London’s Metropolitan Police have arrested a suspect in connection with the recent theft of nearly 50,000 pounds of fine British and Welsh cheese. Neal’s Yard Dairy, the esteemed retailer and exporter, reported the disappearance of the hefty wheels of Hafod, Westcombe Cheddar and Pitchfork Cheddar on October 21. The company had already paid the producers, so it faces a loss of about $390,000 even if the wheels are recovered. They would not be sellable, says Yvonne Yeoh, Neal’s Yard Dairy’s sales director.

The stolen cheese has been “outside the chain of custody,” says Yeoh. “I would not feel comfortable eating it myself—not knowing where it’s been stored or how it’s been handled. It’s heartbreaking. This is 22 tons of nourishment that’s being disposed of, in a time of food insecurity.”

Neal’s Yard Dairy believed it was dealing with the representative of a large French retailer. The cheeses were shipped to a consolidator, then they vanished. Yeoh said Neal’s Yard Dairy still knows nothing about the cheeses’ whereabouts, but a 63-year-old male suspect has been released on bail.

“It was clear to us, as we contacted people in the industry, how widespread fraud is and how no one talks about it,” said Yeoh. “It became clear that we would have to swallow our embarrassment and go public as a way of saying, ‘If this could happen to us, who are very diligent about how we run our business….’”

Yeoh says Neal’s Yard Dairy heard from numerous other specialty food companies that had been victims of similar scams. We’ve all read about fraudulent wine and olive oil, but Yeoh reminded me about the Parmigiano Reggiano heist of 2015 and the multiple cases of cheese bandits in Wisconsin. Cheese ranks fourth on the list of most-stolen specialty foods, behind wine, olive oil and coffee, says Yeoh.

U.S. cheese lovers can step up to help Neal’s Yard Dairy recover from this blow. Fourth-quarter sales are critical in the specialty food industry.

Below are the Neal’s Yard Dairy cheeses I know to be available in the U.S.—not all of them everywhere—and I urge you to seek them out in the weeks ahead. Putting them on your cheese boards will not only help Neal’s Yard Dairy rebound but also elevate your cheese course. The company is widely admired for exporting the best from the U.K.

I’ve put an asterisk by the selections that you are most likely to find, and I’ve added brief tasting notes for some. You can learn more about each cheese at NYD’s online store.

NYD cheese can be costly. The company’s director, David Lockwood, explained some of the reasons to me last year. As a result, most of these cheeses go to serious independent shops that have enthusiastic cheesemongers to hand-sell them. Yeoh provided a list of U.S. shops that are frequent Neal’s Yard Dairy customers.

My fantasy cheese board? From the options below, I would choose Lincolnshire Poacher, Gubbeen and Stichelton.

Unless otherwise noted, the following are cow’s milk cheeses.

Cheddar and Cheddar-like styles:

• *Appleby's Cheshire: crumbly and tangy; Cheshire is Britain’s oldest style and Appleby’s is the acknowledged best

• Hafod: extraordinary Welsh Cheddar handmade by an American

• Isle of Mull: Scottish raw-milk Cheddar; big, bold flavors

• *Keen’s Cheddar: tangier than Montgomery’s

• Kirkham’s Lancashire: crumbly and moist, with aromas of butter and buttermilk

• Lincolnshire Poacher: rich and creamy with a nutty brown-butter aroma

• *Montgomery’s Cheddar: a standard bearer for clothbound Cheddar; nutty and grassy

• *Sparkenhoe Red Leicester: leaves a more mellow impression than other British Cheddars

• *Westcombe Cheddar

• Yoredale Wensleydale

Other firm cheeses:

• Coolea: Gouda style; flavor like a salted caramel

• Cornish Yarg: beautiful wheel modeled on Caerphilly; wrapped in stinging nettle leaves that impart a green garlic aroma

• Duckett’s Caerphilly

• Gorwydd Caerphilly: crumbly and lemon at the center; creamier, with a mushroom aroma, under the rind

• Spenwood: sheep’s milk; caramel and brown butter notes; costly but worth it

Blue cheeses:

• *Colston Bassett Stilton: buttery, creamy and mellow

• *Shropshire Blue: similar to Stilton but with color added; slightly earthy in flavor

• Stichelton: a raw-milk wheel modeled on Stilton, whose producers are no longer permitted to use raw milk

Semisoft cheeses:

• Baron Bigod: Brie style

• Doorstone: small rinded goat’s milk cylinder

• Durrus: Irish washed-rind cheese with aromas of Brazil nuts, yeast and cow barn

• Gubbeen: Irish washed-rind cheese; creamy and pungent; think roasted peanuts

• Tunworth: bloomy-rind cheese with a truffle aroma

List of U.S. shops