WHEN it comes to experimentation and innovation in the world of food, John Knox is an up-and-coming big cheese.

That’s not an exaggeration, because Mr Knox is the man behind the re-appearance of classic Staffordshire cheeses now rapidly regaining some of their former popularity.

And his efforts have won international recognition as he is the only UK cheese-maker to individually win an EU-protected designation order (PDO) for his products.

The designation means that only cheeses made in Staffordshire, and to his recipe, can be sold as Staffordshire Cheese.

Currently he is one among just 35 UK recipients of such protection, compared with more than 300 food manufacturers in France and 400 in Italy.

Now, John Knox Food Technology is also a nominee for The Sentinel’s BIC sponsored Business Innovation Award.

While Staffordshire Cheese may be relatively soft, its development in its current form was a long hard slog, and Knox spent six years researching and developing a product based on a traditional recipe popular in the county in the 18th and 19th centuries.

He said: “Getting the PDO involved providing the EU with all my experimental data plus details of the local soil, breed of cattle, analysis of milk and reams of historical information.

“Producing the cheese itself was a question of experimenting with various bacteria to get the flavour and acid production right.

“Staffordshire Cheese varies from other blue vein products by having three different micro-organisms working to influence flavour, texture and acidity.

“I also used stainless steel moulds made in Staffordshire by local craftsmen.”

Producing the cheese in a 10kg, rather than 5kg, size helps keep it more balanced and less prone to moisture evaporation.

He also built special machinery to process the curds and whey in a way which allows more ragged chunks than those in most other cheeses to be pressed into a density, “which leads to subtle extra moisture in the middle of the cheese – and a more pleasant texture in the mouth when it is eaten.”

Two local farms are already producing Staffordshire Cheese.

But his field of influence extends beyond this county, and the former Kerrygold manufacturing director has been involved in production of trial batches of quality Scottish cheeses.

He has worked on cheese production issues with Sainsbury’s, Unilever and many other businesses.

And he is currently experimenting and developing yoghurt and paneer cheese products for India, and working with an innovative goats cheese dairy in Shropshire.

The Knox Food Technology ethos is based on innovative local foods made from local ingredients and, essentially, made and consumed locally – thereby reducing environmentally harmful so-called ‘food miles’.