The making of Barber's vintage cheddar

Cheese, glorious cheese. We spend a lot of time appreciating the flavours, textures and varieties of our favourite dairy product and to be perfectly honest, it’s easy to forget everything else. There’s just not much else you can think of (or would want to think of) when you dive head-first into a whole melted Camembert with a hunk of fresh bread.

For those of us who are interested in learning a little more about this delicious curd-filled product, read on! On our recent trip to Barber’s farm in Somerset we found out the inside-cheese-knowledge all about how their West Country cheddar is produced.

We should first point out that Barber’s cheddar is not just any old cheese pulled off the shelves, this is cheese that has been produced on Barber’s farm since the 1800s, is made using traditional starter cultures and has PDO certification (which stands for Protected Designation of Origin, meaning it’s exclusively produced using local milk, traditional techniques and aged for at least 9 months).

So, cheddar-making.

The first step is to collect the milk. This takes place on a daily basis and comes from over 150 local farms, including 9 that belong to Barber’s themselves. A truly unique Somerset supply chain, all within 15 miles of the ancient Cheddar caves that gave this historic cheese its name.

Hygiene is taken seriously at every stage of the cheddar-making process on Barber’s farm. Milk passes through a pasteuriser for 18 seconds before entering the centrifuge, which might sound scary, but essentially separates the fats. Surplus cream at this point is turned into butter (a great way to reduce food waste). After separation, milk passes back through the pasteuriser and straight into specialised cheese-holding vats.

Barber’s vats can hold 22,500 litres, will take 27 minutes to fill and can produce up to 2.5 tonnes of cheese, which should cover the Christmas cheeseboard nicely.

Starter culture is added after 20 minutes, a crucial step in developing the distinct flavour of Barber’s cheddar cheese. With up to 18 different strains of starter culture on the farm and these being chosen depending on what the cattle have been fed, it’s definitely not a case of “tip it in and hope for the best”. Barber’s cheddar requires slightly more of an expert touch and thankfully, quality manager Dave Miller (of 30 years and counting) knows just about everything there is to know about cheddar-making.

Next to be added is a fungal-based rennet, making Barber’s cheese 100% vegetarian. This special mushroom-style rennet will curdle the milk and produce the curds and whey. The curds are cut into bite-sized pieces and the whey is transferred to be drained off. Curds are then stacked, pressed and turned by hand to make sure any excess whey is completely drained. Although this might sound like a faff, the devil is in the detail and this is crucial in creating the cheddary texture we all know and love.

Stacks of curd are sliced again before being salted, ideally at a level of 1.78-1.8%. Too much salt and the starter won’t work, too little and both flavour and preserving qualities of the salt are lost. Salted curds are then packed into specialised wooden boxes and transferred to a storeroom for maturation.

The cheese is matured in this way for up to 2 years, allowing the unique flavour of Barber’s cheddar to develop. During this process the cheddar is regularly graded by an expert cheese grader (what a job) until the desired texture and taste is reached.

But the work doesn’t stop here. The dairy is cleaned daily using water extracted during the cheesemaking process, before being processed and then safely released into a local river. Solar panels are used to help keep the storerooms cool and in true Willy Wonka-esque style, each batch of cheese can be easily recorded using bar codes.

Barber’s Cheesemakers pride themselves on using traditional techniques combined with modern innovation, which is certainly something we experienced first-hand during our trip to the farm. It’s quite the process, but then again, only such a process would do justice to the fine-tasting 1833 Vintage Cheddar they produce on the farm.