Lymeswold cheese was a mild soft blue cheese dreamt up by the Milk Marketing Board in 1982. There were two reasons. Firstly to use up a surplus of milk. Secondly to combat the rise of Brie & Camembert cheese in the UK, now common in supermarkets but 40 years ago much less so.
The cheese was launched at the Savoy in London by Tory Minister Peter Walker in 1982. Unfortunately demand far exceeded the amount that could be produced and after 10 years the cheese ceased production.
Dominic Sandbrook (Times 28th Sept) provides a brief history of cheese focusing on Cheshire and Stilton, righly tying the rise of both-as well as cheddar- to the rise of market capitalism.
Lymeswold however was a failure of market capitalism, although it was said to be Margaret Thatcher’s favourite cheese. Even here contradictions abounded. Churchill’s favourite cheese was Gruyere.
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