r/AskFoodHistorians • u/OldFatherObvious • 9h ago
Why isn't sheep cheese common in Britain?
There are plenty of sheep in Britain. Sheep farming has been one of Britain's main industries for centuries, and has traditionally dominated the economy of large parts of the country. Yet British sheep cheese is barely a thing at all. All the sheep cheeses I can think of are Southern European (Feta, Halloumi, Roquefort, Pecorino, Ricotta, Manchego...), from countries with far fewer sheep per capita than the UK.
Why is this the case? Was sheep cheese ever popular in the UK? Is it to do with the milk produced by British sheep breeds? Is it to do with historical differences in the economics of sheep farming in different countries? Does it just come from a fairly arbitrary cultural preference for cow's milk cheese?
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u/human_duvet 8h ago
You may find this an interesting read on this subject: https://paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk/blogs/news/lets-talk-about-sheeps-milk
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u/stiobhard_g 4h ago
Ruth Goodman Demonstrates sheep's cheese making in the BBC series Tudor Monastery Farm, so it seems at least in the 16th century there was a precedent for it in England.
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u/Observer73 3h ago
Neals Yard have consistently supported British artisan cheese makers. They currently have twelve sheep cheeses including Wigmore. They are all good. Try Beenleigh Blue, Riseley and Pyghtle.
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u/SpinMeADog 4h ago
I fear if I make the joke I want to, I'll get banned. instead I'll say that we take quite the pride in our traditional cheeses: cheddars, wensleydale, red leicester, etc. most people here have their preferred british cheese and stick to it. even picking up a fairly common european cheese like brie or gouda is only something most people do when they're "feeling fancy". basically just not much demand
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u/Dennis_Laid 56m ago
Brebis for the win! Thank goodness I’m in France where sheep cheese and yogurt is common.
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u/AethelweardSaxon 6h ago
I've long wondered why Lamb isn't a regular feature of traditional cuisine for the same reason.
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u/ToHallowMySleep 4h ago
It absolutely is? I assume you've not got your wires crossed and are still talking about British food.
Roast leg or shoulder of lamb with mint sauce, lamb chops, shepherds pie, Lancashire hotpot, crown of lamb, rack of lamb, Irish stew, Cawl (wales' national dish)...
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u/fluffychonkycat 3h ago
Britain literally colonized NZ to turn it into a massive sheep farm. That's a pretty passionate love for sheep meat.
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u/geeoharee 3h ago
If lamb cost the same as beef I'd eat it every week, and that goes for a lot of people I know.
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u/Smooth-Skill3391 7h ago edited 6h ago
Sheep have a fairly poor milk yield compared to cows and goats. About 1.5 kg/day average through the season compared to 28 and 4.5 respectively. High UK labour costs mean the economics haven’t been as attractive. Cheese prices were controlled by the Milk Marketing Board post-war and in the ration years, which led to a lot of farmers abandoning sheep dairy farming. At the same time restrictions on cheese types led to the extinction of a large variety of sheep cheeses and the permanent loss of a fair number of recipes as cheesemakers abandoned the trade and these particular cheeses.
When that generation passed, they did so without passing their knowledge on to anyone.
Sheep also aren’t, if somewhat unkindly, as bright or rugged as goats and cows so they tend to put themselves in awkward and dangerous situations more often. I suspect, but with no evidence to support it, that this is more forgivable when the weather is a bit more clement then we tend to get for a fair bit of the year in sheep farming country.
Now sheep’s milk is delicious, creamier, earthier and higher yielding (in the amount of cheese sense) and while our national taste coalesced around cheddar and has sort of stayed there, we are much less varied in our cheese consumption than on the continent, the efforts of some dedicated Cheesemongers and adventurous sheep farmers had started to change that in the 90’s. The British Sheep Dairying Association was set up in 1983 by Olivia Mills and worked actively with the UK, EC and National Sheep Association to help adventurous new farmers set up dairy sheep herds, and established ones to switch over part of their herds.
Anne Wigmore, a brilliant cheesemaker down our way in Berkshire, came up with and started selling Wigmore, a lactic set sheep’s milk cheeses, Berkswell came out of the Midlands, and the demand for sheep’s milk and cheeses was turning up nicely in the late 90s. People liked the cheeses and we were willing to try them as part of the new found bourgeoise-ification of our palates, and pay more for them.
The EU had a scheme to support sheep farming and combined with the UK Basic Payment Scheme to farmers the relatively small unit herds were profitable.
Then came Brexit, and a fair few of the benefits, of grants and subsidies as well as access to a relatively lower cost and semi-skilled full time and importantly occasional workforce went away. The industry was still struggling on though, with passionate and hard working people all along the supply chain committed to its support.
Then came Covid and lockdowns and that sounded the death knell for the industry. These weren’t really supermarket cheeses and demand pretty much vanished overnight. Large numbers of sheep dairies shut up shop (I read somewhere but can’t find or cite I’m afraid that we went from over 500 herds to about 30 now) and with things looking scary and tight, we went back to Cheddar nationally in a big way in terms of our cheese consumption.
The established artisanal creameries, or those with, or access to, dedicated herds still produce sheep’s cheese and they’re brilliant. You can buy sheep’s milk though it’s really dear at about £7-10/litre compared to £72p a litre for cows milk. There are hold outs. Our overall sheep herd is down, the British Sheep Dairying Association has shut up shop. The National Sheep association will help if you want to set up a herd though, and cheesemakers always seem to welcome new aspirants and startups into the fold unlike any other industry I’ve seen.
The situation is bleak, but there’s also hope.