A traditional, full fat, hard cheese made from pasteurised or unpasteurised cow's milk. The cheese, made from the milk of once nearly extinct Old Gloucester cows, traces its origins to 1498 in the city of Gloucester.

Gloucester comes in both single and double varieties. While Single Gloucester is traditionally made from skimmed milk, Double Gloucester uses full fat milk. In addition, Double Gloucester is twice the height of Single Gloucester and more flavourful. It is also said that Double Gloucester uses the whole milk taken from two milking or a mixture of milk and cream.

The double variety has a smooth and buttery texture, rich and nutty yet mellow flavour and characteristic light orange or apricot colour thanks to the addition of annatto plant extract. Vegetarian rennet is used and the cheese is aged for at least 4 months. If the cheese is allowed to age further, it will develop more complex and nutty flavours and the texture tends to become very hard and flaky. The farm-made cheeses tend to be kept a little longer adding to their flavour and when cloth-bound are significantly harder and drier than their creamery counterparts.

Double Gloucester is now made in many parts of the UK both on farms and in large dairies.