Britain’s best cheesemakers: Yorkshire Pecorino

But Mario is not making Sardinian cheese, he is making something more exciting – something completely its own. The milk is from Yorkshire, from sheep that have fed on that lush, verdant green. The cheese is made in Adel by Mario’s hands – pasteurised, curdled, cut, drained, shaped, turned, steamed, salted and ripened, all by him. It is Italian, but it’s also Yorkshire. And he’s quietly confident his cheese is better than his family’s back in Italy.

Mario also makes two sheep’s milk blue cheeses, Adel Blue and Leeds Blue. I had the pleasure of trying the Leeds Blue (the younger and milder of the two) as I feasted at their dining table. It was stand out delicious. Bright, the right amount of salty, with the delicate taste that sheep’s milk imparts. Not harsh at all (like I sometimes find Roquefort to be) and with a light, creamy texture. I ate a lot.

Ricotta is a delicious by-product of pecorino production, which Mario makes by reheating the leftover whey and skimming the resulting curds. Mario tells me it’s good with a little balsamic, but I’m focused on the clouds of fresh, sheep-y cheese. An incredibly white, delicately creamy sheep ricotta is a beautiful thing. His makes it into handmade cannoli, various cheesecakes, as well as filling for his Italian doughnuts, bomboloni. Just writing that sentence is making my mouth water.

Mario and Sonia have had plenty of offers to expand their business, but they are trying to do it right; making fantastic cheeses while mitigating the financial risks of larger production. But people are crying out for their cheese, with those few stockists that carry the Pecorinos offering to take whatever Mario and Sonia can make. So for now, you’ll have to keep an eye out at The Courtyard Dairy in Settle, North Yorkshire, in The George & Joseph in Chapel Allerton, Leeds, and at farmers’ markets in Leeds, Otley and Harrogate where Mario himself can tell you about his lovely cheese. And you too can sample some of that creamy Leeds Blue, his award-winning Pecorinos or that billowy, milky sheep ricotta. Handmade, regional British produce at its best.