If you ask most people how many kinds of Cheshire cheese there are, most people will say “White” and possibly “Red”. Cheshire cheese would normally be a white cheese (because of the acidity leaching out the carotene out of the curd). Red Cheshire is created by adding a dye annatto to colour it, which historically helped sales outside the county of Cheshire.
However, today most people are not familiar with Blue Cheshire. Whilst making traditional Farmhouse Cheshire cheese, some cheeses would naturally turn blue. These cheeses were referred to as “old fade” or “green fade”, but it was generally regarded as a cheese that had gone bad. In fact, in Victorian times, some cheese buyers would reject an entire load if just one cheese was turning blue. For some reason, there was a small trade selling Blue Cheshire to Yorkshire, where miners had developed a taste for it. Other than that, the only use for it was medicinal, with people rubbing the cheese on sores because of the penicillin that it would no doubt contain.
In the early 20th century, one man completely changed the status of Blue Cheshire cheese. Geoffrey Hutchinson was born on 23 July 1886 in Alvanley, Cheshire. His father had a farm at The Hermitage and was also part of the business Hutchinson & Brandreth, corn millers & flour, cake, hay & straw merchants etc. at the railway station. In 1904 he enters the cheese trade, and on 23 June 1905 his father Harry dies of consumption (aged 41). In the 1911 census, his occupation is shown as Cheese Factor’s apprentice. A Cheese Factor is someone who buys and sells cheese.
Geoffrey Hutchinson unusually was able to judge whether a Cheshire cheese, made in the ordinary way, would turn blue. He then developed a business in 1922, supplying Blue Cheshire cheese to London clubs, where a specialised demand had developed. His army career resulting in him getting the title of Major.
Major Hutchinson became a much sought after guest at London house parties. By this time, he had moved to No Man’s Heath, near Malpas. Upon arriving at a house party, he would present the host with a Blue Cheshire cheese. Frequently, when he left the party, the host would give the Major some money, asking him to send her cheeses on a weekly basis – and to let the host know when the money had run out, so that more money could be sent!
Eventually Major Hutchinson would send blue cheeses all over the world, to leading hotels, clubs, and shipping companies, as well as private contractors and individuals. Major Hutchinson held a Royal Warrant, supplying Blue Cheshire cheese to the Royal Household. The MMB (Milk Marketing Board) eventually bought the business.
However, as Cheshire Cheese makers started waxing their cheeses, rather than using the traditional method of binding the cheeses in cloth, naturally occurring Blue Cheshire cheeses decreased. In the 1970s Jill Hutchinson Smith started making a Blue Cheshire and brought in a good cheesemaker called Ruth Harrison. They ceased production in the late 1980s.