Banbury cheese was an English cheese produced in Banbury, Oxfordshire. Once one of the town's most prestigious exports, and nationally famous, the production of the cheese went into decline by the 18th century, and was eventually forgotten. The cheese is best known today through an insult in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor (1597).
Banbury cheeses first appear in the historical record in 1430, when fourteen were sent to John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford, among supplies for France. [1] In 1586, William Camden spoke of the cheese as a source of fame for the town. [2] The earliest printed cookbook to make reference to the cheese was Thomas Dawson's The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin (1594), used in a recipe for the "tarte of Cheese". [3]
The cheese was renowned in its day. It was given as a gift to several significant figures, including Thomas Cromwell (1533 and 1538), Sir Joseph Williamson (1677), and Horace Walpole (1768). [1] Barnaby Googe, in his 1614 guide to husbandry, called in the third best cheese in England. Robert Burton was even more flattering in his Anatomy of Melancholy (1621): "Of all cheeses, I take that kind which we call Banbury Cheese to be the best". [4] According to the Victoria County History, "in the sixteenth century the name of Banbury at once brought to the mind of the hearer the famous cheeses". [5]
Historically, Banbury's chief exports were its ale, cheese, and cakes. Banbury ale enjoyed a high of popularity in the Middle Ages, but was virtually unknown outside the town into the 16th century; [1] Banbury cakes maintain popularity today. [2] The production of Banbury cheese essentially constituted a cottage industry. [6] The centre of the cheese-making industry in the area was in the Northamptonshire hamlets, Grimsbury , Nethercote and to some extent Huscote, Banbury though some producers were found within the town and in nearby Oxfordshire hamlets. [1] [7] Records from 1600 show twenty-one residences in the parish of Cropredy, four miles north of Banbury, were cheese-makers. [4] The first Thursday after Old Michaelmas was traditionally a cheese fair in Banbury. [4] [8]
The production of Banbury cheese declined into the 18th century; Edward Chamberlayne in 1700, Daniel Defoe in 1727, and Richard Pococke in 1756 were among the last to comment on it. [4] [5] By the 19th-century, Alfred Beesley reported in his History of Banbury (1841), "the oft-recorded fame of the town for Cheese has departed from it, and the knowledge of the manufacture of the real "Banbury Cheese" is perhaps now unknown". [9] A special form of Banbury cheese, latter-made cheese, was the last to disappear. By 1840, the number of producers of this cheese was diminishing, and in 1848, for the first time, none was offered for sale at the Banbury fair. [10] Local historian Martin Thomas has speculated that the late-18th-century Inclosure Acts were responsible for the decline in the production of the cheese. As land was taken from commoners and appropriated by new landlords, the new owners may have preferred the more profitable sheep over cattle, and so the town would begin to lack the products necessary for the cheese's production. [6]
Some attempt has been made to revive the cheese. In 1965, a recipe for the cheese was rediscovered. The Historical Society of Banbury attempted to find a cheese-maker to produce the cheese for the November 1969 annual dinner of the Society, but no capable cheese-makers were found, so the enterprise failed. [11]
The cheese was made from cow's milk, with a golden yellow colour and a strong flavour. It was made in rounds, with an outer skin, and was only about one inch thick. [3] [7] Jones' Good Huswifes Handmaid (1594) described it with a keen, sharp flavour; Defoe described it as soft and rich; and Camden described it as creamy. [7] According to Defoe, a special form of very rich Banbury cheese was late in the year, never before Michaelmas, called "latter-made" cheese. It was white and one-inch thick—otherwise unremarkable as compared to other soft cheeses—but commanded high prices and was much more delicious. Defoe reports it cost 1s 6d per pound, new, and about 1s 9d, ripe (equivalent £8.90 and £10.40 in 2010 GBP, according to Thomas). [4]
A recipe for the cheese survives in the 15th/16th-century manuscript, Sloane MS 1201:
Take a thin cheese vat, and hot milk as it comes from the cow. And run it forth withal in summer time. And knead your curds but once. And knead them not too small, but break them once with your hands. And in summer time salt the curds nothing but let the cheese lie 3 days unsalted. And then salt them. And lay one upon another but not too much salt. And so shall they gather butter. And in winter time in likewise, but then hot your milk. And salt your curds for then it will gather butter of itself. Take the wrung whey of the same milk and let it stand a day or two till it have a cream and it shall make as good butter as any other. [6] [11]
In The Merry Wives of Windsor, Bardolph addresses Abraham Slender with reference to the Banbury cheese:
You Banbury cheese!
— The Merry Wives of Windsor (1597), 1.1.126 [12]
This insult alludes to the thin proportions of the cheese, especially after its rind was removed, mocking Slender's name and figure. [12]
This comparison was apparently a common one. A variant is found as early as 1538, when James Dyer reported that a judge in the Court of Common Pleas pithily "compared the case to a Banbury cheese, which is worth little when the parings are cut off. And here the case is brief in substance, if the superfluous trifling that is pleaded be taken away". [13] A similar insult is made in Jack Dunn's Entertainment (1601): "Put off your clothes and you are like a Banbury cheese—nothing but paring". [14] According to linguist Frederic S. Marquardt, writing in 1928, "you Banbury cheese" was still in common use as a part of American slang; a simplified descendant of the insult was "you big cheese." [15]
Cottage cheese is a curdled milk product with a mild flavor and a creamy, heterogenous, soupy texture. It is made from skimmed milk by draining curds but retaining some of the whey and keeping the curds loose. An essential step in the manufacturing process distinguishing cottage cheese from other fresh cheeses is the addition of a "dressing" to the curd grains, usually cream, which is mainly responsible for the taste of the product. Cottage cheese is not aged.
Feta is a Greek brined white cheese made from sheep's milk or from a mixture of sheep and goat's milk. It is soft, with small or no holes, a compact touch, few cuts, and no skin. Crumbly with a slightly grainy texture, it is formed into large blocks and aged in brine. Its flavor is tangy and salty, ranging from mild to sharp. Feta is used as a table cheese, in salads such as Greek salad, and in pastries, notably the phyllo-based Greek dishes spanakopita "spinach pie" and tyropita "cheese pie". It is often served with olive oil or olives, and sprinkled with aromatic herbs such as oregano. It can also be served cooked, as part of a sandwich, in omelettes, and many other dishes.
Cheesecake is a dessert made with a soft fresh cheese, eggs, and sugar. It may have a crust or base made from crushed cookies, graham crackers, pastry, or sometimes sponge cake. Cheesecake may be baked or unbaked, and is usually refrigerated.
Shortcake generally refers to a dessert with a crumbly scone-like texture. There are multiple variations of shortcake, most of which are served with fruit and cream. One of the most popular is strawberry shortcake, which is typically served with whipped cream. Other variations common in the UK are blackberry and clotted cream shortcake and lemon berry shortcake, which is served with lemon curd in place of cream.
Cheesemaking is the craft of making cheese. The production of cheese, like many other food preservation processes, allows the nutritional and economic value of a food material, in this case milk, to be preserved in concentrated form. Cheesemaking allows the production of the cheese with diverse flavors and consistencies.
Hoop cheese is a traditional cow's milk cheese that was common in the Southern United States from the early to mid 1900s. It is still available today, although it is much less common. It is a simple cheese prepared by separating the whey from curds. Today, the American Dairy Association has no criteria in place to classify hoop cheese, although it has sometimes been referred to as a type of pot cheese.
Blue cheese is any of a wide range of cheeses made with the addition of cultures of edible molds, which create blue-green spots or veins through the cheese. Blue cheeses vary in taste from very mild to strong, and from slightly sweet to salty or sharp; in colour from pale to dark; and in consistency from liquid or very soft to firm or hard. They may have a distinctive smell, either from the mold or from various specially cultivated bacteria such as Brevibacterium linens.
Paneer, also known as ponir, is a fresh acid-set cheese common in the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent made from full-fat buffalo milk or cow milk. It is a non-aged, non-melting soft cheese made by curdling milk with a fruit- or vegetable-derived acid, such as lemon juice.
Kugel is a baked casserole, most commonly made from lokshen or potato. It is a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish dish, often served on Shabbat and Jewish holidays. American Jews also serve it for Thanksgiving dinner.
Latvian cuisine typically consists of agricultural products, with meat featuring in most main meal dishes. Fish is commonly consumed due to Latvia's location on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea.
Boxty is a traditional Irish potato pancake. The dish is mostly associated with the north midlands, north Connacht and southern Ulster, in particular the counties of Leitrim, Mayo, Sligo, Fermanagh, Longford, and Cavan. There are many recipes but all contain finely grated, raw potatoes and all are served fried.
Tibetan cuisine includes the culinary traditions and practices of the Tibetan people in the Tibet region. The cuisine reflects the Tibetan landscape of mountains and plateaus and includes influences from neighbors. It is known for its use of noodles, goat, yak, mutton, dumplings, cheese, butter, yogurt, and soups. Vegetarianism has been debated by religious practitioners since the 11th century but is not prevalent due to the difficulty of growing vegetables, and cultural traditions promoting consumption of meat.
A Banbury cake is a spiced, oval-shaped, currant-filled pastry. Since the mid-19th century, Banbury cakes have grown increasingly similar to Eccles cakes; but the earlier versions were quite different to the modern pastry. Besides currants, the filling typically includes mixed peel, brown sugar, rum, and nutmeg. Banbury cakes are traditionally enjoyed with afternoon tea.
Cheese is a dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk. During production, milk is usually acidified and either the enzymes of rennet or bacterial enzymes with similar activity are added to cause the casein to coagulate. The solid curds are then separated from the liquid whey and pressed into finished cheese. Some cheeses have aromatic molds on the rind, the outer layer, or throughout.
Quark or quarg is a type of fresh dairy product made from milk. The milk is soured, usually by adding lactic acid bacteria cultures, and strained once the desired curdling is achieved. It can be classified as fresh acid-set cheese. Traditional quark can be made without rennet, but in modern dairies small quantities of rennet are typically added. It is soft, white and unaged, and usually has no salt added.
The Cornhill Corn Exchange was a commercial building in the Market Place, Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. The façade of the building, which has been preserved and now forms an entrance to a shopping centre, is a Grade II listed building.
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