Firm speckled texture with medium strength flavour.

Certainly one of the more unusual cheeses that we sell at The Teddington Cheese, Laverbread cheese is a combination of Llanboidy from the rare Red Poll cows and an edible seaweed.

The milk of the Red Poll is higher in protein and has smaller fat globules than other breeds such as the Fresian. This makes it ideal for cheesemaking. Sue Jones now has a herd of 33 Red Polls, and is President-elect of the Red Poll Association.

Laverbread itself is made from a specific type of seaweed called Porphyra Umbilicalis, which grows on the shoreline in various places around the British coast. The seaweed is gathered from the rocks at low tide and then either dried or tinned. Although laverbread has been made in Ireland and Scotland (under different names) in the past, its production is now restricted to a certain part of South Wales.

Sue Jones uses laverbread to great effect by adding it freshly cooked to her Llanboidy cheese. The paste is a pale creamy colour stippled with the dark brown seaweed.

The cheeses are pressed and made from unpasteurised cows' milk using vegetarian rennet. They come in 4.5 kg wheels and measure 24cm in diameter by 10cm high. With its speckled texture and unusual contents, Laverbread cheese makes an interesting addition to any cheeseboard.