Dorset Blue Vinney (frequently spelled "vinny") is a traditional
blue cheese made near
Sturminster Newton
Sturminster Newton is a town and civil parish in the Blackmore Vale area of Dorset, England. It is situated on a low limestone ridge in a meander of the River Stour. The town is at the centre of a large dairy agriculture region, around which ...
in
Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...
, England, from cows' milk. It is a hard, crumbly cheese. It was formerly made of
skimmed milk
Skimmed milk (British English), or skim milk (American English), is made when all the milkfat is removed from whole milk. It tends to contain around 0.1% fat.
Background
Historically, skimmed milk was used for fattening pigs, and was recommended ...
.
"Vinney" may be the Dorset form of the archaic word "vinny" 'moldy' or perhaps a corruption of "veiny", referring to its blue veins.
Historically the cheese was merely a by-product of the much more lucrative butter market. Milk was of little value before the railways as it could not be brought to market before it went off, thus cheese and butter production was the main focus of dairy farms. Dorset butter was highly regarded in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
where it fetched a premium price but making butter left the farmers with large quantities of skimmed milk which they turned into a hard, crumbly cheese.
While the cheese was a common farmhouse cheese in Dorset for hundreds of years, production nearly dried up after the Second World War, and was made in very small quantities on just a few farms. However, in the 1980s Woodbridge Farm in Dorset revived the old recipe, and it is now producing the cheese again, but with whole milk.
In his poem "Praise O' Do'set",
[''Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect'' by William Barnes. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., 1903] the Dorset poet
William Barnes
William Barnes (22 February 1801 – 7 October 1886) was an English polymath, writer, poet, philologist, priest, mathematician, engraving artist and inventor. He wrote over 800 poems, some in Dorset dialect, and much other work, including a co ...
asks,
:Woont ye have brown bread a-put ye,
:An' some vinny cheese a-cut ye?
It is often made from unpasteurised milk. This is considered healthy by some and risky by others due to the potential for
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
from infected cows passing into the milk. It has a strong taste and smell.
Blue Vinney goes well with
Dorset knob
A Dorset knob is a hard dry savoury biscuit which is now produced by only a single producer - Moores Biscuits of Bridport, Dorset, England - for a limited time of the year.
Description
Dorset knobs are made from bread dough which contains extra ...
s, another traditional product from Dorset.
Dorset Blue Cheese has been awarded
Protected Geographical Status
Three European Union schemes of geographical indications and Traditional food, traditional specialties, known as protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), and traditional specialities guaranteed (TSG), promo ...
, ensuring only cheese originating from Dorset may use the name.
Local myth describes how in years gone by, due to its supposed illegal nature, Blue Vinny would be left on the doorstep of those who ordered it on the black market.
See also
*
List of British cheeses
References
External links
Cheese.com profileDorset Blue Vinney
{{Blue cheeses
English cheeses
Cow's-milk cheeses
Blue cheeses
Blue Vinney