What Is Caerphilly Cheese?
Caerphilly cheese is a semi-firm white cheese made from raw cow’s milk, which was developed in the region of Caerphilly, Wales, sometime around 1830. Originally produced as a way for dairy farmers to efficiently expend their excess milk, Caerphilly cheese developed a following that soon made it profitable to produce on its own. The cheese became a great favorite of Welsh coal miners, who enjoyed chunks of Caerphilly for lunch. The rind of the cheese protected it from the miners’ dirty hands, and its saltiness supposedly replenished whatever was sweated out by the men laboring underground. Caerphilly cheese is moist and pale, with a mild and salty paste. It is now produced in southwestern England as well as Wales. The English preference is for fresh Caerphilly cheese, eaten after only a few weeks (from two to eight) of aging. At this stage, the paste has a fresh, tangy flavor.
