Oxford Blue is a creamy English blue cheese created in 1995 by Robert Pouget. For most of its history, though, it was not actually made in Oxford at all.
It has a straightforward explanation, and it comes down to where Pouget's business was registered rather than where the milk was actually vatted.
In This Article
Why Is It Called Oxford Blue If It Wasn't Made in Oxford?
The name comes from where Pouget's business was based, not from where the cheese itself was physically made. He opened a cheese shop in Oxford's Covered Market in 1983 and founded the Oxford Cheese Company there in 1986, years before Oxford Blue existed.
When Pouget created the cheese in 1995, it was actually made at a Stilton dairy in Derbyshire. Production later moved to Carmarthenshire, Wales, in 2009.
It only returned to Oxfordshire in 2013, when the makers set up a dairy in a converted barn in Burford, where it is still made today. So the name was accurate to the business behind it for the full 18 years it wasn't accurate to the factory floor.
By that point production had grown well beyond a hobby scale. Around five tonnes were being made every month, generating roughly 50,000 litres of whey a month as a byproduct, enough that the Burford dairy needed its own anaerobic digester specifically to process it.
Who Created Oxford Blue?
Robert Pouget is a French baron raised between the Chateau St Victor and Paris, and he trained originally in art and furniture design rather than cheesemaking.
He settled in Oxford and opened the Covered Market cheese shop with his friend Gerry Stevens in 1983, an unlikely pairing of an artist and a pop group manager filling a gap in the local food scene at the time.
Beyond Oxford Blue, Pouget has since created other Oxford Cheese Company products, including Oxford Isis, washed in local honey mead.
He also opened food venues around Oxford, including the Vaults and Garden Cafe and the Alphabar takeaway, extending the same cheese-shop instinct into wider food service.
Now in his eighties, Pouget remains involved in the business, splitting his time with painting in Cornwall. The company he started as a single Covered Market stall is still the one behind the cheese today.
How Did Oxford Blue Become Established?
It started with a specific, local customer base rather than a national launch. Pouget originally made it to supply his existing customers directly: Oxford University colleges and city restaurants that already bought from his Covered Market shop.
From there it spread by word of mouth rather than marketing, first through the south east of England and later more widely, until it reached the stores and restaurant menus it holds today.
That timing was not incidental. British farmhouse cheesemaking was in the middle of a genuine revival through the 1980s and 90s, after decades in which large factory production had pushed most regional and farmhouse styles to the margins.
Oxford Blue launched directly into that movement, a modern English blue built milder and creamier than the older full-strength blues it shared shelf space with.
Is Oxford Blue Cheese Vegetarian?
Yes. The current official specification lists vegetarian rennet alongside pasteurised cow's milk.
That is worth flagging because it is not the default for English blue cheese. Several traditional blues in the same style category are still made with animal rennet, so Oxford Blue is one of the easier options for a vegetarian buyer to pick without checking further.
What Does Oxford Blue Taste Like?
The official producer describes it as a semi-hard, smooth and creamy cow's milk blue with a mellow depth of flavour, rather than an aggressive one.
Tasting notes describe traces of white wine and chocolate underneath the tang. That places it closer to Dolcelatte and St Agur in intensity than to the sharper, saltier bite most people associate with Stilton or Roquefort.
Buyers expecting Stilton's crumble and punch should reset that expectation before tasting. Oxford Blue is built to be milder and smoother, not a stronger version of the same thing.
Can You Eat Oxford Blue While Pregnant?
Treat it as a cook-first cheese rather than an eat-as-is one.
UK guidance splits blue cheese into two groups for pregnancy: firm blues such as Stilton are treated as safe without cooking, while soft, mould-ripened blues need to be cooked through first. Pasteurisation does not change that split, since the risk comes from moisture and ripening rather than the milk itself.
Cooked into a sauce or melted through a dish resolves the question either way, which is the simplest route if there is any doubt about which category a specific wedge falls into.
What Should You Pair With Oxford Blue?
Its own tasting notes point toward the pairing rather than leaving it open. A cheese described as carrying traces of white wine and chocolate already suggests where to start.
A sweeter, fuller white or a light dessert wine tends to work better against its mellow tang than a heavy red would, since a bold tannic red can fight a creamy blue rather than complementing it. For the fuller set of options across blue cheese generally, see sweeter and bolder wine matches side by side.
Outside wine, its creamy texture also works crumbled over a salad or melted into a simple pasta sauce, uses that lean on its smoothness rather than fighting it.
Where Can You Buy Oxford Blue Cheese?
The Oxford Cheese Company sells it directly in 250g, 500g and 1kg sizes, which is the most reliable route to the genuine product.
Independent UK cheesemongers including Cheese Etc and Liverpool Cheese Company also carry smaller wedges, typically starting around 100g. Pricing across these retailers runs roughly £8 for a small wedge up to around £32 for a full kilogram, reflecting its specialty rather than supermarket-staple status.
What to Use Instead of Oxford Blue
Dolcelatte is the closest match for creaminess and mild intensity, and it is far easier to find outside the UK.
Stilton gives you the classic English-blue alternative, but with a firmer body and a sharper, saltier bite than Oxford Blue's mellow profile.
St Agur matches the creamy style closely, with a stronger salt edge that pushes it slightly past Oxford Blue in intensity.
For a wider list of options sorted by strength and texture, see more blue cheese substitutes by use case.
