Red Leicester producers embrace wedding craze
David Clarke said Red Leicester was a popular choice for cheese wedding cakes
- Published
One of the last two producers of the famous Red Leicester cheese in its home county has said they are proud to still be making the product.
Speaking as he prepared for the British Artisan Cheese Awards, held in Melton Mowbray, David Clarke said his farm's decision to produce the orange cheese was "the best decision we ever made".
He said the cheese, made at Sparkenhoe Farm, was the perfect base for the recent trend of cheese wedding cakes.
More than 500 cheese products were judged at the awards, held this week.
Judging took place at the British Artisan Cheese Awards on Thursday
Matthew O'Callaghan, the organiser behind the British Artisan Cheese Awards said Long Clawson Dairy and Sparkenhoe Farm were now the only two producers of Red Leicester cheese in Leicestershire.
Sparkenhoe Red is traditionally matured at a family farm near the site of the Battle of Bosworth in the Leicestershire countryside.
They even found a cannonball in one of the fields where their herd of cows graze.
Mr Clarke said he diversified into making cheese about 20 years ago.
"Deciding to make Red Leicester was the best decision we ever made because there was a yawning gap in the market just waiting for someone to make a farm produced raw milk red Leicester cheese," he said.
The particularly large size of the traditional Red Leicester at 14 or 18 inches makes it popular for the trend of wedding cakes made of cheese.
Categories at the British Artisan Cheese Awards included soft, semi-soft, blue, cow, sheep, goat, vegetarian and organic.
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