Firstly, I must say that I love cheese. All kind of cheeses. Though none come anywhere near close to my love for Stinking Bishop.

When I lived in Sussex on the South coast of England, I used to visit the best farm shop I have ever been to, called Middle Farm. The produce they sell is amazing, and at the back of the farm shop there are two refrigeration units that house one of my biggest weaknesses: obscure cheeses.

Picture a refrigerated shelving unit, and on those shelves are toothpicks and saucers with little samples of the best cheeses produced in the uk. There's 50 to choose from, and you are free to try as many as you like!

This was where my love of Stinking Bishop developed. One little sample on a toothpick and my main love of Roquefort was instantly a distant memory.

Stinking Bishop was first produced in 1972 by Charles Martin on Laurel Farm, in Dymock, Gloucestershire in the South West of England.

Orignally there were only 68 Gloucestershire heifers that produced the milk required to make the cheese, but the breed has had a revival in order to sustain the demand of Stinking Bishop. Sometimes the milk from Friesian cattle is combined and pasteurised with that of the Gloucestershire breed.

Mr Martin didn't set out to make cheese, it came about as a sideline as he was conserving and breeding the Gloucestershire cows. Now Stinking Bishop is a gourmet cheese stocked in specialist shops around the globe, and the Gloucestershire cattle breed is in it's hundreds. Both have thrived since the small beginning of the 70's.

Only 20 tonnes of Stinking Bishop is produced each year.

Stinking Bishop is a soft cheese and it's pungent aroma has been described as smelling of death, of damp laundry left in a washing machine for days, and unwashed socks. After those descriptions, it's a wonder that anyone dare temp to taste it at all. My personal description of the smell is that it's like a gym bag full of unwashed sweaty sports clothes. To say that this cheese is an acquired taste is somewhat of an understatement.

The smell is due to the cheese being washed during ripening with perry. Perry is an alcoholic drink much like cider, but instead of being made from apples, it's made from pears. In this instance the Stinking Bishop pear variety is used, and thus where the cheese gets it name from. The pear is said to get it's name from Mr Bishop who created the variety and who had an ugly temperament.

As well as being a cheese maker, Mr Martin, the maker of Stinking Bishop also grows his own pears.

The cheese is washed with the perry every four weeks while it matures.

When fully matured after 4 months, the cheese is smooth, soft and creamy. The distinctive taste is that of nuts and fruit, with a bitter aftertaste. You can taste the smell, if that makes any sense. It's a very strong flavour that keeps the tastebuds working long after the cheese is swallowed.

When eating Stinking Bishop, it is an absolute must that it has been out of the fridge for at least an hour. To get the full taste sensation of this cheese, it must be as gooey and stinky as possible. For some, the cleaning of teeth will be a must after the first try!

You could of course serve it with cheese biscuits or crackers, I have spread it on a croissant or two in the past. Though nothing for me could possibly work as well as this stinky cheese on it's own.

Anyone who loves cheese should try Stinking Bishop at least once in their life. If only to be daring! It's certainly a talking point.

In October 2008 the BBC show What To Eat Now featured a Stinking Bishop recipe by Valentine Warner. Warner visted Charles Martin at Laurel Farm, taking a tour of the pear orchard and even trying the inedible stinking Bishop pear with bitter results. Valentine Warner used Stinking Bishop Cheese and Stinking Bishop Perry to create a Pear and Stinking Bishop Tart.

In 2005, Stinking Bishop had a brief period of food stardom as it was featured in the animated film Wallace and Gromit - The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit. The cheese was used to revive Wallace from the dead.