First published in Lancashire Life, July 2007

One of the things I love most about cheese is its tradition and history, and the fact that someone has taken months and sometimes even years making it for me. To store it I need to keep it chilled and moist, and to eat it I need do nothing more than slowly bring it to room temperature - real convenience food.

Great cheese is complex and sophisticated. It should have a relatively high fat content, which begins to melt and coat your tongue as you eat it. If it’s spectacularly good, when it melts the flavour should linger with a number of tastes bursting in your mouth. If the flavour stops half way down your tongue, the cheese is likely to be poor quality and has probably been over-chilled, made quickly and matured in plastic wrapping.

There are a number of different types of cheese, from soft to hard to blue, and it can be made from goat’s, buffalo’s, sheep's or cow’s milk. Although I am a devotee of blue runny cheese in the evening, I prefer a different type of cheese during the day in a sandwich or on a beautiful ‘ploughman’s’ plate with some celery and chutney. When this occasion arises I like to use a hard cheese like Lancashire. It’s been made since the 13th Century and can take only two months or so to mature. When it’s young it has a creamy texture, but as it gets more mature it becomes crumbly with a lovely buttery salty twang.

When it’s hot, it really comes into its own, and is without doubt the Number One cooking cheese. My personal favourite is Shorrock’s Black Beauty Bomb, a creamy Lancashire made by Andrew and Pauline Shorrock in Goosnargh, using methods and recipes handed down from three generations. It comes in a round black waxed jacket. You slice off the top, scoop out the cheese and use it to make slowly grilled hot melty cheese on toast. Add a slice of crisp naturally salty bacon and a couple of drops of Worcestershire sauce - a marvelous tea time treat.

There are some great blue cheeses in the North West too, which can be gritty, rough, dry or sticky in texture, and can come in a variety of colours. Other recommendations include Cringlebrook’s handmade Goat’s Cheese, Dew-Lay’s multi-award winning Garstang Blue and Beacon Fell Lancashire from Singleton’s Dairy. If you think only the French can make seriously good cheese, seek out some of Lancashire’s best cheesemakers and I guarantee you will be very impressed.

AD & PE Shorrock - Goosnargh

Phone: 01772 865250

Available direct from their farm, at farmers' markets and online from www.northernharvest.co.uk

Cringlebrook - Goosnargh
Phone: 01772 865279

Available at farmers' markets and from good cheese shops.

Dew-Lay - Garstang
Phone: 01995 602335. Website: http://www.dewlay.com

Available from cheese shops and national supermarket chains.

Singleton's Dairy – Longridge

Phone: 01772 782112. Website: www.singletons.uk.com

Widely available from cheese shops and supermarkets.