Cheddaring

It’s been Cheeseday and this week I’ve made a Red Leicester for the first time. 

The red is created by the addition of Annatto: a food colouring made from the seeds of the achiote tree from tropical South and Central America.

It is a cheese in the Cheddar ‘family’ which includes Lancashire, Cheshire, Wensleydale, Double Gloucester and Cheddar itself. 

The step in the process which links them is called ‘cheddaring’ whereby the heated and stirred curds are drained of whey, then sliced into fingers which are then drained further while being turned over periodically. As shown in the main photo.

The amount of heat, the amount of stirring, the length of draining, and finally the pressure and time which the cheeses are pressed all determine what kind of cheese comes out at the end.

The extra shows the Red Leicester looking much more like a proper cheese, having been pressed once at 7kg for 30 minutes, then flipped and pressed again for 2 hours at 15kg. It is now having its final press at 23kg for 24 hours. Once it comes out of the press it will air dry for three days before being waxed and put into the cheese cave to mature for four months.

So I’ll know whether or not it’s a success on 3rd January.