First grade: the story of cheddar

Once the milk is collected, it’s time to turn it into cheese. Richard follows his grandmother Ivy’s recipe, which is 150 years old. ‘We are one of the only dairies still using traditional bulk starters to culture our cheddar-making bacteria,’ says Richard. ‘It takes us longer to develop this than it does to actually make the cheese, but they’re the reason we get a rounded, complex flavour that you rarely see in other vintage cheddars.’

After the cheese has been separated into curds and whey by the starter culture, it undergoes the ‘cheddaring’ process – a technique that requires cutting and stacking the curds to remove moisture. It is then salted, pressed into moulds and left to mature in flavour. ‘Our cheddar is still aged in wooden maturing boxes which are constantly monitored by our master cheese graders,’ explains Richard. ‘Traditionally it was aged in an old stone barn, which kept a constant cool temperature, but we now recreate the same environment in much larger stores.’

It’s during this maturation time that Richard’s years of experience come into play. As the cheddar develops, he regularly uses a ‘cheese iron’ to test the smell, flavour and texture. ‘Cheddar grading involves taking a ‘core’ out of the cheese and instantly noting the aromas,’ he says. ‘We then look at the curd texture and feel it to check the ‘body’ of the cheese, by breaking a piece off and rubbing it in our fingers. This helps us work out how the curd breaks down and how that will happen as nature takes its course.’

Despite grading cheddar since he was just six years old, Richard believes a cheese grader is always learning. Cheese changes with seasonal milk and weather, so even if you have graded cheddar for ten years, you will only have seen ten cycles. ‘My dad has seen sixty-eight cycles as he started grading cheddar from a very young age,’ says Richard, ‘so he is the expert and is able to pass that experience on to me, like his father and mother did for him.’

It’s clear then, that whether you like the tang of a vintage that’s been aged for years or prefer the mild, buttery flavour of a younger variety, there’s still an awful lot of time, hard work and expertise that goes into making cheddar – something worth remembering the next time you’re eagerly grating it over pasta or slicing it up for a speedy sandwich.