cheddar and Cheshire cheese, an unripened soft cheese of the Coulommier type, and yoghurt.The yields of hard cheese from the concentrated milk were the same as those from normal whole milk. The cheeses were acceptable though the flavour was milder than that of good quality Cheddar and Cheshire cheese.Medium fat soft cheeses were made from the concentrated milk. The yield of cheese was 41 per cent greater than that made from normal whole milk and the making time was half that of the normal process. The cheeses were consumed fresh or stored in deep freeze.For making yoghurt, the usual reinforcement with skim milk powder was not necessary as the concentrated milk had a high total solids content, nor was it necessary to homogenize the mix. The yoghurt contained 21 per cent total solids and was a very acceptable product.

THE UK DAIRY INDUSTRY AND THE COMMON DAIRY POLICY

A written version of a talk given to the North Western Section and the Cheshire Cheese Federation on 15th March. 1972.

492. The importance of psychophysical errors in subjective judgements of firmness of Cheshire cheese

1. Ratings for firmness which were carried out on 150 Cheshire cheese at 2 weeks old, by three judges, were examined so as to extract the expected psychophysical errors.2. It was found that the value for firmness given to any particular cheese tended to be a function of the average firmness of the group of cheese in which it was judged, so that a cheese of a given objective value would be given a different rating according to its position in the series being judged.3. A cheese of a given value presented after a firm one is judged softer than if it had been presented after a soft one. This contrast effect was masked by the influence of the group as described in (2). Nevertheless, it seems probable that contrast effects influence the judgements.4. The frequency distributions of the subjective judgements were examined, and it was noted that the ‘semi-expert’ judge gave subjective values which approximated very closely to a normal distribution, more nearly so than the judgements of the other two judges.5. Reasons are suggested for the differences in the values allotted to the cheese as judged by the different judges.6. Some suggestions are made for eliminating the effects described.

430. Studies of the nature of subjective judgements in cheese-grading

In grading Cheshire cheese, assessments are made of the ‘body’, ‘texture’, ‘crumbliness’, flavour and overall quality. In commercial grading in this country (England) it is not usual to apply a scoring system to these various characteristics, although, in judging cheese for show purposes, points would be assigned to each item. American practice, at least according to the literature, suggests that score cards are in general use for each particular dairy product, so that the various items may be assessed in quantitative terms. For experimental purposes, where it is required to assess the effect of specific variations in conditions of manufacture or storing of the cheese, or to assess the relation between instrumental tests and the judgements of graders and others, some quantitative form of expression of these judgements is essential. However, it has to be borne in mind that the process of forcing the judgement into an arbitrarily selected numerical scale may lead to a certain amount of distortion and may not be entirely satisfactory. Modifications of procedure desirable in the interests of statistical planning may also be unacceptable, in view of the dislocation they may cause to the ingrained habits of the professional foodgrader.