Posted in: Current News, Nerd Food, Pop Culture | Tagged: wallace and gromit, Wensleydale

When Wallace And Gromit Do Wensleydale & Cranberry Tyrrell's Crisps

When Wallace And Gromit do Wensleydale cheese and cranberry Tyrrell's Crisps and they are not an abomination to the tastebuds.

Wensleydale cheese is a favourite of mine. White, creamy, crumbly, wonderful on a digestive biscuit. And saved by Wallace And Gromit. Produced in the town of Hawes in Wensleydale, North Yorkshire, Wensleydale cheese was first made by French Cistercian monks from the Roquefort region, who had settled in the English valley of Wensleydale and who brought with them a recipe for making cheese from ewe's milk. But in the nineties, sales had fallen so low that production was at risk of being suspended. That was before a defining scene played out in Wallace And Gromit: A Close Shave between Wallace and his budding love interest, Wendolene.

Wallace : Won't you come in? We were just about to have some cheese.
Wendolene : Oh no, not cheese. Sorry. Brings me out in a rash. Can't stand the stuff.
Wallace : [gulp]  Not even Wensleydale?
——————-
Wallace : What's wrong with Wensleydale? Talking of which, all the more for us.

That unofficial product placement from Aardman Animation, for a cheese that was fun to animate Wallace's mouth, was enough to see sales rocket once more. The company avoided bankruptcy and credits Wallace and Gromit for saving the brand. In 1995, the company returned the favour, licensing a "Wallace and Gromit Wensleydale" and followed up with a number of later licenses. Sandra Bell, the Wensleydale Creamery's marketing chief, said "The Wallace and Gromit effect has certainly raised the awareness of British cheese as a whole and has been particularly helpful with Wensleydale." The Wensleydale Creamery Visitor Centre in Hawes also contains wool versions of Wallace and Gromit knitted by the Hawes Yarnbomber, and the Cheese and Gift Shop features a huge range of merchandise for the franchise.

And now crisp manufacturer Tyrells launched a Wallace & Gromit limited-edition Wensleydale and cranberry flavour of their crisps, exclusively sold in Co-op stores. Now, I am normally against the commonplace bastardization of Wensleydale by seeing it produced with embedded cranberries, ginger or other unnecessary additions. But given that these are crisps, or chips as the Americans have them, that chip sailed a long time ago when it comes to these. And they are rather flavoursome, have a salty pleasant tang to them, without being sloying, and are recognisably Wesnleydaleish. I can certainly see myself sending these as a few care packages across the pond, alongside some Creme eggs, Jamaican ginger cake, jelly babies and percy pigs… more crisps, Gromit?

Ingredients: Potatoes, sunflower oil, whey powder (MILK), sugar, salt, wensleydale cheese powder (MILK), yeast extract, natural flavourings, cranberry juice powder, yeast powder, acids (citric acid, lactic acid, calcium lactate), red bell pepper powder, colour (paprika extract).

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