• About
  • Contact Me

Little Green Cheese

Cheese making at home with Gavin Webber the Cheeseman

  • Home
  • Cheese eBook
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Cheese Making Kits
  • Courses
  • Support Me!
  • Live!

How to Make Cheddar Cheese – Traditional Method

30/01/2017 By Gavin Webber 4 Comments

Cheddar cheese, the most widely purchased and eaten cheese in the world, is always made from cow’s milk.

It is a hard and natural cheese that has a slightly crumbly texture if properly cured and if it is too young, the texture is smooth.  It gets a sharper taste as it matures, over a period of time between 9 to 24 months.

Shaped like a drum, 15 inches in diameter, Cheddar cheese is natural rind bound in cloth while its colour generally ranges from white to pale yellow. However, some Cheddars may have a manually added yellow-orange colour (like mine).

Cheddar Cheese

Makes about 1 kg of cheese

Ingredients

  • 10 L (10 qt) Full Cream Milk, preferably pasteurised/unhomogenised
  • 1/8th Teaspoon (Dash) Mesophilic Culture MO30
  • 2.5 ml (½ tsp) Calcium Chloride in ¼ cup water
  • 2.5 ml (½tsp) Liquid Rennet in ¼ cup water
  • 12 drops of Annatto in 1/4 cup water
  • 1 & ½ Tablespoons Cheese Salt
  • Loose weave Cheese Cloth
  • Butter, Lard or Coconut oil for banding

Equipment

  • Cheese Press
  • 165 mm Cheese basket with follower
  • Cheese drying mat or Bamboo mat
  • Dairy Thermometer
  • Stainless Steel Stirring Spoon
  • Mini measuring spoons (for cultures)

Method

Adding Ingredients

  1. Sanitise all equipment.
  2. Warm your milk to 31°C (88°F), stirring gently whilst bringing up to temperature.  Turn off the heat.
  3. Sprinkle culture over the surface of the milk and allow to rehydrate for 5 minutes.  Stir thoroughly in an up and down motion without breaking the surface of the milk.  Cover and allow to rest for 40 minutes at the target temperature.
  4. Add the Annatto solution and mix well.
  5. Add the Calcium Chloride solution and mix well.
  6. Add the rennet solution to the milk and mix thoroughly using the same up and down motion for no more than 2 minutes.  Cover and allow to set for 40 minutes.
  7. Check for a clean break.  If necessary, leave for another 10 minutes then check again.

CUTTING THE CURD

  1. Check for a clean break and cut the curds into 1.25 cm (½ inch) cubes.
  2. Rest for 5 minutes to allow curds to heal.
  3. Return to a low heat and gradually raise the temp to 39°C (102°F), stirring gently and continuously, during the period of 45 minutes.  Don’t heat too fast.  This slow process allows more whey to be expelled and avoids bitterness in the fully aged cheese.
  4. Once the target temperature is reached, turn off the heat.  Let the curds rest for 40 minutes maintaining the temp at 39°C (102°F) .

Cheddaring, Milling, and PRESSING

  1. Drain curds and whey through cheesecloth lined colander.  Return the curd slab back to the pot for cheddaring, place pot back into the double boiler to keep the curd slab at 39°C (102°F).
  2. Cut the slab in half and cover pot and allow curds to stand for 10 minutes.
  3. After 1o minutes, turn each slab over.  Let stand for another 10 minutes.
  4. After 1o minutes, turn each slab over.  Let stand for another 10 minutes.
  5. After 1o minutes, turn each slab over.  Let stand for another 15 minutes.  That’s 45 minutes cheddaring time in total.
  6. Drain the two slabs through cheesecloth lined colander, then place the slabs onto a chopping board.
  7. Cut the curd into 5 by 1.25 cm (2 by ½ inch) fingers.
  8. Using your pot as a container, break each finger in half and then toss the salt through the curds.  This is called Milling
  9. Line a 165 mm cheese mould with cheesecloth and fill with the curds.  Cover the curds with the corner of the cheese cloth, top with a follower, and press at 11 kg (24 lbs) for 1 hour.
  10. Remove the cheese from the press, and slowly and carefully unwrap it.  Turn the cheese over, rewrap it in the cloth and press at 22 kg (50 lb) for 12 hours.

AIR DRYING AND WAXING

  1. Then place on a cheese mat and board and let air dry at room temperature until it is dry to touch (usually 2-5 days).  Turn twice daily to allow for even drying.
  2. Cloth band or wax the cheese and allow it to age for 3 months for mild, 6 months for Tasty, 12+ months for Vintage Cheddar.  Ripen in a humid cheese fridge at 10-12ºC (50-54ºF) at 80-85% humidity.  Don’t forget to turn weekly, to allow for even distribution of the fats and flavour.

I have tasted this cheese at 3 months and it is quite mild.  I recommend that this Cheddar Cheese is aged for 6 months or more for a sharper flavour.

If you are interested in making Cheddar cheese at home, I highly recommend the Hard Cheese Kit, as it contains most things you need to make this cheese.

Little Green Workshops

Will this article help someone you know? If so help them out by sharing now!

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Recipes, Video Tutorial Tagged With: Cheddar

← Jarlsberg Cheese Taste Test LGC054 – Using Goat’s Milk with Cow’s Milk Recipes →

About Gavin Webber

Gavin Webber is passionate about home cheese making. He loves to make cheese in his spare time and shares the techniques, videos, podcasts, and recipes with his fellow curd nerds!

Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Comments

  1. Daren says

    31/01/2019 at 08:42

    Hi I made this cheddar following the recipe. When making this the fat seemed to just float on the top resembling butter until I heated to 39 then it melted to a liquid but still stayed separate. I used pasteurised unharmogonised milk as instructed.

    Reply
  2. Shaphuntsho says

    22/12/2018 at 14:13

    I want to know how to make cheese n butter and also price for mashine

    Reply
  3. Melinda Pepper says

    05/09/2018 at 10:46

    Thanks so much for the recipe. Can this recipe be halved or is there a way to make just a gallon? Love your cheese harp!

    Reply
  4. André says

    04/03/2017 at 04:34

    Hi
    Thanks for sharing all your hard work and knowledge with us.
    I have a question for you and I don’t think you cover it on your Q&A videos.
    I will start to make cheese and I wish to know what is the deference between the wax and the sous-vide for aging cheese
    I saw you unwrap your cheddar and it seem to mature in the plastic.
    Did the sous-vide make aging slower?
    Did the cheese cave humidity still realy important with plastic wrap?
    I have a sous vide machine and I think it’s easier to use then the wax.
    Thanks for your help
    I wish you a great day! 🙂

    Your little padawan/curd nerd

    Reply

Leave a comment for the Cheese Maker! Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Follow Us via Social

FacebooktwitterpinterestrssyoutubeFacebooktwitterpinterestrssyoutube

Cheese Making Kits

Cheeseman.tv Merchandise

Cheeseman.tv Merchandise
Cool Cheesy T-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, stickers, and more
0:00
31:28
  • LGC083 – How to Make Cheese After the Apocalypse!
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts

Archives

Tags

Aging Blue Brine Caerphilly Camembert Cheese Books Cheese Cave Cheese Press Colby Competition Cotswold Cream Cheese Drunken Cow eBook Emmentaler Equipment Farmhouse Cheddar Feta Gavin Halloumi Kits Lipase Mould Ripened Cheese Moulds Mozzarella Parmesan Podcast Queso Fresco Raw Milk Rennet Ricotta Romano Romano Pepato Salt Sanitisation Starter Cultures Stilton Storage Swiss Technique Tzafatit Video Tutorial Waxing Whey Ricotta Workshops
Online video lessons by Little Green Cheese

Subscribe to Cheese Podcast

Apple PodcastsAndroidRSS

Subscribe to Cheeseman.tv

Podcast Reviews

  • Perfect for Cheesemakers of all levels!
    by Viki Leeasa from Thailand

    I love that this podcast does not just have helpful tips and tricks on cheese making, but also stories and news from the cheese world, as well as nice little anecdotes from the host. A big fan from Thailand!

  • If you think you want to make cheese, listen to this!
    by paulsaw from United States

    Gavin Webber’s Little Green Cheese is By Far the best podcast I have ever heard! A truly informative and quality production!

  • Great program
    by p37dg9q14 from United States

    Very informative and enjoyable podcast. I started at episode 1 and currently listening to 25. I’ll be giving cheesemaking a go in the next week. Mike J from Oceanside CA

  • Great podcast
    by nicole_elias from Australia

    I have a long commute to and from work and have worked my way through the back catalogue of these podcasts. Enjoyed every one of them and hope for many more to come. Thanks Gavin! Keep up the great work. Cheers, Nicole

  • Excellent!
    by emeldridge from United States

    Looking to take up cheesemaking sometime soon and this channel has provided all the information necessary to get started!

  • Great Resource!
    by olivestones from United States

    I have been learning to make cheese for the past year. Gavin's podcast and video series has been a tremendous resource for me. His love for the cheese-making craft is evident in the amount of research he will perform in order to answer a listener's cheese question. All thumbs up for the amount of time and energy he puts into his quality podcast! ...And he cracks me up with his attempts at pronunciation!

  • Outstanding Info on Cheesemaking!
    by Sablwolf from United States

    If you are interested in anything to do with cheese, this is the podcast for you. Host Gavin Webber takes you through an aspect of cheese making, interviews with other people who are doing it, a current cheese-related news segment, and answers questions listeners have submitted in each episode. I've been quite amazed at his depth of knowledge, and he's provided answers to several problems I've encountered as well. Top rate!

  • So great!
    by jimjiminyjim from Canada

    Absolutely fantastic. My favourite cheesemaking resource out there. Listen from episode one, and by the time you’re done, you’ll have learned as much or more than you might at a professional cheesemaking intensive.

  • Fantastic podcast to compliment your YouTube videos and website
    by Paul from Brisbane from Australia

    Thanks Gavin. I have learnt a lot about cheese making from your podcasts which compliment your YouTube Videos and cheese book. Thanks

  • Super interesting!
    by Lenka S from Australia

    Gavin's podcast is so interesting and informative, he knows so much about home cheesemaking and he shares his knowledge with his listeners and answers listener questions on the show which is also extremely helpful! I am listening to them all for the second time and finding lots of new useful pieces of information. There are also interesting bits of cheese news from around the world. Thank you Gavin!

Little Green Workshops

Copyright © 2019 · Gavin Webber

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.