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Cheddar

Cheddar is a hard cheese originating from the south-west of England (originally from the village of Cheddar), where it matures in caves. Cheddar is made from both unpasteurized and pasteurized whole milk. The starter culture and later the rennet are used to create the curd. The finished curd is ground into pea-sized pieces and then slowly heated. After draining the whey, the curd forms a homogeneous mass, which is cut into thick blocks. The blocks are stacked on top of each other and tilted to drain the rest of the whey. This is what the cheddar cheese process looks like, which gives the cheese its specific structure. Finally, the curd is ground again, salted and placed in special molds, in which it is then pressed.

Cultures needed :

Name	Volume	Require
Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis		Required
Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris		Required
Streptococcus salivarius subsp. thermophilus		Required

Step by step :

	Step	Duration
1	Prepare milk (pasteurize at 62 °C)	00:30:00
2	Prepare mesophilic cultures (37 ° C), mix and let mature for 45 min. For a typical color, it is necessary to add the natural dye annato, which does not change the quality of the cheese, it only colors it.	00:45:00
3	Add rennet (and calcium chloride) 32 °C, (45 min).	00:45:00
4	Cut the coagulated milk into 1 cm pieces and let it rest for 5 minutes.	00:10:00
5	The cheese is then heated to 38 °C, heating up to 30 min, then mixed (up to 1 h).	01:00:00
6	Pour the cheese into a cheesecloth placed in a perforated container or strainer and let it drip for 15 minutes.	00:15:00
7	Cut the cheese into slices, put them in a container with a drain and cheddar for 90 minutes.	01:30:00
8	Leave the plates to rest for up to 1 hour (pH 5.4-5.3).	01:00:00
9	Cut the plates into pieces 1inch and sprinkle with salt. Dry salt the cheeses (1–2%) for up to 1 hour.	01:00:00
10	We fill the mold and load it with a smaller weight for the first 30 minutes - cheese from 15 liters of milk approx. 8 kg. Then we turn it, load approx. 25-30 kg and then turn it regularly together for 6-10 hours.
11	Let the cheeses dry for 1–3 days and then wax or bandage them.
12	Aging of cheeses at a temperature of 12–14 °C for 6–12 months. We rotate twice a week.