George & Joseph has always had a particular affection for cheese made in Yorkshire and the wider North of England.
In April 2023, I wrote for Speciality Food about why this part of the country is such an important cheesemaking region. It is a story that goes far beyond Wensleydale.
Landscape, milk and tradition
The North’s cooler climate, grassland and farming traditions have helped shape distinctive regional cheeses for centuries. Lancashire, Cheshire and Wensleydale all developed their own styles because people were working with the milk, conditions and needs of their local area.
That history still matters, but what makes the region particularly exciting today is the way modern cheesemakers are building on it.
Yorkshire cheese today
Across Yorkshire we have cheesemakers producing blues, soft cheeses, Alpine-style cheeses, Pecorino-style sheep’s milk cheeses and much more. Some draw heavily on local tradition; others are making cheeses that would have seemed completely unexpected a generation ago.
For us, that variety is one of the joys of being a cheesemonger in Leeds. We can put a classic northern cheese next to something genuinely new and let customers discover both.
The people behind it
Cheese is always more interesting when you know who made it. Visiting dairies, talking to cheesemakers and understanding what they are trying to achieve helps us do a better job at the counter. It means we can explain not just what a cheese tastes like, but why it tastes that way.
You can read the original Speciality Food article here.
Or explore our current Yorkshire cheese selection and see what the region is producing now.
This article was added retrospectively to the G&J Journal archive to record the people, milestones and stories that have shaped George & Joseph.