December Cheese of the Month: Yorkshire Wensleydale & Cranberries

One of our most popular and much-loved cheeses is the sweet and fruity Yorkshire Wensleydale & Cranberries.

Our classic Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese, carefully combined with the delicate fruity succulence of sweet cranberries to create a delicious balance of savoury and sweet, and the perfect cheese for snacking, nibbling, and cooking too!

Did you know that Yorkshire Wensleydale & Cranberries cheese was an original creation from here at the Wensleydale Creamery in 1996?  Due to its huge popularity it has since been copied and replicated by cheesemakers across the UK and beyond…. but ours remains the original and of course the best!

Did you know…?

As with all good stories, this one begins in a pub! A member of our team was enjoying a quiet drink with a friend, who happened to be a supplier of high-quality dried fruits. Discussions turned to where their respective industries were heading and what new ideas were coming and they cooked up the incredible idea of putting cranberries into cheese!

Following some careful experimentation, tasting, testing and development, Yorkshire Wensleydale & Cranberries was born! It has since won numerous awards and now accounts for around a quarter of the Creamery’s sales, and is one of its most successful export products too!

Perfect Pairings

Delicious on its own with a cracker, such as Sawley Kitchen’s Cranberry & Walnut, with their slight chewiness is a perfect way to round off a meal without reaching for the biscuit tin!

Our Yorkshire Wensleydale & Cranberries pairs beautifully with a rich, sticky preserve like Chutney for Yorkshire Wensleydale & Cranberries Cheese from fellow Yorkshire artisans Rosebud Preserves, or how about a dark fruity cider or a class of crisp Rosé Wine to really make the sweet and savoury combination sing.

Go left field with your pairings and try Yorkshire Wensleydale & Cranberries with a Dark Orange Chocolate, like the one featured in our Chocolate and Cheese Pairing Box from York based Choc Affair. The zingy, citrus flavours of the orange and 60% cocoa solids dark chocolate pair perfectly with the creamy fruitiness of the cheese…. a true taste sensation!

Get cooking!

Perfect for a range of both sweet and savoury dishes, try our Squash, Chestnut and Yorkshire Wensleydale & Cranberries Bake, crumbled over a Chicken & Beet Salad or in a scrumptious Pear and Yorkshire Wensleydale & Cranberries Galette, the possibilities are endless!

Cheeseboard Essential

For the perfect serve, we recommend 4-5 different varieties on your cheeseboard to keep things interesting…. And along with the regular blue and cheddars, a sweet cheese like Yorkshire Wensleydale & Cranberries offers a real contrast of flavours, textures and colour!

Find out more about creating the perfect cheeseboard HERE