Once the curd has been cut into pieces and those curds have settled, the whey is poured off and the curds are allowed to drain in cheesecloth. Cheesemakers heat milk before adding starter culture and rennet and allowing curd to form. While that means that clothbounds may cost a little more, it also means that they are often made of higher quality milk from healthier cows from more sustainable producers.Īll cheddar, regardless of aging style, starts in the same way. Today, clothbound cheddars are typically made by smaller producers, due in large part to the lengthy, labor intensive process of aging it appropriately. However, the taste of wax coated cheddar does not compare with the clothbound version, which has a much more condensed, developed flavor and drier texture. Additionally, coating cheddar in wax essentially eliminated evaporation and shrinkage, which left cheesemakers with more cheese to sell at the end of the aging process than the traditional clothbound method. However, with the advent of wax coated cheddars, clothbound cheddars eventually fell out of favor. Wax fully sealed the cheese and shielded it from outside elements, meaning that cheesemakers didn’t have to carefully monitor the aging process.
Utilizing one of early America’s bountiful natural resources, cotton was suddenly available for production purposes, and wrapping the cheese in cloth became a popular method to limit moisture loss and form a hard rind, better protecting the aging wheels of precious cheese from the unpredictable New World weather. The idea of early US colonists inventing the clothbound method is one that has gained more traction in recent years. More recent historical evidence, however, presents a different story. Previous theories state that just as the English invented the cheddar family, they also came up with the clothbound aging process. However, clothbound cheddar has a foggier, more disputed history. While age used to be the hallmark of a good (and expensive) cheddar, mongers and foodies alike are now looking at how a cheese is aged to help gauge a cheddar’s quality. The delicious result? A newfound appreciation of the traditional clothbound method for aging cheddar.īorn in the middle ages in the town of Cheddar in Somerset, England, cheddar cheese is a decidedly UK invention.
Style Highlight: Clothbound Cheddar Alicia Hahn | June 10, 2014
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