Welsh Goats Cheese

Nigel Jefferies is keen to encourage more people to buy Welsh goats cheese. He says people tend to think of goats cheese as typically French, but Wales makes some of the vest varieties. “Ours is fresher, clean tasting, it’s becoming more popular, but there are still lots of people out there who have yet to discover the delights of goats cheese.”

Nigel should know, he has been producing it on Anglesey for several years now and has won a clutch of awards for the fine quality of cheeses he produces at Y Cwt Caws dairy, Cors yr Odyn, Dulas. All are produced entirely by hand using milk from mixed herd of Saanans, Toggenburgs and Alpine goats.

Yr Cwt Caws has so far come away with a gold star at the Great Taste Awards, a silver at the British Cheese Awards and a bronze at the 2011 Wales the True Taste Awards. The bronze was for the farm’s Peli Pabo, a delicate soft garlic and herb flavored cheese. It also had a past True Taste gold to its credit, scooped in 2008 for its salad style feta cheese, Ffetys Natural.

“It’s been hard work building up the diary but it’s worth it. Awards like this show that more people are appreciating the cheeses. We have more than 100 goats now and have more than doubled in size since we started,” said Nigel who runs the farm with wife Rhian, helped by their two daughters Ffion and Manon. They give all their cheeses Welsh names to reflect their Anglesey orgins.

They were in something of a niche market when they started but Nigel says that is changing slightly, as goats cheese increases in popularity. “More and more people are telling us how versatile Welsh goats cheese is and how much they like it. Hopefully its popularity will continue.”