Farmhouse Cheddar is a really simple hard cheese to make. The recipe that I use can be found at my farmhouse cheddar post that includes a video tutorial.
Anyway, I had this round of Vintage Farmhouse Cheddar hiding in the back of the cheese fridge, which I made under a year ago.
It was made on 16th September 2011, so technically it is 11 months old, which I class as Vintage for a cheddar. Some may categorise it as Sharp. It looked like there was a slight seepage at some stage, however I found the wax intact so it must have come from a cheese stored above it as some stage of its maturation. There was no excess whey present under the wax when I removed it, however the surface was just touch dry.
As with all Farmhouse Cheddar, it was semi-moist, and slightly crumbly. Easy to cut, with a mild yellowing of the cheese.
The taste was outstanding. Sharp like a true vintage cheddar, with the peppercorns adding to its boldness.
Normally I do not leave my cheddar this long to mature, but as I made two rounds with the same batch of milk, it was easy to leave one mature for longer.
All in all, a fantastic cheese that improves with aging. I will certainly be making a double batch of this one in the near future so I can eat one at the three-month stage, and leave the other to acquire vintage status!
Hi Gav, Can I Be your friend…. please hahaha
Hi Gavin,
That looks yum, am very surprised how white the cheese is though. Just a question for you, do you make enough cheese to be kept in cheese for the whole year? or would that be too hard to do?
Jo in NZ
Hi John
Good question. It is pretty hard to make enough cheese over the course of a year, so my wife buys 1 kg of cheddar each month. We use the Italian hard cheeses on pasta and salads and mozzarella on pizza. All the other cheeses that I make are eaten via cheese platters with friends.
Gav
yummy