Spenwood

Spenwood

A sheep’s milk cheese with a supple texture and a thin natural rind. Its cream-coloured paste has a sweet, milky flavour that develops a slight piquancy as it matures.

Portion
Regular price £16.05
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  • Spend over £39.50 to receive free delivery (England, Wales & Central Scotland)

Standard delivery is free to most postcodes in the UK for orders over £39.50. Click here for a list of postcodes where additional delivery charges apply.

For orders under £39.50, standard delivery is £8.00.

Collection from our London shops is free - choose Shop Collection at checkout.

Choose your preferred delivery date at checkout. As we use third party couriers (typically DPD) we cannot guarantee the arrival day of your order but we will do our best to ensure that it arrives as close as possible to your chosen date. To be sure it arrives in time, we recommend choosing a date a couple of days ahead of when you would like to eat your cheese. 

milk type
Sheep

ingredients
Thermised Sheep's MILK, Salt, Cheese Cultures, Vegetarian Coagulant

coagulant
Vegetarian Coagulant

milk treatment
Thermised

location
Riseley, Berkshire

milk source
Bought-in

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milk type
Sheep

ingredients
Thermised Sheep's MILK, Salt, Cheese Cultures, Vegetarian Coagulant

coagulant
Vegetarian Coagulant

milk treatment
Thermised

location
Riseley, Berkshire

milk source
Bought-in

season
All year

cheesemakers
The Wigmore Family

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Spenwood was inspired by a Pecorino cheese encountered by Anne Wigmore while visiting the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.

Background

Spenwood, named after the nearby Spencers Wood, is made in the Berkshire village of Riseley, not far from Reading, but it was inspired by the produce of the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. When i...

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Spenwood, named after the nearby Spencers Wood, is made in the Berkshire village of Riseley, not far from Reading, but it was inspired by the produce of the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. When its maker, Anne Wigmore, visited Sardinia, she fell in love with the local ewe's milk cheeses, particularly Pecorino Sardo. On her return she decided to devote her efforts to recreating some of their charm, putting into practice the theoretical knowledge she had gained while working as a microbiologist at the National Institute for Research in Dairying. A hard-pressed cheese made from ewe's milk, Spenwood has a supple texture and a well-developed, nutty flavour. The longer it matures, the harder and more piquant it becomes, making it a good substitute for Parmesan or Pecorino in pasta and risotto recipes.

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Our Work

The cheese is generally sold at around six months of age, though it can be matured for longer, at which point its paste becomes denser and slightly waxy. Spenwood has a rounder, gentler flavour tha...

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The cheese is generally sold at around six months of age, though it can be matured for longer, at which point its paste becomes denser and slightly waxy. Spenwood has a rounder, gentler flavour than our other hard sheep's milk cheeses, which tend to be marked by juicy, fruity acidity.

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Accompaniments

Brown Bread Crackers
£3.90

Tracklements Fig Relish
£4.75

Serving Suggestions

Shave Spenwood over rocket leaves dressed with olive oil and balsamic for a simple side salad.

Recipes

Asparagus and Cheese Quiche

The recipe for this quiche is flexible and forgiving. Try swapping out the asparagus for broccoli, or if you have leftover bits of other cheeses, use those in place of Spenwood and Ticklemore. ING...

Fennel and Berkswell Gratin from Towpath

Towpath is a café perched along the Regent's Canal in London which regularly features our cheeses in their highly seasonal recipes. Co-proprietors Lori De Mori and Laura Jackson have published thei...

Pea, Ham & Berkswell Lasagne by Anna Tobias

Anna Tobias has cooked at many of our favourite places to eat, from River Cafe to Rochelle Canteen, and now runs Bloomsbury restaurant, Café Deco with the team from 40 Maltby Street. She's always ...

FAQs

As a general rule of thumb, we would recommend roughly between 100 and 150 grams per person for after dinner, and a bit more if cheese is the focus of the meal. If you are buying cheese to serve over a couple of days or as part of a buffet, it is advisable to buy a few larger pieces. This will both look better and keep better than many small bits. To help visualise weights, a good tip is to consider that a regular supermarket pat of butter weighs between 200 and 250 grams. If you are at all unsure please give us a call for some advice.

The best option is to keep your cheese wrapped in its paper within a box in the fridge. This will prevent the cheese from drying out and absorbing other flavours. Your cheese will arrive wrapped in waxed cheese paper, which achieves the best possible balance between maintaining humidity around the cheese and allowing it to breathe. We are happy to provide some free extra cheese paper, just search for "cheese paper" and add it to your basket. We don't recommend cling film or foil as it can cause the cheese to sweat which will negatively affect the flavour.

Customer Reviews

Based on 13 reviews
92%
(12)
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8%
(1)
L
Lucinda

Had a delicious flavour

N
Norman Smalldridge
Great cheese

Lovely cheese delightful taste and flavour

Thank you so much for feedback Norman - we're happy to hear that Spenwood went down well.
Kind regards,
NYD

A
Adam Noah
fine cheese

Top quality, fast delivery, arrived with cold ice pack. Many Thanks

Thank you so much for your feedback Adam - we appreciate it. Happy to hear that it all went all and you enjoyed the cheeses!
All best,
NYD

L
Leo Boscherini

Spenwood

Many thanks for your review Leo. We appreciate it!
All the best,
NYD

D
Diane Hughes
More Spenwood please!

A delightful, complex cheese which works well on it’s own or with an apple/pear salad with walnuts…..please bring the cheese back into the Neal’s Yard Dairy shops.

Lovely to hear that you enjoy Spenwood Diane, those pairings are indeed delicious. Your' feedback is much appreciated and is being passed along to our team.
Best wishes,
NYD