West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers

The process of creating our wonderfully tasty traditional cheeses starts with great milk. Fresh milk is brought to the dairy and poured into a large cheese vat. It takes approximately a gallon of milk to make one pound of Cheddar. A special starter culture is added and the milk is stirred and slowly warmed to around 40 degrees centigrade. Once it reaches a certain level of acidity a rennet is added that in time causes the milk to set into curds. Cheesemaking can begin once the curd has a ‘clean break’ and is fully separated from the liquid whey.

Colour, texture, smell and taste

Each cheese is carefully matured and monitored for colour, texture, smell and taste for nine months and only then, after the final grading, does the premium cheese achieve the West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers label.