'You can eat a different UK cheese 365 days a year'

"In the British Isles you can eat a cheese from a different cheese-maker every day of the year."

Matthew O'Callaghan, chair of the Artisan Cheese Awards 2025 believes there is now a huge choice for consumers as a result of a recent "renaissance" in the art of cheese-making in the UK.

He said there had been a "record" 650 entries from 123 producers in the cheese awards at Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire this year.

Mr O'Callaghan said previously consumers had been largely restricted to a small variety of cheese made by large companies with just a few regional cheese-makers.

"In the past we've had the industrial block cheddar but now the small micro-producer is expanding our ranges of cheeses, including continental ones and experimental cheeses," he said.

"We've got 20 classes here of different types and it's wonderful to see this blossoming of the British cheese scene."

Mr O'Callaghan said the entries at this year's awards had come from across the UK and Ireland.

"The French boast that they can eat a different cheese every day of the year and in the British Isles, we can eat a different cheese from a different cheese-maker every day of the year, the variety is enormous," he said.

Tim Rowcliffe, an ambassador for the Specialist Cheesemakers Association, said the variety of cheeses in the UK were reduced during World War Two.

"It was all about feeding an island nation," he said.

"The Milk Marketing Board formed to regulate and govern what happened to milk in the UK and as a consequence the vast variety of cheeses that were being produced... got focussed into cheddar.

"Pre-war the biggest selling cheese in the UK was Cheshire Cheese, that all but disappeared.

"It saved the dairy industry but knocked out all the individual makers."

Mr Rowcliffe said efforts began in the 1960s and 70s to boost the numbers of small cheese producers.

"I cannot tell you how amazing the growth is over a relatively short space of time," he said.

"We now make more cheeses in this country than France."

The winners of the 2025 awards were judged on Thursday and will be announced at the Artisan Cheese Fair held in Melton's Cattle Market on 24-25 May.

Follow BBC Leicester on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected] or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.