Sparkenhoe Red Leicester

Complex and balanced, nutty and mellow, this farmhouse revival of a classic British cheese is full flavoured without any aggressive acidity. It has a texture that is at once chewy and moist.

Clothbound with lard.
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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.

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Raw Cow's MILK, Salt, Animal Rennet, Annatto, Cheese Cultures, Clothbound with Lard
Sparkenhoe Red Leicester
Sparkenhoe Red Leicester
Location: Sparkenhoe Red Leicester map
Sparkenhoe Red Leicester
Sparkenhoe Red Leicester
Sparkenhoe Red Leicester
Sparkenhoe Red Leicester
Sparkenhoe Red Leicester
Location: Sparkenhoe Red Leicester map
Sparkenhoe Red Leicester
Sparkenhoe Red Leicester
Sparkenhoe Red Leicester

Conceived as a long-lasting cheese made to use up surplus milk from Stilton production, the rise in popularity of Stilton meant a lack of surplus milk available in Leicestershire. Today, more Red Leicester is made outside of the county than in it.

Until David and Jo Clarke decided to revive the practice in 2005, Red Leicester in its raw milk, clothbound form had been extinct for 50 years. Though neither David nor Jo had any experience of cheesemaking, they had a herd of Holsteins, whose pedigree and quality had been carefully overseen by the Clarke family for three generations. Drawing on a combination of old books and local advice, the pair settled upon a recipe and set to converting the milk of their 150 cows into Red Leicester, using animal rennet and annatto, a natural plant dye obtained from a South American bush that has been used in the colouration of cheeses for almost 300 years. The cheese is clothbound with lard. As it matures, the texture dries and the flavour strengthens and deepens, from savoury, smooth and mellow, to nutty and rich.

We visit the farm once a month to taste and select cheeses with David and Jo Clarke. We look for batches that express nutty, rich, complex flavours, without any aggressive acidity, and a texture that is succulent but chewy. At our maturing arches in Bermondsey the cheeses are turned and brushed once a week. We also select wheels of cheese at the farm to be aged up to a year which we sell as Spakenhoe Mature.
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