Tower of whole and smaller cuts of Lincolnshire Poacher Cheddar cheese, showing the outer rind and smooth-textured, Comté-like paste

Lincolnshire Poacher

West Country Cheddar meets Comté in this cheese, which typically boasts a smooth, densely creamy texture and flavours that can range from rich, savoury and brothy to long, sweet and almost pineapple-like.

PORTION

250g

MINIMUM 250 g

500g

MINIMUM 500 g

1kg

MINIMUM 1000 g

2kg

MINIMUM 2000 g

Cake Layer 5cm x 32cm

MINIMUM 4700 g

Regular price £7.45 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
Cow

ingredients
MILK, salt, rennet

coagulant
Animal Rennet

milk treatment
Raw

location
Alford, Lincolnshire

milk source
Own herd

breed
Holstein; Various in minority

season
All year

average age
18-24 Months

cheesemakers
Simon Jones; Richard Tagg

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Lincolnshire Poacher is one of very few cheeses to be produced on the east coast of the country, where the loamy or clay soils are usually ill-suited to dairy farming. Thankfully, the lush pastures of Ulceby Grange farm sit on suitably chalky land.

background

Although the loamy or clay soils of Lincolnshire are usually ill-suited to dairy farming, the lush pastures of Simon Jones's Ulceby Grange farm sit on chalky land – and it is this, combined with the mild climate, that has made Lincolnshire Poacher one of very few cheeses to be produced on the east coast of the country. Though the farm has been in the family since 1917, the Jones family didn't start making cheese until the 1990s, when a young Simon returned from agricultural college. Eager to turn his hand toward cheesemaking, he enlisted the help of renowned Welsh cheesemaker Dougal Campbell to develop a recipe, and the result – which incorporates the hallmarks of a hard mountain cheese into a traditional West Country Cheddar – proved so popular that customers at the local cheese shop initially had to be rationed to quarter of a pound each. Simon's brother Tim has since joined him on the farm, and in 1995 Simon employed a full-time cheesemaker, Richard Tagg. Today, it is Jon Collins whose job it is to transform milk from their 230-strong herd of Holstein Friesians into cheese on an almost daily basis. Once the curds have been moulded, salted and pressed for 36 hours, the resulting cheese truckles are matured on wooden boards and turned regularly to ensure even maturation. The brothers recently invested in a robot for turning the truckles, improving consistency still further. Though some Lincolnshire Poacher will be aged for up to 36 months, we believe the finest tasting truckles are between a year and 24 months old.

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our work with this cheese

Tim and Simon do an excellent job managing the different profiles of cheese to sell at different ages, so by the time we come to visit them on our thrice-yearly tasting trips they will have picked out those cheeses they think are most suited to Neal's Yard Dairy. There are two styles we prefer: the first, big and forward, with lots of tropical fruits; the second boasting warm mountain cheese flavours, similar to Comté. Our long and close relationship with the brothers means we will also often be asked to comment on the experiments they are conducting. For example, our most recent visit saw us tasting cheeses that had been scalded to a much higher temperature, in order to help them better understand the parameters of temperature in their cheesemaking.

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Accompaniments

Rosebud Old Yorkshire Chutney
£4.95

Rosebud Piccalilli Chutney
£5.15

Serving Suggestions

Melt on top of buttered crumpets as an alternative to cheese on toast.

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.