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

Eighth

MINIMUM 225 g

Quarter

MINIMUM 455 g

Half

MINIMUM 915 g

Whole

MINIMUM 1830 g

Regular price £12.10 Sale

Quantity

- +

Spend over £29.50 to receive free delivery (England, Wales & Central Scotland)

Delivery Information

Standard delivery is free to most postcodes in the UK for orders over £29.50. Click here for a list of postcodes where additional delivery charges apply.

For orders under £29.50, standard delivery is £6.00.

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.

Download Crib Sheet

milk type
Sheep

coagulant
Vegetarian Coagulant

milk treatment
Thermised

location
Riseley, Berkshire

milk source
Bought-in

season
All year

cheesemakers
The Wigmore Family

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While its character is drawn from the Berkshire landscape, Spenwood was inspired by a Pecorino cheese encountered by Anne Wigmore while visiting the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.

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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 a very different landscape: that of the Mediterranean island of Sardinia. When its maker, Anne Wigmore, visited Sardinia during a life-changing six-month sabbatical from her job, she fell in love with the wonderful local ewe's milk cheeses, particularly Pecorino Sardo, and decided on her return 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 unpasteurised 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 with this cheese

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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Accompaniments

Brown Bread Crackers
£2.90

Tracklements Fig Relish
£4.20

Serving Suggestions

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

Recipes

Cacio E Pepe

Use Spenwood in place of the pecorino in this classic pasta dish.

Pea & Tarragon Arancini with Saffron Mayonnaise

Deep fried risotto balls from Giovanna Ryan of Three Girls Cook. Try usng Spenwood in place of the pecorino.

FAQs

How much cheese to buy?

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.

How should I store my cheese?

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.