A HEREFORDSHIRE cheesemaker has scooped three prestigious awards for its artisan cheese.
Monkland Cheesemakers has won two silver awards at the Artisan Cheese Awards for its Little Hereford and Blue Monk cheeses, and a bronze for its Monkland cheese.
The business was set up 29 years ago by Karen and Mark Hindle, with cheesemaker Dean Storey having learnt the ropes from them and recently taken on the dairy.
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Before becoming a cheesemaker, Mr Storey worked for 20 years as a chef, including at the All Saints cafe in Herford.
He said he had always used Monklands cheese, especially Little Hereford, and had even had it at his own wedding.
Mr Storey said it was "fabulous" to have won the awards, saying: "It was especially exciting to have them judged by cheesemongers and fellow cheesemakers who have been doing it for decades."
He has been making cheese for three years, and said it was "fascinating" to learn the process, which for many of Monkland's cheeses, takes nine months.
Mr Storey explained that the dairy receives 1,000 litres of milk each day, which is turned into 100 kilograms of cheese. The cheeses then spend two nights being pressed before being placed in the maturing room, where they sit for the next nine months.
In this time, the cheesemakers have to tend to the cheeses by turning them and ensuring the humidity is correct in the room.
Out of the award-winning cheeses, Mr Storey said the Little Hereford, described as "somewhere between a Caerphilly and a Cheddar", is his favourite.
Remarkably, the original recipe for this cheese dates back to 1917 and was by Ellen Yeld, the chief dairy instructress for Herefordshire. It was resurrected by the Hindles in 1996 when they opened the cheesemakers, and is now made with raw milk from a farm in Brimfield.
Mr Storey says his hopes for the future are to keep improving his own skills and the quality of his cheese, and to continue "establishing Monkland Cheesemakers as a good Herefordshire name".
