How we make our cheddar

Denhay Farm has been making farmhouse cheddar cheese for fifty years and the first cheese was made on 12th June 1959.

Mike, our head Cheesemaker, has been at Denhay for over 10 years, taking over from Bill in 2007, who retired after 30 years with us. Mike leads a team of seven people who make our award winning cheddar. Achieving consistent high-grade scores is in large part due to their skill, experience and attention to detail.

Every day, our milk is collected from each herd and taken to the Cheese House. Each morning the previous day's milk is pasteurised then poured into a large cheese vat. A starter culture is added which starts the cheese making process. The starter, or bacteria, turns the natural sugar in milk (lactose) to lactic acid in a fermentation process. The milk is stirred and slowly warmed and then vegetarian rennet is added which causes the milk to coagulate into a junket. Once set, this is cut and small solid particles of curd float in the liquid whey.

The whey is drained off and the resulting curd is transferred to long cooling trays. It is here that the curd knits together and the cheesemakers cut, stack and repeatedly turn the curd by hand to ensure all the moisture is drained away. This is the famous process called "cheddaring" the curd, which is essential to establish the character of the cheese.

The springy curds are then milled and salted and are ready to be packed into either cylindrical moulds for traditional cheese truckles, or rectangular moulds for blocks. The cheeses are pressed to eliminate any further moisture.

After 24 hours, the cylinders are removed from their moulds, bathed in hot water and returned to the mould for a further 24 hours. They are then removed, covered in lard, a soft cloth is applied and then pressed again. After a final 24 hours the cheeses are labelled and taken to the store, where they are turned every day for four months, thereafter once every two weeks. The store must be kept at a constant temperature and humidity to ensure even maturity. The cheeses are stacked on racks in the cheese store and monitored constantly.*

The block cheeses are pressed for 24 hours, then wrapped and placed in wooden slats for protection. They are labelled and taken to the store where they are stored on pallets and monitored constantly. The cheese will mature for at least 10 months before it is considered ready for sale.

A first independent grading will take place at three months to ascertain the quality of the cheese in terms of colour, texture, smell and taste. A second independent grading occurs at six months of age and a final, third one at nine months old. Only cheese which passes through this rigorous three stage process, with three different independent graders, is sold as Denhay Farmhouse Cheddar. Most is sold as ‘Mature’ at over 11 months old but some is selected for maturing to an older age and sold as either Extra Mature or Vintage (18 months old).

*The Cheese House has full food safety and hygiene procedures: it has the BRC’s Global Standard, Higher level grade A. Denhay Cheddar also has the E.U.'s "Protected Designation of Origin" (P.D.O.) mark, guaranteeing its authenticity. This is the equivalent to the Appelation Controllee for French wine.