AN AWARD-winning North Yorkshire cheese maker has been called upon to help former musician Alex James improve his Blue Monday cheese.

Shepherds Purse, based on a family farm in Thirsk, will produce the Blue Monday cheese under trademark for the former Blur bassist.

Blue Monday, named after Alex’s favourite New Order song, is traditionally handmade with 100 per cent cow’s milk to make a soft, creamy blue cheese with strong blue veining. It has been redeveloped to a new recipe created by Alex and Shepherds Purse over the last six months.

The new version will be added to Alex’s fine British artisan cheese range, Alex James Presents and launched in August at The Big Feastival, a two-day celebration of music, food and fun for the family, at Alex’s farm in the Cotswolds, which was founded by him and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver.

Alex said: “Delicious taste and quality are the cornerstones of the Alex James Presents artisanal cheese range and I am very proud of all our award-winning cheeses.

“Blue Monday has perhaps been the most popular and best known, but it hasn’t had the chance to shine alongside the others. So we thought we’d bring in the experts at Shepherds Purse to give it some extra love and attention and I’m absolutely delighted with the results.”

Caroline Bell, director at Shepherds Purse, said: “Innovation blended with tradition is at the core of what we do at Shepherds Purse and we remain proudly artisan, making every cheese by hand using only the best British cow’s, ewe’s and water buffalo milk.

“It has been a pleasure to work with Alex developing the Blue Monday recipe and we believe that we have created another world-class blue cheese. We’re excited that the new Blue Monday will be launching at The Big Feastival at the end of August and are looking forward to introducing this cheese to the public,” she said.