Crowdie has two different meanings. The Dictionaries of the Scots Language gives us first: “A mixture of oatmeal and cold water, etc. eaten raw. Sometimes also used of porridge or brose and hence of food in general”. Secondly, and probably more familiar to us: “a kind of soft cheese”.

An early example of the first comes from a “Blythesome Wedding” (c.1682) published in A Choice Collection of Comic and Serious Scots Poems (1869): “Pow-Sodie [sheep’s head broth], and Drammock, and Crowdie and callour Nout-feet in a Plate [fresh calves-feet]. This sense of crowdie was not necessarily known for its luxuriousness … “Ye dour crowdy-eater.” (From Walter Scott’s Old Mortality, 1816).

However, the cheese is a different matter. This, from The Scotsman’s Travel Notes (2001), sounds like a delicious combination: “… at Brodick Castle’s Old Home Farm … we tasted morsels of island cheddar with whisky, garlic crowdie and smoked Goatfell crotin (goat’s cheese, naturally).”

And there’s this delicious cheese board selection from the Atrium in Aberdeen (reported in the Aberdeen Evening Express of April 2023): “Also on the menu is a Scottish cheeseboard with cheese including Strathdon Blue, Morangie Brie, Black Crowdie, Isle of Mull Cheddar, quince jelly, artisan biscuits, tomato relish and grapes”. Black crowdie is so-called because the cheese is rolled in oatmeal and crushed black peppercorns.

Finally, this utterly tempting sounding dish written up in Scottish Kitchen (September 2024, The Scots Magazine) by Clare Coghill of Café Cuil: “I’ve put a Scottish twist on the Middle Eastern classic [shakshuka] by adding Stornoway black pudding and crowdie cheese.”

Scots Word of the Week comes from Dictionaries of the Scots Language. Visit DSL Online at https://dsl.ac.uk.