As it’s the start of the year I thought it would be interesting to write a bit about our cheese-making process which of course starts with the delivery of the milk each morning. And as we all know, milk is the key ingredient when making cheese, so it makes sense that to make delicious cheese you need to start with good quality milk.

What is Milk exactly?

Simply put, milk is composed of water (87%), Carbohydrate (4.5%), fat (4.4%), protein (3.4%) and minerals (0.8%). These are our average values of the milk we use to make our authentic cheddar cheese. These values will differ slightly each day, between individual cows, different breeds and different times of the year.

In comparison once the milk has been converted into cheese the composition changes to: water (35%), Carbohydrate (0.1%), fat (34.3%), protein (25.4%) and minerals (5.2%).

Cheese is the oldest way of preserving milk and is an excellent source of nutrients. It’s a good source of Calcium, protein, fat, vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, Zinc, Riboflavin, Phosphorus and Magnesium. Our Cheddar contains only around 1.7% salt and is low in carbohydrate (0.01%) as most is removed in the whey or converted into lactic acid during the cheese-making processes (which is why, contrary to popular belief, that those with lactose intolerance can still enjoy eating our cheese!)

Did you know?! While milk is primarily composed of water which is a colourless liquid, the other components of milk (fat, protein, lactose, minerals and vitamins) influence the colour of milk. The fat and protein molecules in milk reflect light at a wavelength that makes the liquid appear white. Milk fat, on its own, has a yellow hue due to pigments such as beta-carotene that the cow gets from eating grass.  During the cheese making process, the water is removed and the fat is concentrated  which is why cheese is yellow!

But does milk really matter?

Yes it does! Large scale cheese producers need to source large quantities of milk, supplied from many farms. Once delivered to the factory, the milk is stored before use – usually in large cylindrical silos, and then pasteurised and (usually) standardised before use. These two processes ensure a consistent raw material is used to make a consistent cheese.

If the cheese is made from raw milk, the quality and composition is even more important; this milk will not be pasteurised before use.

Pasteurisation was developed by a French Scientist called Louis Pasteur during the nineteenth century. Pasteur discovered that heating milk to a high temperature and then quickly cooling it before bottling kept it fresher for longer. Today, the process of pasteurisation is widely used within the food and drink industry, and it is the most common form of heat treatment used in the UK.

Pasteurisation is widely used in cheese making specifically to minimise the risk presented by storing raw milk before use. Delaying the use of the milk increases the likelihood of harmful bacteria developing in the milk. Pasteurisation denatures proteins, including destroying all bacteria. Ensuring there are no pathogens (harmful bacteria) in milk is essential for food safety; however this process also destroys non harmful bacteria and enzymes naturally present in the milk.

Before pasteurisation was introduced, all Cheeses were made from raw-milk and commonly made on the farm from the farmers own herd of cattle.  These days raw-milk cheeses are still fairly common in Europe; Parmesan, for example, is always made with unpasteurised milk (the Italian decree insists on it), as is Swiss Gruyère, Roquefort, Comté etc.. but only a handful of cheese-makers in the UK make raw-milk cheese – of which we are one!

So, what makes raw-milk cheese so special?

Cows grazing the lush pastures surrounding the village of Cheddar

The milk is one of the most important aspects of our cheese and we believe that the very best Cheddar is created in harmony with the land. The special conditions here in Somerset are vital to producing exceptional cheddar cheese. The unique landscape of Cheddar and the lush pastures that surround it contribute to high quality milk which in turn produces high quality cheese. For an exceptional cheddar the flavour is derived from the composition of the milk. This is of course influenced both by the cow and it’s diet, also the geography of the land where the cows live (the soil, altitude, aspect, weather and quality of grass) – also known as the ‘terroir’. Our milk is sourced from just one local farm & delivered fresh each morning to our dairy. The milk is not pasteurised, so that all the valuable flavour-enhancing bacteria, enzymes, proteins and minerals are retained. By using only one milk source and maintaining excellent hygiene standards, we ensure we produce the highest quality cheddar both in terms of flavour and safety.

The milk, with its unique combination of natural microbes, influences both the flavour and texture of our cheese and one of the most interesting aspects of working with a raw product as microbially active as our milk, is that no batch of cheese is ever the same. The changing seasons influence the quantity and quality of the milk and everything from the climate, health, breeding cycle and most importantly the type of grasses and other natural fodder that the cows feed on will affect the final flavours of our cheese.

Cow breed also plays a major part in the quality of the milk because different breeds produce different levels of fat and protein. The more fat and protein in the milk means more cheese, but the specific types of fat and protein, which vary between breeds, all make a difference to the cheese quality. The differing fats and proteins are captured in the cheese, and, in time, broken down to create the flavour. There is also evidence that differing breeds affect other aspects of cheese-making too, for example some breeds have more ‘lactic acid’ bacteria in their milk, which influences the cheese making process.

Holstein-Friesian Cattle – Cheddar, Somerset

Interestingly, many famous European cheeses are made to rules that stipulate the exact breed that must be used to make that cheese.

In the 19th Century before the influx of more modern breeds, traditional breeds such as the Shorthorn and Ayrshire were commonly used, although the county of Somerset actually had it’s very own breed of cow – the ‘Sheeted Somerset’ – so called because of the distinctive white “sheet” forming the mid-section of the cow’s torso. Sadly the breed became extinct by the 1930s as farming requirements changed and new breeds were introduced from other areas of the UK and Europe.

Last herd of Sheeted Somerset. Photo taken at Broadlands Estate 1930s

These days the most common dairy breed in the UK is the Holstein-Friesen. Considered to be the ultimate dairy cow, these black/brown and white cattle are a common sight across the British countryside, although they were actually brought over from Friesland in the Netherlands and Holstein in Germany after the Second World War. Although commonly used for the liquid milk market some herds are managed, fed and bred specifically for cheese making.

So, to answer the question – YES! milk DOES matter! and the proof is in the pudding (or the cheese).

Is there something you’d like to know a little more about? why not get in touch and let us know – retail@cheddar.ltd

Emma 🙂

This lovely article was written by journalist Lizzie Enfield and published on the BBC news app on 11th November 2021.

Lizzie was meticulously thorough in her research and, since being published, we have been inundated with messages from around the world! Many from homesick expats eager to try traditional cheddar cheese again and others who are simply cheese lovers.

Oh how we wish we could send cheese to all those who requested it …

Stilton, Cheshire, red Leicester. There are more than 700 cheeses produced in the UK, but in parts of the English-speaking world, a certain type is so ubiquitous that it’s simply referred to as “cheese”.

Cheddar is the most popular cheese in the UK, accounting for nearly half of all British cheese sales, and according to recent polls, it’s the favourite cheese among Americans and Aussies, and one of the most-eaten types in Canada, too. But while cheddar has become a dairy staple from Wisconsin to Wales, the fact that one of the world’s most-consumed cheeses has no protected designation of origin means that it’s also become one of the most mass-produced. These days, industrialised cheddar is churned out in more than a dozen countries and the plastic-packaged blocks bear little resemblance to their cave-matured predecessors.

But if you want to taste authentic cheddar cheese, the way it originally tasted, you need to visit the 5,400-person village of Cheddar in the county of Somerset in south-west England. Here, as far back as the late Middle Ages, cheese makers used caves in the towering limestone cliffs of Cheddar Gorge as natural refrigerators.

Back then – and for centuries afterward – cheese would have been made in small individual dairies. But as a result of rationing during World War Two, most of the milk in Britain was used to make a single generic cheese dubbed “Government Cheddar“. This nearly wiped out local cheese production in Britain, slashing the number of farmhouse producers from more than 3,500 before World War One to barely 100 by the end of WW2, and, for years afterward, there was no-one making traditional cheddar in Cheddar.

That finally changed in 2003 when one local couple, Katherine and John Spencer, decided to revive the cheese making methods that had made the name of their village world famous. And now, their Cheddar-made cheddar is winning international awards.

“We spotted a gap in the market for a traditional Cheddar made where it all began,” Katherine explained from the small office adjacent to the couples’ Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company dairy. “Our aim was to perfect a quality handmade cheese, using raw milk from one farm that was more akin to the cheese that would have been made here hundreds of years ago than the mass-produced blocks we tend to associate with cheddar today.”

Although the couple had a background in the cheese industry (Katherine had worked as a continental cheese importer and John in supermarket supply), this was a new direction. With three experienced cheese makers working for them, they began researching local and historical cheese recipes. Over a six-year period, they perfected their brand of cheddar, eventually persuading local landowner Lord Bath to allow them to store some of their cheese in the same caves that gave the original cheddar its unique taste centuries earlier.

John and Katherine Spencer’s Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company recently won a slew of awards at multiple cheese competitions

According to professor Paul Kindstedt, who teaches a course on the history of cheese at University of Vermont, cheddar’s origins go back to the 14th Century, when local cheesemakers implemented a process known as “scalding” (heating the curds to high temperatures in order to force liquid whey from the cheese) before pressing the curds into a harder cheese. Since a cheese’s moisture level is what makes it perishable, scalding enabled cheddar to last longer.

“The superior quality of the cheese caught the attention of wealthy Londoners who visited the renowned caves of Cheddar Gorge and dined on local cheeses during their visits,” said Kindstedt. “They spread the word, and the cheese from Cheddar acquired a positive reputation from around the 15th Century on.”

In fact, during part of Charles I’s reign from 1625-1649, demand outweighed supply, and cheese from Cheddar was only available at the king’s court. Even then, orders had to be placed well in advance.

By the mid-17th Century, London had become England’s main cheese market and there was pressure on cheese mongers to increase the size of their wheels. As a result, Cheddar-area cheese makers developed a process known as “cheddaring”, in which they pressed milled curds to reduce the liquid whey. Decreasing the cheese’s moisture levels after scalding rendered it even more solid, making it easier to shape the cheddar into larger, longer-lasting wheels that could be transported to London and beyond.

“The combination of scalding and cheddaring opened the door for cheese makers all over the globe, including in America, to produce a magnificent cheese,” Kindsted said. “My home state of Vermont began producing this style of cheese under the revered name of ‘cheddar’ around 200 years ago. Vermont cheddar cheese makers are keenly aware of the debt of gratitude that is owed to their English cheese maker counterparts.”

In addition to the widespread replication of cheddaring and scalding, cheddar’s march around the globe was further helped by two things, starting with emigration. As Brits moved to other parts of the world, they took English cheese making traditions with them. Many of these places – such as the US, Canada and Australia – are where cheddar continues to be wildly popular today.

The second is packaging. “In the early 19th Century, American cheese makers began wrapping their cheeses in cotton cloth, greased with lard which limited moisture loss during aging and storage,” said Kindstedt. “This evolved into waxing the cheese surface and later into wrapping cheese in vacuum-packed plastic laminated film.”

This development allowed cheddar production to be scaled-up and industrialised to an extent the world had never seen. Before long, there was so much cheddar cheese being produced outside of England that the US became a major supplier of cheddar to England and led to a decline in the industry there.

But while cheddar was being recreated around the globe, it remained quintessentially British. In 1840 Queen Victoria received a massive cheddar “drum” weighing 558kg as a wedding gift. And Royal Navy officer Robert Falcon Scott took nearly 1,600kg of the stuff with him on board The Discovery during his famous 1901 expedition of Antarctica.

According to Katherine, cheddar’s early popularity was intrinsically tied to the climate and topography around the village where it was first produced.

“In Somerset we have a lot of rainfall, which produces good quality grass, and the Holstein Freisian cattle which graze it have just the right combination of fat and protein in their milk to make a quality hard cheese,” she explained. “Where nowadays dairies use milk from different herds, we use a single unpasteurised milk and begin cheese making within an hour of milking, just as our predecessors would have done.”

From behind a glass viewing gallery, visitors to the Cheddar Gorge Cheese Company can watch cheese makers perform the intensely physical ritual of cheddaring. They shovel heated curds onto a cooling table, squeeze them into blocks, pull a large cheese knife through to cut the blocks before turning, stacking, squeezing and re-cutting the blocks as soon as the curds begin to knit together to remove every last remnant of whey.

Cheese is one of life’s pleasures, as addictive as narcotics, but thankfully much better for us.

Professor Tim Spector, author of The Diet Myth, has a theory that the French are slimmer because they eat funky cheeses full of good bacteria that are vital for a healthy digestive system.

Can I eat the rind?

It’s a common conundrum and a question that we come across on an almost daily basis here in our shop and visitor centre in Cheddar Gorge. The simple answer is yes, although some cheese rinds are more palatable than others. Although they may be edible, not all rinds are made equal; whether or not you like the rind will come down to your personal palate.

Rinds, simply put, are the outside layer of a cheese which develops during the aging process; our traditional cheddar has a natural rind which develops through evaporation of moisture through the traditional cloth with which we dress our cheese. This thin crust protects the internal body of the cheese or paste, prolonging the life of the whole cheese. The cheese rind will also host vital moulds and microorganisms which contribute hugely to flavour. Left to their own devices, cheese will naturally form a rind, although in the case of some cheeses the rind is influenced by the cheesemaker. There are many different types of rind such as mould ripened, brine washed and pierced.

traditional cheddar has a natural rind

Natural rinds have the least amount of intervention. Traditional Cheddar is matured in cloth, allowing the cheese to ‘breath’ whilst it ages, exposing it to the all-important microflora and humidity that plays such an integral part in the overall flavours and textures of the cheese.  Sadly, the majority of Cheddar style cheeses found in today’s market are aged in plastic film or other protective coatings such as wax, which prevents rind formation, so it’s not so surprising that many of us have never encountered a Cheddar rind before.

cheese dressing – traditional cheddar is matured in cloth

Most rinds are edible and will enhance the cheeses overall flavour. The natural flavours of a cheddar rind reflect its aging environment – mushroom, earthy or even a subtle nuttiness – its nature’s compliment to the paste of the cheese and its always worth sampling a small portion to see what flavour, if any, the rind adds to your cheese eating experience. Take a little nibble of cheese with the rind and let your taste buds guide you. If the flavour and texture of the rind enhances the experience of eating the cheese, then go for it!

Some of us enjoy eating the rind just as it is, but if not, then don’t worry – the harder almost chewy texture of cheddar rind (particularly long-matured cheddars) isn’t to everyone’s taste – but once you’ve finished eating the good stuff, resist the temptation to banish the rinds to the compost bin and give it a new lease of life as a flavour-boosting addition to some of your favourite dishes instead.

The rind can be simply grated onto pasta dishes like spaghetti Bolognese or sprinkled over al-dente vegetables or try crisping thin slices of rind in the grill or cutting up into cubes and frying to serve with soups instead of croutons. Your cheese rind can also be used to add extra savoury flavours to soups, stews and sauces – simply add the rinds as you would a bay leaf and fish out what’s left before serving.

If you have a little more time to spare, cheese rind works wonders as a stock, adding an extra depth of flavour which can be used as a rich broth for soups, hot pots, pie fillings and casseroles or a base for risottos, pan sauces or even braising meat and vegetables.

Cheese Rind Broth

This savoury broth can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge up to 3 days before using or freeze in small batches for up to 3 months.

our Vintage rind makes a delicious savoury addition to your favourite dishes

* Caramelise a couple of shallots (or an onion) and garlic in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat

* Add a bunch of thyme, several sprigs of parsley and couple of bay leaves and a tsp of black peppercorns (You can add a generous glug of white wine at this point     if you wish, bring to a simmer and allow to cook until the liquid is reduced by approx. half)

* Add your cheese rinds and top up the pan with water and any vegetables you like – celery, carrots etc… bring to the boil over a high heat

* Reduce to a simmer and cook for 1 ½ – 2 hours stirring occasionally before straining