Deli saves Yorkshire cheese from extinction after production was stopped after more than a century

Cheesemongers Cryer & Stott, in Allerton Bywater, has added Coverdale, an unpasteurised six-week-old crumbly cheese first created in the Yorkshire Dales in the early 20th century, to its menu.

Production was halted by the Wensleydale Dairy earlier this year, much to the chagrin of cheese lovers.

But family-run Cryer & Stott has taken the original recipe and is working with a small dairy to put it back into production.

Jemma Ladwitch, business development manager, said: “We could not let this amazing cheese steeping in over 100 years of history disappear, we had to do something about it."

The firm has team up with Home Farmer, an artisan dairy based in the heart of the Dales with their own herd of cows, to revive the cheese.

Ms Ladwitch added: "They were the perfect choice to make the newly revived authentic Coverdale for us.”

First created by Alfred Rowntree’s dairy in 1912, Coverdale ended up under the control of the Milk Marketing Board in the 1980s.

In 2000, the dairy was taken on by Wensleydale, but they took the decision to discontinue the cheese earlier this year.

Coverdale is clothbound, has a natural mould rind and a spongy texture with what has been described as a subtle tang.

It is sharper and smoother than Wensleydale.

Demand for the cheese is already outstripping supply with customers having to add their names to a waiting list, the deli said.