Duckett's Caerphilly
- Raw
- Animal Rennet
- Age: 3-4 Months
- Cow Milk
- United Kingdom
- ApproachableAdventurous
- SoftHard
Duckett’s Caerphilly harkens back to a time before this historic Welsh cheese started being mass-produced. The center is firm and crumbly with tangy citrus notes. Get closer to the natural rind and it’s creamy and yielding, with the flavor of buttery, earthy baked potato. Snackable and rustic, Caerphilly is a taste of cheese history, originating in Wales but with a centuries-long history in England. It’s our top picnic pick, with a side of Effie’s Oatcakes and B&R Farms Apricot Spread.
“I expected Caerphilly to taste like cheddar, but it’s totally unique! It strikes the balance between earthy and bright, crumbly and creamy. When I can’t decide what I want to snack on, this just hits the spot.”
Allergens: Milk
- Caerphilly originated in Wales, named for the town of Caerphilly in the southern part of the country.
- English cheesemakers started making Caerphilly in the late 1800s. Because of its relatively short aging time, Caerphilly was a way for cheddar producers to generate sales while their other cheese matured.
- During World War II, Caerphilly became more mass-produced, and some of what’s produced today follows that trend. Duckett’s is one of the few wheels made according to Caerphilly’s pre-war tradition.
- It’s crafted by Westcombe Dairy in Somerset, England, and named for Chris Duckett, a local cheesemaker who was responsible for preserving the traditional craft of Caerphilly.
- When Chris retired, Westcombe kept the history alive by adopting his recipe and his brine tank, which maintains a special microbial community.
- They use the same raw milk they use for their cheddar, following a similar process until the point where the cheddaring would occur.
- Instead of stacking and turning the slabs of curd as they would for cheddar, the curds are drained, milled, and pressed into molds before their bath in brine.
- The wheels age for three to four months in a dedicated cellar created just for Caerphilly, where the controlled temperature and humidity dries the outside of the cheese, creating the earthy natural rind.
- The cheese’s interior makes for a unique eating experience, with the texture and flavor changing as you get further from the rind. You get tangy and crumbly; mushroomy and fudgy all in one cheese.
When you receive your cheese, unpack the order and refrigerate the items. We recommend using the cheese paper we send most of our products in to store the cheese. The cheese paper helps cover the items and stop them from drying out, while also allowing the cheese to breathe. Since cheese is mold, it's a living thing! If you cut off air circulation to the cheese, you can actually cause it to suffocate and spoil at a faster rate.
