Close your eyes when you nibble at a great Somerset Cheddar cheese and you will taste a certain flavour, not of fermented milk, but of fallen cider apples. That slight, musty tang is an accident, even though apples and dairy cows share the same terroir in the West Country, where it once was common for cattle to graze the cider orchards. The soil’s mineral content surely plays a part – but the synergy remains a mystery.