Skip to main content

A "CHEESY" day out to "CHEDDAR"

Of all the cheeses in the world, which is the most popular one?? "Cheddar" Cheese of course!! And what if I tell you that I recently visited the village from where it first originated?? Wow!! Right?? Some of you must be already knowing the history of a Cheddar Cheese but I recently came to know. Cheddar, is a small beautiful, quiet little village situated in the south west of England in the county of Somerset. Cheddar was our last weekend's long drive destination. When I "googled" about the place, I then came to know that it is the birth place of "Cheddar Cheese" . That made the trip more interesting. I just want to share my experience with you all thus here goes a small travelogue of the Cheddar Village famous for its CHEESE!!
This small scenic village attracts many tourists firstly because of the CHEESE which it produces, secondly the Great River Gorge on the base the village is located & lastly the dark, mysterious yet beautiful caves within the gorge. For the thrill seekers, they can go for a Rock Climbing adventure and hiking here at Cheddar Gorge. But we opted for a safe Double deck bus drive to the top of the Gorge. :) This Cheddar Gorge is a place of wild grassland nature reserve and home to many rare species of plants and animals like the endangered horse shoe bat and the ram.
After a ride in the bus, we then went inside the caves formed in the gorge. The Gogh Caves are famous for its spectacular stalactite & stalagmite formations (remember reading in geography??) whose beautiful colours are mirrored in the pools of water here and there. It was truly a treat to the eyes.
And then we saw a separate section up in the caves where blocks of cheese were stored in wooden racks. It seems that these caves provide the required temperature for the cheddar cheese to mature for certain months. This started off 100 years ago and they still follow it. Although, nowadays Cheddar Cheese are now made all over the world, Cheddar village seems to produce their pioneered cheese even now and in the authentic way.

We then visited the only Cheese Factory in Cheddar, the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Factory, where they showed us how they make a CHEDDAR CHEESE. This company is unique because they still make the cheese with their own hands. The process of making a big block of cheese takes 7-8 hours and then is kept for maturing. Some as I said is kept to age in the caves.
We got to taste different types of cheese, from mild to strong, some stuffed with chillies and herbs & of course the Cave cheese. I just couldn't resist and bought a few different cheese slices home. I made Cauliflower & Cheddar cheese Casserole after a few days, recipe will be soon be put up. :)

After the cheese shopping, we strolled in the streets of Cheddar going in and out of different shops including the Cheddar Sweet shop where candies were made openly for the public to see. Not a big fan of candy so didn't buy anything!! :) We climbed the 274 steps of Jacob's Ladder to see the entire village & the massive Gorge from the view tower.

It was indeed a CHEESY experience!! :P


Comments

  1. Priya Suresh3 November 2011 at 13:19

    Wow seems u had a wonderful cheesy day..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown3 November 2011 at 14:29

    wow awesomem pics dear....love all!


    Herbs and Flowers - "Parsley"
    100 Friends/Followers & GIVEAWAY

    ReplyDelete
  3. veenadamodar4 November 2011 at 06:09

    Lovely pictures. Thanks for the detailed information.
    Veena valiamma

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kimby8 November 2011 at 13:18

    Rohini, it was a TREAT to go "touring" with you in this post! Thanks for a great-write up and for the history behind the cheese -- your cave photos were AWESOME, too!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Mary11 November 2011 at 21:58

    This is so cool! I'd never heard of the Gogh Caves and they look amazing. I love discovering things like this through other bloggers. Have a GREAT weekend!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

3 Ingredients / 3 Minute Microwave PEDAS

It's Celebration time all the way!! Why? Because My FB fan page has just reached 150 "Likes" & am so thrilled. Also, the festivities will start from August in India. First coming up is "Raksha Bandhan", the festival which celebrates the relationship & bond of a Brother & Sister. So I thought of coming up with an easy to make Indian Sweet Dish, "Peda". A "Peda" is a North Indian Milk Sweet mainly consisting of Khoa (thickened whole milk), sugar & other Indian flavourings like saffron & cardamom seeds. Pedas are usually made during festivities or for offerings made in the temple for deities. This recipe is a simple process of the same "time consuming" Pedas where the Milk is kept on the heat for hours to make khoa & then goes to the next process. This is the first time for me as well & I have taken this recipe from "showmethecurry.com" the cookery website of Hetal & Anuja. And I must say...
6 comments
Read more

Hundred Thousand Dollar worth Rava Upma (Indian Semolina Polenta)

Now you must be thinking, who doesn't know to make Rava Upma? What is so special about it? Every 5th person residing in India knows to make it and is a common breakfast item in almost all the Indian household. We Indians take this dish for granted. Well up until a week back, even I thought the same about this dish and looked down on Rava Upma. Not anymore. Last week I read a news about an Indian born, New York Chef Floyd Cardoz who won the top prize of £100,000 in an American show called "Top Chef Masters". No prize for guessing, he made RAVA UPMA!! After reading the article, I immediately decided that the recipe of a basic version of Upma must be on my blog. And here I am sharing the if not a "million dollar", then atleast a "hundred thousand dollar worth Upma Recipe". :) Upma is a popular South Indian Breakfast dish, mainly prepared by Semolina. It has a great resemblance with the Italian Polenta. It can be made with many variations by adding vegeta...
13 comments
Read more

Paneer Couscous Salad

Last two weeks were so hectic for me that I didn't find time to even open my blog page. Lots of friends coming home, cooking, eating junk, visiting places, our famous festival "Vishu" came up  & finally I ended up getting sick. I am still in bed but was so frustrated doing nothing that I thought let me post one of my healthy salad recipes which I had promised earlier. I saw this salad recipe in one of the BBC cookery shows & was quiet eager to make it. The original recipe suggests the use of Halloumi instead of Paneer. Halloumi is a type of Greek cheese made of mostly Goat's milk. It has the same texture of that as Paneer, hence I used Paneer. Must say, It was quite filling and delicious, perfect for a Summer afternoon. Ingredients: 200 gm couscous 200 ml hot vegetable stock / hot chicken stock 400 g can chickpeas (drained and rinsed) 1 tbsp olive oil 1/2 courgette/zucchini (sliced) 200 gm paneer (Indian Cottage Cheese), cut 1 inch length wise 2 medi...
6 comments
Read more