Well out of over 700 cheese’s (yes I said 700 varieties), all of which we produce here in the UK Cheddar is officially the UK’s favourite cheese according to research carried out by the British Cheese Board.

A staggering 300,000 tonnes of Cheddar are consumed in the UK each year. The top 10 consisted of:

1. Cheddar
2. Blue Cheese (including Stilton)
3. Cheshire
4. Wensleydale
5. Red Leicester
6. Lancashire
7. Brie
8. Double Gloucester
9. Cornish Yarg
10. Goats Cheese

Have you spotted your favourite in there? There are quite a few of which I am personally partial too.

But to celebrate I thought I would pass on a terrific family recipe for cheese & onion cornbread for you to make, its great for lunch boxes and picnics, but also a great accompaniment with soups, stews and casseroles too.

You will need: 1 tblsp rapeseed oil, 1 onion thinly sliced, 175g corn meal, 75g rice flour, 25g soya flour, 1 tbsp baking powder. 1 tsp caster sugar, 1 tsp sea salt, 115g mature cheddar grated, 200ml soya milk, 2 eggs and 40g margarine of your choice.

Grease a 2lb loaf tin, and put your oven on at 190 c/ 375 f/ gas 5. Heat your oil in a frying pan and add your onion gently cooking until softened for about 10 minutes, then remove from the pan on one side. Place cornmeal, rice flour, soya flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a bowl and mix together adding the grated cheese. In a jug beat together the eggs, milk and melted margarine. Add this to the mixing bowl and mix together well, then stir in your onions. Spoon the mix into the loaf tin and level off , then bake in your oven for about 30 minutes until colden brown. Turn your loaf out onto a wire rack to cool and you can serve still warm or cold. Store your loaf in a sealed container, or foil.

If Ed’s in the kitchen with his friends when I make this loaf, its not around long at all and its one of those tasty simple things which his friends always ask if I’m making, when they are around!

Make sure you have a loaf tin in your collection of bake ware for your kitchen. They are not only used for baking a loaf, but come in handy for making cakes & meatloafs too. So make sure you have a range, or why not go for something like this Kaiser Adjustable Loaf Tin , (pictured left), which is a great idea. This tin allows you to adjust the tin for the size of cake or loaf you are making, rather than you having 2 separate tins. So if space in your kitchen is a issue this is a great addition for you to have.