Derby cheese production to return to county

Derby cheese has not been made in Derbyshire since 2009

Derby cheese is set to be produced in its home county for the first time in 16 years.

Different from its herb-infused cousin Sage Derby, Derby cheese was one of the first to be made when Britain's first purpose-built cheese factory opened in Longford, Derbyshire, in 1870.

Hartington Creamery in Pikehall stopped making it in 2009 due to its long maturation period and the market "dominance" of similarly-tasting Cheddar.

After deciding to produce the cheese again, the owner of Hartington Creamery, Robert Gosling, said: "The reason we brought it back is because people want local cheese with local provenance."

Derby cheese being made at the Longford cheese factory in the 1930s

Mr Gosling said Derby cheese was a "creamy, rich, and mild" cheese, similar to Cheddar.

"In Cheshire, farmers would have made Cheshire cheese. In Lancashire, they made Lancashire cheese and obviously in Derbyshire, they made Derby cheese," said Mr Gosling.

"It was a specific recipe known locally and suited to the type of milk and climate of the particular area.

"It kind of disappeared because Cheddar sort of took dominance in the hard cheese market."

Mr Gosling said he wanted to bring back a product that was different.

"We make a lot of cheese, such as Blue Stilton, Dovedale Blue, Devonshire Gold, so we ideally wanted something that wasn't a blue cheese," he added.

"We brought traditional Sage Derby back a few years ago, so we've decided to bring the traditional Derby back to the market as well."

Unlike Stilton and Buxton Blue, Derby cheese is not a protected designation of origin (PDO) product.

However, Hartington Creamery said it would now only be made in Derbyshire.