cheddar cheese Better Cheddar Cheese
This article first appeared in my Tastes column in the Wine
Spectator.
The phrase "familiarity breeds contempt," could have been coined for cheddar, America's, and the world's, favorite cheese. While foodies gush over stinky Epoisses from Burgundy or trendy goat cheese from Indiana, cheddar often gets a "ho-hum." Perhaps that's because a good chunk of the 9.6 pounds per capita of cheddar consumed in the United States in 1997 was in the form of processed cheese, according to Dick Groves, publisher of The Cheese Reporter, a weekly publication that tracks the cheese industry. That means you'll see a lot more cheddar on nachos than you will on restaurant cheese trolleys.
But things are changing. In England, artisan or farmhouse cheddar is experiencing a revival, after becoming nearly extinct. "Old pensioners in their 80s tell me they don't eat cheddar any more because they don't like the way it tastes today," says James Montgomery of Montgomery Farms, a 70-year-old family cheddar-making operation in North Cadbury. "So I say, 'try this' and I give them a bit of our cheese. Their eyes sparkle."
In the United States, Shelburne Farms and Grafton Village Cheese, two top cheddar producers from Vermont, are part of the new wave of American cheesemakers, who, over the past decade or so, have energized taste buds with distinctive cheeses. "Nobody understands what cheddar is in the United States," says Ross Gagnon, cheesemaker for Shelburne. "But cheddar can be on a level with Parmigiano-Reggiano or any other great cheese, when it's done traditionally, and we have a tradition in the United States that's as good as any in Europe."
Though there is a town called Cheddar in England, the cheese is named for one of the steps involved in the cheese-making process conceived in the county of Somerset in southwestern England. After cow's-milk curd is twice scalded, it is "cheddared" by repeatedly being cut and piled in order to remove the whey or liquid and to break the curd until it's smooth and silky. The curd is salted and, in the case of traditional cheddar, transferred to a drum as high as 16 inches, weighing up to 66 pounds.While some large producers can call their cheese farmhouse cheddar because they use their own milk, most of that milk is pasteurized. Smaller cheesemakers like Montgomery use raw milk, which has not had its flavor compromised by the heat of pasteurization. At Montgomery, cheese is made by hand in small batches and wrapped in cloth so it can "breathe" while aging and ripening. Most other cheddars are wrapped in plastic or wax, which prevents the cheese from aging further. After aging 12 to 24 months, the cheese emerges like a beautifully rustic cylinder with a tight brown, gray, and black speckled cloth rind. (Sometimes cheddars age as long as 3 years, or more. These cheeses are usually past their prime though they might offer interesting nuances like a good wine beyond its peak.)
There are no government regulations in the United States for farmhouse cheddar. Until last fall the only guidelines in England were left over from the defunct and highly bureaucratic Milk Marketing Board, which merely dictated that at least 50% of the milk for farmhouse cheddar had to come from cows owned by the cheesemaker. "It's done something to define the artisanal nature of cheddar but not enough. It's nothing like the French appellation controlleé," says Randolph Hodgson, owner of Neal's Yard, which sells and exports artisanal British cheeses in London.
Now, in an effort to establish a kind of appellation controlleé,
the European Economic Community has given authentic English farmhouse cheddar
status as a product of designated origin (PDO). Cheeses so labeled must have
been made from local milk, by hand, and aged a minimum of six months.
The aroma of authentic farmhouse cheddar should be nutty or grassy, the texture
rich, even buttery, and the flavors complex, ranging from fruitiness to oakiness.
The cheese should have a straw color, ranging from yellow to beige with no
white blotches, which indicate being stored too long in plastic. A few cracks
are okay, in fact, they can be a sign that the cheese is a genuine farmhouse
cheddar aged in cloth, not wax. And don't be put off by a half inch of dryness
inside the rind-"That's the best, most complex part," Hodgson says. "Any
cheesemaker will eat from the outside in."
Aged cheddars that are not made in the farmhouse style are often sharp and not much else. Sharpness is a term that Hodgson hears mostly from Americans. It's a pronounced acidic, almost puckery quality that's very limiting. "When I was in America I was absolutely struck by people who tasted my cheese and said, 'well, it isn't very strong, is it?' " Montgomery says. "People want to have their taste buds ripped apart by sharpness, which is easy to put into cheese. Sharpness actually kills off other flavors. We strive not to be sharp but to have a breadth of flavors."
Greg Blais, cheesemonger at Dean & Deluca in New York City, cuts wedges from a cylinder of Montgomery and one from Keen's Farm, another English farmhouse cheddar. "These are the true cheddars," he says. "I have trouble keeping them in stock." The cut wedge reveals a few specks of mold inside the cheese. "I really like to see that. It gives the cheese a bit of electricity, a liveliness," he says. The Keen's is smoother and creamier, with a meaty quality reminiscent of prosciutto or perhaps roast beef. The Montgomery is drier, more crumbly, so it breaks up in the mouth with wonderful bursts of intense, nutty flavors.
At home, I found the English cheddars as a whole superior to cheddars from the United States and Canada, with Montgomery at the top of the heap followed by Keen's. Times Past, another raw-milk cheddar, fared well with its caramel nose, nutty flavor, and creamy texture. So did the sharper Tuxford and Tebbutt made from pasteurized milk and aged a minimum of one year. Also worth noting is the rich and well-balanced Horlick's, my house cheddar.
Grafton's Classic Reserve Extra Sharp had depth but wasn't as complex as Shelburne's Farmhouse Cheddar. The Shelburne, which is made from raw milk and cloth-wrapped, could easily have been mistaken for an English farmhouse cheddar with its beefy, smoky flavors. Compared to the English, the Canadian cheddars and American cheddars from New York and Wisconsin, were either boring or one-dimensionally sharp with one exception: the cows milk and goat Wild Ripened Cheddars from Egg Farm Dairy in Peekskill, NY, both of which had loads of character. A step above the other cheddars from New York, Wisconsin, and Canada was Cabot Sharp, a solid Vermont cheese aged over 11 months, which showed a creaminess that nicely offsets its background sharpness.
Macaroni and cheese made with the Montgomery cheddar was dramatically better than one made with New York cheddar. "A lot of chefs use good cheddar because they know they won't have to swamp the dish with fat and make it stodgy," Montgomery says. The difference was slightly less noticeable in grilled cheese sandwiches made with Wisconsin cheddar and English farmhouse cheddar. To enliven a cold cheese sandwich, slather whole wheat bread with some mango chutney. And for an interesting cross-cultural treat, try grated Montgomery cheddar with risotto instead of Parmigiano-Reggiano.
Beer is the favorite beverage of cheddar devotees. I found microbrewed Catamount Amber Ale the most appealing among several beers because of its fruitiness. Just as good was hard cider, not surprising since apples and cheddar are a natural combo. The more nuanced French or English ciders were especially good with the more complex cheeses. As for wines, I liked a ripe, heady Zinfandel, again because of the lush fruit. This would also bode well for ruby Ports. Though Blais expects prices to come down, Dean & Deluca sells Montgomery and Keen's for $17 to $18 a pound, about double that for a good everyday cheddar from England or Vermont. It's cheaper than truffles, but a bit expensive for nachos.