The Country Durham Federation of the Women’s Institute (CDFWI) is celebrating 100 years of providing women with educational opportunities and the skills to campaign on issues that matter to them and their community in Durham, England. To make this centennial one to remember, the CDFWI wanted an original product of commemoration: their own type of cheese.
The CDFWI deemed Simon Raine of Weardale Cheese as the one for the job, and he got to work creating their own unique strain of artisan cheese.
“I know they wanted to do something a bit different to mark the centenary and they asked if I would make a special cheese for them,” said Raine in a recent The Northern Echo article . “Of course I said I would be delighted to help and that’s how it all started.”
Happy centenary to Durham County WI. Your commemorative cheese is maturing nicely! pic.twitter.com/uSmY2mwuZl
— Weardale Cheese (@WeardaleCheese) February 23, 2017
Located within Durham County, Weardale Cheese supports the community by sourcing its milk from local dairies, and Raine himself has taught CDFWI about the cheesemaking process and the skills needed to run a small scale creamery like Weardale Cheese.
The centenary cheese will not only be eaten as a celebratory snack, but the CDFWI will be selling the product to support their federation at all of their events celebrating 100 years of inspiring women. The CDFWI and Weardale Cheese may have just started a trend of custom celebratory dairy, but only time will tell if the commemorative curd movement will catch on.
Photo Credit: Stéphane Goldstein | CC
Rachel E. McLean
Rachel is an editorial intern at culture for Spring 2017. She is Junior at Boston University studying Journalism and Communication with an emphasis in Public Relations. Known as "the cheese queen" among friends, she's had a passion for fromage from a young age.
