Dunlop is a Scottish cow's milk cheese often described as cheddar's milder cousin. It shares cheddar's firm body but trades the sharp bite for a buttery, fudgy sweetness.
The cheese takes its name from the village of Dunlop in East Ayrshire, where it has been made since the late seventeenth century, well before cheddar became Britain's dominant cheese style.
In This Article
What Makes Dunlop Different From Cheddar
Cheddar is made from skimmed or partially skimmed milk in most historical recipes. Dunlop was built on whole milk from the start, which is the root of its softer, richer character.
That whole-milk base gives Dunlop a fudgy, smooth texture instead of cheddar's firmer, sometimes crumbly bite. The flavor follows the same pattern: mild and buttery rather than sharp and tangy.
Production still follows a cheddar-adjacent process: curd is cut, the temperature raised to around 38°C, then hand-salted and pressed overnight in cloth-wrapped moulds. Traditional wheels mature on wooden shelves for six months to well over a year, turned regularly so the rind develops evenly.
Dunlop also predates cheddar's dominance in Scotland by generations. It was the everyday cheese of southwest Scotland long before cheddar production spread north from England.
Today, most Dunlop is made with vegetarian rennet, which keeps the cheese accessible to a wider range of eaters than some traditional animal-rennet cheddars.
What Dunlop Tastes Like
The first note is buttery and rich, closer to fresh cream than aged cheese. A slight tang follows, gentler than cheddar's characteristic bite.
Young Dunlop, aged closer to six months, stays semi-soft and mild. Longer aging pushes it toward a firmer, fudgier bite without adding much sharpness.
The finish is sweet, carrying the taste of fresh milk rather than the savory depth found in longer-aged hard cheeses. That sweetness is the clearest way to tell Dunlop apart from cheddar in a blind taste.
One independent cheese blogger described the color as buttercup-yellow and the finish as "a slightly fruity aftertaste, a bit like chutney," a detail that lines up with the sweetness other tasters report.
Taste it against plain bread rather than a salty cracker. A cheese this mild disappears under a seasoned biscuit, and bread leaves room for the milk sweetness that the whole-milk base puts there.
That sweetness also fades once a wedge has been open a while. A piece cut a week ago reads flatter and saltier than one cut the same morning, which is the argument for buying small and often rather than stocking a big block.
Dunlop and cheddar can look nearly identical on a shelf. Trust the cut face, not the shape: a smooth, dense paste with no crumble points to Dunlop, while visible cracking or flaking points to cheddar.
Barbara Gilmour's 1690 Recipe That Started Dunlop
Barbara Gilmour brought the recipe to Scotland in 1690, after returning from around three decades of exile as a Covenanter, a Presbyterian who refused to accept the crown's authority over the Scottish church. Some accounts tie her flight directly to the era's most notorious persecution episode, the drowning of two women, including teenager Margaret Wilson, on the Solway tidal flats for the same refusal.
She settled back in the village of Dunlop, married local farmer John Dunlop, and began making cheese with whole milk, a departure from the skimmed-milk cheese Scots made at the time. Local cheesemakers were skeptical enough of her whole-milk method that, by one account, she narrowly avoided a witchcraft accusation, a charge that could have ended in execution at the time.
Not every historian accepts that Gilmour invented the technique outright. At least one 19th-century writer argued whole-milk cheesemaking was already known locally and that the "Dunlop" name may simply trace to a trader who carried the parish's cheese to market in Glasgow.
Either way, the parish's production grew large: an 1837 survey recorded roughly 25,000 stones of cheese made in Dunlop parish in a single year.
The local Ayrshire cattle breed, prized for its rich milk, was once known informally as the Dunlop cow because of its role in the cheese's success. The breed and the cheese grew up together in the same corner of Scotland.
Dunlop production did not simply fade out after the war.
It was banned outright. A wartime order forced every UK cheesemaker to produce only standardized "Government Cheddar" starting in 1941, and that rule stayed in force until 1954, when Dunlop began reappearing in Scottish shops.
Farmhouse Dunlop stayed rare for decades afterward, kept alive in fragments on islands like Islay rather than in East Ayrshire itself. Ann Dorward's family began cheesemaking at West Clerkland Farm near Stewarton in 1989, initially with goat's and sheep's milk cheeses, before turning to Dunlop specifically once she realized the farm sat half a mile from where Gilmour had originally made it.
That local Dunlop earned official Traditional Ayrshire Dunlop PGI status in 2015, after a nearly two-year application. "We have been working towards this for almost two years and it's wonderful to hear that we will be officially recognised," Dorward said at the time.
Hers remains the only Dunlop made in the historic geographic area under the protected name, though other Scottish dairies have made Dunlop-style cheese under their own names in the years since.
How to Use Dunlop in the Kitchen
Dunlop melts smoothly enough for baking and cooking, and its mild sweetness works well in dishes where a sharp cheddar would overpower other flavors.
Grate it cold and work fast. A fudgy paste warms under a box grater and starts clumping on the blade, so a wedge taken straight from the refrigerator gives cleaner shreds than one that has been sitting out.
- Savory baking: Grated into scones, biscuits, or savory pastry without overpowering the dough.
- Smoked salmon and pâté: A traditional Scottish pairing that lets the cheese's sweetness balance rich, salty toppings.
- Cheese boards: Works alongside fruit, nuts, and craft ale rather than as a sharp centerpiece.
- Everyday melting: A gentler substitute for cheddar in gratins, toasties, and casseroles.
Under a grill it colors quickly. Watch a gratin from the moment the top starts to bubble rather than trusting the time in the recipe, because the surface goes past golden while the middle is still loose.
In a sauce it wants low heat and no hurry. Stir the grated cheese into a warm base off the flame, since a fudgy cheese pushed hard in a hot pan breaks into grains and oil instead of going smooth.
Where it does least well is any dish that needs the cheese to be the loudest thing on the plate. A macaroni built on Dunlop alone lands soft, so keep a little aged cheddar or a spoon of mustard in the mix to give the sauce a top note.
What to Drink With Dunlop
On a board, Dunlop pairs naturally with a complex red wine or a Scottish craft ale. Both cut through the buttery richness without fighting the cheese's mild sweetness.
Match the beer to the age of the wedge. A young six-month piece sits well under a light bitter, while a wheel kept well past a year has the body to take a darker, sweeter beer without vanishing under it.
Whisky is a harder match than it looks. Peat and smoke roll straight over a mild buttery cheese, so an unpeated dram leaves the sweet finish where you can still find it.
What to Use Instead When Dunlop Isn't Available
When Dunlop is not on the shelf, mild or young Colby is the closest everyday stand-in, softer and more open than Dunlop's dense paste. Caerphilly comes close in overall mildness too, though it leans crumblier and saltier.
Neither swap carries the fudgy density, and that gap shows most where texture is doing the work. On a board, cut the substitute thicker than you would cut Dunlop to get near the same mouthful.
For cooking the choice narrows to whatever melts without sharpening. Colby goes into a gratin or a toastie in Dunlop's place with almost no adjustment, while Caerphilly's extra salt means tasting the dish before you season it.
Dunlop vs Cheddar
Both are firm British cow's milk cheeses, but they come from different traditions and aim for different flavors. Dunlop stays mild and buttery.
Cheddar pushes toward sharp and tangy.
| Dunlop | Cheddar | |
|---|---|---|
| Milk base | Whole milk from the start | Skimmed or partially skimmed in early recipes |
| Rennet | Typically vegetarian | Varies by producer |
| Texture | Smooth and fudgy, firming with age | Firm, often crumbly when aged |
| Flavor | Buttery, mild, sweet finish | Sharp, tangy, savory |
| Protection status | Traditional Ayrshire Dunlop carries UK PGI | No blanket protection; regional PDOs vary |
The split shows on a plate as well as on the palate. Dunlop slices clean off a wedge at room temperature where an aged cheddar shatters, so it holds its shape better when a board is cut an hour ahead of guests.
Choose Dunlop when a dish or board wants richness without sharpness. Choose cheddar when the recipe specifically needs that tangy bite.
Buying Dunlop: Named PGI or Generic Farmhouse Style
Dunlop is harder to find than cheddar outside the UK. Specialty cheese shops and British or Scottish import retailers are the most reliable sources, and the label should name Traditional Ayrshire Dunlop specifically if PGI provenance matters to you.
Look for a smooth, pale ivory paste with no visible cracking. A dry, cracked cut face or a sour smell instead of a buttery one means the wedge has been sitting too long.
Expect specialty pricing, typically fifteen to twenty-two dollars per pound depending on the retailer and import costs. UK specialty sellers like The Cheese Lady price it by weight, from around £8.80 for a 200g wedge up to roughly £100 for a full 2.5kg wheel, and Glasgow cheesemonger George Mewes sources its Dunlop directly from Dunlop Dairy.
Storing Dunlop
A properly wrapped piece keeps for three to four weeks in the refrigerator. Discard any piece with a sour smell, slimy rind, or unexpected mold beyond a light natural bloom.
Use fresh paper every time you cut. The old sheet has already taken up moisture from the cut face, and a damp wrapper left against the paste is where the surface turns slimy first.
Leave the natural rind on until you serve. It slows the paste behind it from drying, and trimming it early leaves the wedge losing moisture from two faces instead of one.
