Dalton’s Dairy: grass fed butter & cheese

Dalton’s Dairy is a family-run affair based on their farm in Wootton, east Staffordshire.

At the heart of the business are grass fed cows whose milk is turned into quality handmade products.

I was recently invited to try their cheese and butter and loved it.

As I’m no longer a complete newbie to Staffordshire, it’s rather shaming for a food blogger (and lover of all things dairy) to admit that it’s only recently I became aware of Dalton’s Dairy.

Maybe it’s because Dalton’s, based in the village of Wootton near the eastern edge of the county, has a Derbyshire post code so wasn’t on my Staffordshire radar?

But I must have seen Dalton’s hugely popular handmade, award-winning ice-cream round and about, mustn’t I?

Probably. Nevertheless, somehow, I’d remained oblivious until recently.

DISCOVERING DALTON’S DAIRY

It all changed when I spotted Dalton’s Dairy butter being stocked by a couple of Staffordshire businesses that know a thing or two about good food.

First off was Gallagher’s Deli & Kitchen in Leek. Opening just last month, I’d popped along to Gallagher’s on their very first day and tried one of their fantastic (and giant!) sandwiches.

While there, I saw they stocked products from some brilliant local suppliers. These included cheese from the Staffordshire Cheese Company plus amazing charcuterie from The Good Life Meat Company.

Alongside these prestigious goodies was Dalton’s butter. ‘Oh, that must be something special then’ I thought, and made a mental note to discover more.

Not long after I discovered that Sam’s Hens, whose wonderful, super-fresh free range eggs I get delivered with my Moorland Veg Box, also stock Dalton’s butter.

That clinched it. Obviously, these businesses, great producers in their own right, would only give shelf space to other top-notch products.

Then, would you believe it? Dalton’s Dairy contacted me. Would I like to sample their butter and cheese?

Yes, please!

GRASS FED COWS

Dalton’s Dairy is family-run, based at Shawcross Farm.

At the heart of their business, whether it be ice-cream, butter, or cheese, are their one hundred per cent grass-fed cows.

Spending virtually all the year out grazing out in the fields, their diet isn’t supplemented by grains, soya, and the like.

Come winter, and the herd is brought into cowsheds. There ‘the ladies’ (who all have names: the one above, with hair that reminds me of Bruce Forsyth’s wig, is called Rum) enjoy home produced sileage and hay.

Dalton’s believes that grass-fed milk, as opposed to grain-fed, is better for animal welfare, the environment, and human health.

And I happen to agree with them. Read more here.

BUTTER LOVER

I’m an absolute fiend for butter. Whether in cooking or generously slathered on good bread, I love the stuff.

Despite butter being enjoyed for centuries though, there was a period when it got a bad rap. Unfortunately, the processed food industry was successful in convincing many that margarine (now with the more palatable but craftily non-specific name ‘spread’) was healthier.

Thankfully, the tide seems to be turning again. More and more shoppers are turning away from ultra-processed spreads and coming back to wonderful tasting, nutritious butter.

Even before I opened my pack of Dalton’s butter, I could see it was going to be a deep golden yellow colour.

That was confirmed when I opened it up.

I’ve since learned that the appetizing, buttercup yellow colour is due to the grass and flowers that form the diet of pasture-fed cows like those at Dalton’s Dairy. These plants contain the yellow pigment beta carotene which then gets stored in the cows’ milk.

When Dalton’s makes their butter in the traditional way, by churning cream, that beta carotene is exposed, resulting in its beautiful colour.

Something I learned years ago, worth knowing, is that margarine manufactures have to add colours to their fake butter products. Without them, the spreads would be a murky grey!

Many mass-produced butters will have come from cows that have largely eaten grains and soya, not grass. Hence those are likely to be much paler.

HANDMADE BUTTER

Being a handmade product, my Dalton’s butter was an attractively rustic-looking, unevenly shaped slab. Not one of those identical rectangular blocks formed by machine.

It was crisscrossed by fine lines. Presumably, these were the marks left by traditional butter paddles as someone shaped it by hand.

Like all great artisan products, each slab of butter is therefore unique, reflecting in some way the individual who made it.

I decided to taste the butter in the simplest way possible. By spreading on a Homemade Baguette I’d baked that day.

Actually, that’s not quite true. I do sometimes sneak a bit of butter in my mouth, and an official taste test seemed like the perfect excuse.

The flavour hit straight away. Intensely rich and very creamy. Like when you take the lid off a pot of double cream and lick the thickened stuff around the edges. It’s not just me who does that, is it?

TASTE COMPARISON

As someone who likes a salty butter, at first I thought it was under salted. But I changed my mind when I compared it directly with two other butters. One was an organic, mass produced butter which I consider good quality, the other a standard supermarket butter.

Apart from the grass-fed product being startlingly more golden in colour, I was surprised at just how unlike the butters were in terms of taste.

Whereas I got the creamy, buttery taste straight away with the Dalton’s, I was shocked how, in comparison, even the organic one I like seemed much duller. It did improve in the mouth eventually, but I can’t help thinking that extra salt was having to make up for flavour.

As to the standard supermarket butter, it seemed incredibly bland. The texture felt almost greasy, more like a margarine than a creamy butter.

As well as tasting the butter on its own, and on a baguette, I couldn’t resist topping some off with homemade strawberry jam. Heaven.

The lesson from this is that, if you assumed that butter is just butter, then you really need to think again.

DALTON’S STAFFORDSHIRE CHEESE

The other product I was sent to sample was Dalton’s Staffordshire Cheese.

I confess I was a bit confused when I received it. Not Dalton’s fault, but mine.

On the front it read ‘Handmade in Cheddleton‘.

Now, I live in Cheddleton, and I’m pretty sure there’s only one cheesemaker in the village. If you’ve read my post all about the Staffordshire Cheese Company then you’ll know I spent a day with them earlier this year and even lent a hand (or maybe I was just a hindrance) in making one of my favourite cheeses, Dovedale Blue.

They also make a superb cheese with PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) status, simply called Staffordshire Cheese. As their Staffordshire knot logo appeared on the Dalton’s cheese, I wondered if this was the exact same cheese.

A quick message to Dalton’s and all became clear. Yes, the Staffordshire Cheese Company did make this product for them. However, they only used Dalton’s milk from their grass-fed cows in producing it.

As the cheese is made to the same recipe as that sold under the Staffordshire Cheese Company label, you still get a wonderful, creamy, slightly crumbly, semi-hard cheese.

As with the Dalton’s Dairy butter, the natural pasture diet of the cows was reflected in the rich yellow colour of the cheese.

To make it, the curds are pressed into cheese moulds lined with muslin cloth. This leaves an attractive pattern on the finished product, creating an edible rind.

CREAMY & COMPLEX

I think Staffordshire Cheese is complexly flavoured and, made with Dalton’s milk, its creaminess seemed to be heightened. This was balanced by its freshness and what have been described as citrus-like hints.

For me, handmade, artisan Staffordshire Cheese isn’t something you want to bung in any old sandwich or eat on toast. It needs to be savoured and appreciated, bite by bite.

I think it would be perfect as part of a cheeseboard. So far, I’ve enjoyed it on its own and with homemade biscuits: Sourdough Crackers and Scottish Oatcakes.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

I already knew that Staffordshire was blessed with some wonderful producers of milk, cheese, meat, chocolate and more. And of course, great pubs, cafes, takeaways and restaurants serving up great food using this exceptional produce.

But you can never have too much of a good thing. So to learn that I can add Dalton’s Dairy to my list of recommended local, independent food and drink businesses is great news.

If you want to try this outstanding quality artisan butter and cheese, you can buy from their online shop here. There’s also an honesty shop on the farm, open seven days a week, where you can also stock up on things like eggs, milk and their renowned ice-creams.

Highly recommended.

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Disclosure

I was invited to try Dalton’s Dairy products and they were provided free of charge. However, as always, the opinions given are honest and based on my own experience.

Where a product or service has been provided without charge then a disclosure such as this will always be included in the blog post.

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