OLDE Yorke is back!

The prize-winning ewes' cheese, which North Yorkshire manufacturer Shepherd's Purse had to discontinue because of the limited availability of sheep milk during the foot and mouth crisis, is once again on the shelves.

The revival couldn't come at a happier time for the Thirsk blue cheese maker, which today was celebrating winning the Great British Food Award, sponsored by Sainsbury's, at the NFU's Farming Excellence Awards.

Olde Yorke was made in York in the early 18th century, using a traditional coulommier method, a process involving slicing thin layers of curd out of the vat and layering them into a mould with a mesh bottom to allow the whey to drain out naturally.

It was one of the first products made by Judy Bell after she formed Shepherd's Purse at her family farm in Thirsk in 1987, recognising that many people are allergic to cow's milk.

Two years later, Olde York scooped first prize at the Nantwich International Cheese Show, in Cheshire, and by 1994 was stocked on Tesco shelves. Then came foot and mouth, but while the product vanished, the demand did not.

That is why Katie Bell, Judy's daughter, who is the company's sales and marketing manager, was able to announce its revival.

Olde Yorke, which will be sold at specialist delicatessens throughout Britain at prices from £1.45 per 100g, now forms part of a portfolio of an award-winning range of sheep's milk cheeses and latterly her first cow's milk product - the famous Yorkshire Blue - as well as buffalo milk and organic cheeses which earned the company five gold medals in 2001 alone.

Updated: 09:51 Wednesday, March 17, 2004