Well, this is timely: Cheddar matured in a haunted cave. The Witch of Wookey Hole was not a good witch—she caused crop failures and other local disasters—but the tasty wheels aged in her Somerset hideout redeem her. Despite the spooky back story, Wookey Hole Cheddar, a clothbound wheel, is serious cheese from the UK’s premier Cheddar region. There is actually some evidence for the witch, which I’ll get to. But what cheese lovers need to know is that an importer is now bringing in this cheese in whole wheels, not precuts. And I’ll tell you why that matters.

The Wookey Hole Caves in Somerset’s Mendip Hills are a tourist attraction, a sort of amusement park with cave tours and other activities for kids. Halloween is a big deal there because of the witch. Legend has it that, centuries ago, an old hag lived in the caves and caused all sorts of mayhem in the surrounding area. Fast forward to the early 1900s, when an archaeologist discovered a thousand-year-old skeleton in the cave, along with a dagger and some other odd objects. As it happens, the remains were those of a male, but let’s not let facts get in the way of a good story.

About 20 years ago, Ford Farm cheesemaker Mike Pullen recognized that the caves provided the ideal environment for aging cheese—a steady cool temperature and high humidity. Today, Ford Farm is owned by Barber’s, Britain’s oldest Cheddar maker and by far the largest producer of West Country Farmhouse Cheddar PDO. Wookey Hole Cheddar is made at Ford Farm in Dorset, then transported about 50 miles to the Wookey Hole Caves for maturation 200 feet underground.

The PDO regulations for West Country Farmhouse Cheddar are not terribly stringent. They require only 9 months of aging, relatively young for a bandaged Cheddar. Producers can use pasteurized milk, as Barber’s does for Wookey Hole. And although Wookey Hole Cheddar is a traditional clothbound cylinder, the PDO also allows for making the cheese in rindless blocks, which supermarkets like.

Despite these concessions to economics, the PDO does require the most traditional parts of a Cheddar recipe—forming the curds in slabs, stacking the slabs while they drain, then milling and salting them. These steps contribute to Cheddar’s acidity and somewhat crumbly texture.

Wookey Hole is a mellow Cheddar, more creamy than crumbly, with some grassy and buttery aromas and a hint of green onion flavor. Let it dissolve slowly on your tongue to get the most it has to offer. It’s not as layered or mouth filling as the best English and American Cheddars, but the price is right. I paid $29 a pound at a store with a high markup. You can find better pricing online, and some Costco stores carry it for about half that price.

That said, I would much prefer to pay more and purchase the cheese from a store that cuts it to order. The aromas will be fresher. Vacuum sealing hard cheeses isn’t a crime—I do it for pecorino romano, which I buy in quantity—but no cheese appreciates it. For maximum enjoyment, a fresh-cut piece is always the gold standard.