Welsh cheese has a long history, but today's cheesemaking industry is far more varied than the country's best-known Caerphilly.
Wales is home to farmhouse cheesemakers producing traditional styles alongside producers making blue cheese, washed-rind cheese, Gouda-style cheese, goat's cheese and cheeses made from sheep's milk.
Some businesses work directly from farms, while others operate dedicated dairies. Many are small independent producers selling through farm shops, markets, independent retailers and online shops.
The Local Welsh Food directory includes Welsh cheesemakers across several parts of the country, including Caws Teifi, Caws Cenarth, Caws Môn, Cosyn Cymru, Caws Rhyd y Delyn and Snowdonia Cheese Co.
Traditional Welsh Caerphilly
No guide to Welsh cheese can avoid Caerphilly.
Traditional Welsh Caerphilly, or Traditional Welsh Caerffili, has Protected Geographical Indication status. The protected cheese is made from cow's milk produced on Welsh farms and is associated with cheesemaking traditions that have been established in Wales for generations.
The modern Traditional Welsh Caerphilly recipe is based on one written down by Annie Evans in 1907, although the cheese's history is older.
The cheese is a flat, round, fresh cheese with a creamy-white texture and a mild flavour with a slightly lemony character. It can be eaten young from 10 days old or matured for up to six months, when its flavour becomes fuller while remaining relatively mild.
Traditional Welsh Caerphilly received protected status in 2017, with the designation formally announced in January 2018. It was the first Welsh cheese to receive protected food-name status.
That protection means the name refers to a specific product with defined characteristics and production requirements rather than simply any cheese made in Wales and labelled Caerphilly.
Caws Teifi
Caws Teifi is based at Glynhynod Farm in Ceredigion and has been making cheese there since the early 1980s.
The family-run cheesemaker produces a broad range including Natural Teifi, Mature Teifi, Heritage Teifi, Teifi Halloumi, Celtic Promise, Saval, Gwennol and Traditional Welsh Caerphilly. It also makes Teifi butter.
The producer describes Teifi as a Gouda-style cheese and makes several varieties using raw milk. Its range also includes washed-rind cheeses and organic Halloumi.
Heritage Teifi is an extra-mature Gouda-style cheese aged for more than two years. The cheesemaker describes it as having a strong, nutty and savoury character, with naturally occurring tyrosine crystals.
Caws Teifi also operates a farm shop at Glynhynod Farm, which is open Monday to Saturday.
Caws Cenarth
Caws Cenarth is another established West Wales cheesemaker.
The family business began producing cheese commercially in 1987, drawing on a family cheesemaking tradition. Its current range includes Golden Cenarth, Cenarth Brie, Perl Wen, Perl Las and Thelma's Original Caerffili.
Perl Las is a blue cheese, while Perl Wen is a soft cheese. The producer also makes a range of Caerffili cheeses.
Caws Cenarth says its cheeses are made at its dairy in West Wales and that the business has been producing Welsh cheese for three generations.
Sheep's-milk cheese
Welsh cheesemaking is not restricted to cow's milk.
Cosyn Cymru, based in Bethesda, produces sheep's-milk cheese and yoghurt in small batches. Its range includes Brefu bach, Olwyn fawr, Caws Chwaral and Caws Calan, alongside sheep's-milk yoghurt.
Several of the cheeses use raw ewe's milk, according to the Local Welsh Food producer listing.
That makes Cosyn Cymru a useful example of the breadth of modern Welsh dairy production, particularly for shoppers looking beyond conventional cow's-milk cheeses.
Welsh cheddar
Wales also has producers working in the cheddar tradition.
Snowdonia Cheese Co is based in Rhyl and produces wax-sealed cheddar truckles. Its range includes Black Bomber, Red Storm and Rock Star Vintage Mature Cheddar. The company also sells chutneys, crackers and cheese-based products.
The Blaenafon Cheddar Company in Torfaen is another Welsh producer listed by Local Welsh Food, making handmade Welsh cheddar and cheese gifts in Blaenavon.
These businesses demonstrate that Welsh cheese encompasses both long-established cheese styles and more contemporary approaches to presentation, maturation and flavour.
Cheese from Anglesey
Caws Môn is based in Gwalchmai on Anglesey and produces Welsh cheese with an emphasis on the island's cheesemaking identity and local provenance. Local Welsh Food lists Welsh cheese and Anglesey cheese among its main products.
Caws Rhyd y Delyn, based in Llangefni, is another Anglesey producer. Its listed range includes Mon Las Gouda, Mon farmhouse cheese and blue cheese.
The presence of several cheesemakers on Anglesey adds another regional dimension to Welsh cheese and demonstrates that production is spread well beyond the areas traditionally associated with Caerphilly.
How to build a Welsh cheeseboard
There is no single correct Welsh cheeseboard, but choosing cheeses with different textures and levels of maturity gives you a straightforward way to explore the country's cheesemaking.
A young Traditional Welsh Caerphilly provides a mild, fresh option. A mature Gouda-style cheese such as Heritage Teifi offers a harder, more developed style. A blue cheese such as Perl Las brings a completely different flavour profile, while a soft cheese such as Perl Wen changes the texture again.
For something different, a sheep's-milk cheese from Cosyn Cymru provides another perspective on Welsh dairy production.
The important point is that "Welsh cheese" is not one particular style. It is a category that includes cheeses made from different milks, using different production methods and with very different maturation periods.
Where to buy Welsh cheese
The easiest way to find Welsh cheese is through the producers themselves, farm shops, independent retailers, markets and specialist food shops.
Some cheesemakers sell directly from their farms.
Caws Teifi has a farm shop at Glynhynod Farm, while Caws Cenarth sells its cheeses directly from its West Wales dairy and through its online shop.
The Local Welsh Food directory can also be used to discover cheesemakers by location and category. Individual listings identify available buying options where those details have been verified.
Because product ranges and opening arrangements can change, checking the producer's own current information before travelling is advisable.
Welsh cheese is more than Caerphilly
Traditional Welsh Caerphilly remains an important part of the country's food heritage, with protected status helping to define the product and its connection with Welsh milk and cheesemaking.
But it represents only one part of the modern Welsh cheese industry.
From Ceredigion's Teifi cheeses and West Wales' Caws Cenarth range to sheep's-milk cheeses in Gwynedd, cheddar from Denbighshire and Torfaen, and cheesemakers on Anglesey, Wales offers a broad selection of styles.
For anyone interested in Welsh food, cheese is therefore one of the best categories to explore through the country's independent producers.
Sources
Business Wales - Traditional Welsh Caerphilly / Traditional Welsh Caerffili PGI.
Welsh Government - Traditional Welsh Caerphilly protected status.
Business Wales - Welsh Geographical Indication scheme.
Local Welsh Food - producer directory.
Local Welsh Food - Caws Teifi Cheese.
Caws Teifi Cheese - history and farm.
Caws Teifi Cheese - current range.
Caws Cenarth - company and cheese range.
Local Welsh Food - Cosyn Cymru.
Local Welsh Food - Snowdonia Cheese Co.
Local Welsh Food - Caws Môn.
Local Welsh Food - Caws Rhyd y Delyn.
