Ingredient

Cheddar

Cheddar is the most-eaten cheese in Britain and the one most often used badly. The critical fact is that age changes how it melts: a young cheddar melts smoothly and tastes of little, while a well-aged one tastes of a great deal and turns grainy and oily in a sauce. Choosing between those is most of what there is to know.

Why age changes the melt

As a cheese ages, two things happen to its structure. Enzymes break the casein proteins into shorter fragments, and the cheese loses moisture.

Both work against a smooth melt. The protein network that holds fat and water together becomes weaker and less able to stretch, so when it is heated it contracts and squeezes the fat out instead of flowing. That is exactly what a grainy, oily cheese sauce is: broken protein and separated fat.

A young or mild cheddar, three to six months old, has an intact protein network and more moisture, and it melts into a sauce smoothly. A vintage cheddar, eighteen months or more, has the flavour but not the structure.

The practical answer is not to choose one. Use a medium cheddar as the body of the sauce and a small amount of a mature one for flavour, and add all of it off the heat, grated, stirred in until it just melts. Boiling a cheese sauce is the other half of the problem — see grainy cheese sauce.

What the labels mean

Mild

Around three months. Soft, springy, mild. Melts beautifully, tastes of little.

Medium / mature

Six to twelve months. The everyday balance, and the best default for cooking.

Extra mature / vintage

Eighteen months and up. Crumbly, sharp, complex, often with crunchy crystals. For eating, not for sauce.

West Country Farmhouse Cheddar PDO

A protected designation. Made in one of four South West counties, on a farm, with traditional methods and local milk. A meaningful guarantee.

"Cheddar" generally

Not protected. Cheddar can be made anywhere by anyone, which is why the quality range is enormous.

Cloth-bound

Wrapped in cloth and aged, which lets moisture escape and mould develop on the rind. Deeper, earthier, more complex than block cheddar aged in plastic.

The crunchy bits

Crystals of calcium lactate or amino acids that form as a cheese ages. A sign of maturity rather than a fault.

What cheddaring actually is

Cheddar is named after a process rather than the process being named after the village, though both are true in a sense.

After the curds have formed and the whey has drained, the curd is cut into slabs which are then stacked, turned and restacked repeatedly over a period. The weight of the slabs presses out more whey, and the curd becomes progressively firmer and more fibrous and its acidity develops. That stacking and turning is cheddaring.

The slabs are then milled into pieces, salted, and pressed into moulds. The result is a dense, close-textured cheese with a distinctive grain, quite unlike the open, springy texture of a cheese whose curd was not treated this way.

The process is used for a number of cheeses beyond cheddar itself, which is why several British territorial cheeses share something of the same texture.

Using it well

• Grate it, do not cube it, for any melted application. Grated cheese melts faster and more evenly, and less time on the heat means less chance of splitting.
• Add it off the heat to a sauce, and stir until it just melts. Never boil a sauce after the cheese has gone in.
• For toasties and gratins, a medium cheddar behaves best. Blend in a little mature for flavour.
• Bring it to room temperature before eating it. Cold cheddar tastes of considerably less; an hour out of the fridge makes a large difference.
• Wrap it in waxed paper or cloth, not cling film. Cheese needs to breathe a little, and airtight plastic makes it sweat and go slimy.
• Mould on a hard cheese can generally be cut away with a margin, unlike on a soft cheese — but if you are unsure, the Food Standards Agency is the place to check rather than a cookery page.
• Do not freeze it for eating. It goes crumbly. Frozen cheddar is fine for cooking.

Common questions