The short version
Double Gloucester with dried onion and chives mixed through it. Bright orange, mild, savory and studded with green flecks. It's a pub cheese in the best sense, and one of the few flavored cheeses that improves on its base rather than hiding it.
What it is
Double Gloucester is a firm English cow's-milk cheese, colored orange with annatto and milder than cheddar. Cotswold is that cheese with dried onion and chive worked into the curd before pressing. It's a modern product — 20th century — but it sits in a long English tradition of blending herbs into hard cheese.
- Taste
- mild, buttery, savory, oniony, gently tangy
- Texture
- firm but supple, smooth, slices cleanly
- Look
- vivid orange paste with green flecks throughout
Onion in the curd is the mechanism, and it's the reason this works where many flavored cheeses don't. Dried onion is savory rather than sweet or perfumed, so it deepens the cheese's own dairy savouriness instead of covering it. The base is also deliberately mild — a flavored aged cheddar would be two strong things fighting.
What it pairs with — and why
| Pair it with | Why it works |
|---|---|
| Cream crackers and water crackers | Plain English bases under an already-seasoned cheese. |
| Grainy mustard and chutney | The Ploughman's plate. Sharp and sweet against savory onion. |
| Pickled onions and cornichons | Acid against a mild fatty cheese. Traditional and correct. |
| Ham and roast beef | The sandwich pairing, and it works on a casual board. |
| Apple and grapes | Fresh acid cutting the fat. |
| Celery | Crunch and bitterness. Very English. |
| Ale, bitter, dry cider | Pub drinking with pub cheese. |
Skip it with: delicate fresh cheeses, which pick up the onion, and Boursin or any other allium-heavy item — one oniony cheese per board.
How to prep it for the board
1. Cut into thick batons or cubes. It's firm and holds a clean shape, and the green flecks show best in a thick piece. 2. Temper 30 minutes. 3. Serve 1–2 oz per person. It's mild and people eat plenty. 4. Use it as the colour anchor on an English board — the orange is stronger than anything else in the case except Mimolette. 5. Put it beside the chutney and the pickled onions. 6. Give it its own knife. Onion transfers. 7. Fix: if it's drying at the face, trim thinly. Flavored hard cheeses dry faster than plain ones.
What to buy
| Product | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Cotswold (double Gloucester with onion and chive) | Grocery cheese case, Whole Foods, World Market | Widely available. Consistent. |
| Double Gloucester, plain | Cheese counters, Whole Foods | The unflavored base. Mild, buttery, worth knowing. |
| Huntsman | Cheese counters, Whole Foods | Double Gloucester layered with Stilton. Striking and genuinely good. |
| Red Leicester | Grocery cheese case | The other orange English cheese — see its own page. |
| Sage Derby | Cheese counters, seasonal | Green-marbled English cheese with sage. Same tradition. |
| Wensleydale with cranberries | Grocery, Whole Foods | The sweet English flavored cheese — see its own page. |
Label check: visible green flecks distributed through the paste rather than concentrated in streaks. Even distribution means it was worked into the curd properly.
Skip: buying it alongside Boursin or another garlic-and-herb cheese. They occupy the same slot and neither benefits.
Quick FAQ
What is Cotswold cheese? Double Gloucester — a mild orange English cheese — with dried onion and chives worked through it.
Is it strong? No. Mild and savory, with the onion adding depth rather than heat.
Why is it orange? Annatto, added to the double Gloucester base. It's traditional and adds no flavor.
What's Huntsman? Double Gloucester layered with Stilton. Same family, and a striking cheese on a board.
How much per person? 1–2 oz.