Tunworth — The Complete Guide

Tunworth: Britain's Answer to Camembert

Tunworth is the cheese that settled an argument. For years, Britain made excellent hard and blue cheeses, but soft bloomy-rind cheese — the Brie and Camembert styles that the French had mastered — remained a French preserve. Then Tunworth arrived, won international awards, and changed that perception permanently.

The Making of Tunworth

Hampshire Cheeses was founded by Stacey Hedges, who developed the Tunworth recipe with cheesemaker Charlotte Spruce. The cheese is deliberately modelled on Normandy Camembert-de-Caen — a small, round, wrinkly-rinded disc — but made with Hampshire milk and developed as a distinctly British product.

The cheese is small (about 250g) and ripens from the outside in: the Penicillium candidum (the white mould) produces enzymes that gradually break down the paste from the rind inward, transforming a firm, chalky young cheese into a flowing, complex, liquid-interior masterpiece.

Awards and Recognition

Tunworth has won at the World Cheese Awards and been cited repeatedly by food writers, chefs, and cheese enthusiasts as the finest soft cheese made in Britain. Its consistent quality has made it a standard reference point in discussions of British artisan cheese.

Notable champions of Tunworth include Heston Blumenthal, who has featured it at The Fat Duck, and numerous Michelin-starred restaurants that use it in preference to French Camembert.

Reading Ripeness

Buying Tunworth is all about timing. The cheese changes completely between underripe, perfect, and overripe.

Underripe: Firm, slightly chalky at the centre. The rind is a pure white. Flavour is mild, slightly lactic. Worth eating but not yet at its best.

Perfect ripeness: The cheese yields when gently pressed — springy but not hard, with a feeling of fluid movement beneath the rind. The rind may have started to develop golden and russet patches. Inside: silky, smooth, flowing paste. Aroma: earthy mushroom, garlic, cultured cream, slight truffle depth.

Overripe: Very runny, with ammonia notes in the aroma. Still edible — some enthusiasts prefer very ripe — but the peak has passed.

To test ripeness: press the centre of the Tunworth gently with your thumb. Underripe feels like pressing a firm apple. Perfect feels like pressing gently on your cheek. Overripe feels like pressing on your earlobe.

Flavour Profile

Earthy mushroom, wild garlic, cultured cream, a slight truffle-like depth at peak ripeness, long savoury finish.

The Winslade Companion

Hampshire Cheeses also produces Winslade, a related cheese that is wrapped in a band of spruce bark and washed in cider. Winslade has a more powerful, washed-rind character and develops a particularly intense, savoury depth. It is an exceptional winter cheese and one of the most interesting seasonal British cheeses available.

Pairings

Wine: English sparkling wine — this is the pairing. The acidity and bubbles cut through the richness perfectly. Champagne works equally well. A glass of Bacchus or Pinot Gris also works.

Beer: A light, fruity saison or wit.

Bread: Sourdough, lightly toasted walnut bread.

Accompaniments: Less is more. A small amount of honey or a few walnuts. Let the cheese speak.

Occasion: The cheese course of a special dinner. The centrepiece of a sophisticated board.

Baked Tunworth

One of the great preparations: place a whole Tunworth in its box (or a small baking dish), score the top, add a splash of dry cider or white wine and a sprig of thyme, and bake at 180°C for 20 minutes until the rind is golden and the interior is liquid. Serve with sourdough and a spoon for scooping. This is fondue without the fuss.

Tunworth is the proof that British cheesemaking has no ceiling. It is world-class, made in Hampshire, and getting better every year.