Lancashire cheese

thumbLancashire cheese, a crumbly English cow's-milk cheese, is considered one of the premier products of the county. Centred approximately 30 miles north of Manchester, many local farms produce this famous cheese, and it is associated with the town of Leigh. Depending on its aging period, it can range from extremely soft to semi-hard, but is generally crumbly and creamy. Similar to Caerphilly cheese, it is reputed to be the best toasting cheese in the world and as such is a favorite for Welsh rarebit. The marooned pirate Ben Gunn, a character in the Robert Louis Stevenson novel Treasure Island, craved Leigh Toaster during his three-year exile. It is often featured in supermarket cheese counters, although it (like most other cheeses) tastes better and more "genuine" from the many farms that produce it. It consistently wins British cheese awards, as well.