How to Make Cheddar Cheese at Home

Cheddar cheese traces back to the 12th century in the village of Cheddar in Somerset, England, where the Cheddar Gorge’s natural caves provided cool, humid conditions ideal for aging. King Henry II purchased over 4,500 kg of it in 1170 and declared it the finest cheese in England. The name “cheddar” is not protected (unlike Parmigiano-Reggiano), so it is produced worldwide, but traditional Somerset cheddar remains the benchmark.

The defining feature is the cheddaring technique — a post-cooking step where drained curd slabs are stacked, flipped, and restacked to expel whey mechanically and develop acidity. No other cheese family uses this exact process. Joseph Harding, the “father of cheddar cheese,” refined and standardized the method in the mid-19th century.

After cooking and draining the curds, the curd mass knits together into a solid slab at the bottom of the pot. Cheddaring is what happens next.

1. 1
   Cut the slab Cut the matted curd mass into brick-sized blocks, roughly 10–15 cm (4–6 inches) wide.
2. 2
   Stack Stack the blocks two or three high. The weight of the upper blocks presses whey out of the lower ones.
3. 3
   Flip every 15 minutes Every 15 minutes, flip and restack so each block takes a turn on the bottom. Continue for 1.5 to 2 hours.
4. 4
   Maintain temperature Keep the curds at 38–39°C (100–102°F) throughout. A warm water bath beneath the container helps.
5. 5
   Check for done The curd slabs should tear apart in long, fibrous strips — like pulling apart cooked chicken breast. If they break cleanly or crumble, keep going. Target pH: 5.3–5.4.

Cheddaring achieves three things at once: it expels whey mechanically through stacking weight, it develops lactic acid as the mesophilic culture continues working in the warm curds, and it aligns the protein structure into the smooth, close-knit texture that defines cheddar.

This process uses about 8 L (2 gallons) of whole milk. Scale proportionally for larger batches.

1. 1
   Heat and culture Warm milk to 30°C (86°F) in a water bath. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon mesophilic culture over the surface, let rehydrate 2 minutes, stir gently. Add calcium chloride if using pasteurized milk (1/4 tsp diluted in 60 mL water). Cover and ripen at 30°C for 45 minutes.
2. 2
   Add rennet and coagulate Dilute 1/2 teaspoon liquid rennet in 60 mL cool unchlorinated water. Stir into milk gently for 1 minute, then stop completely. Let sit undisturbed for 45 minutes. Test for a clean break — a knife inserted at an angle should split the curd cleanly with clear whey filling the gap.
3. 3
   Cut curds Cut the curd mass into 0.6–1.3 cm (1/4–1/2 inch) cubes. Let rest undisturbed for 5 minutes to heal the cut surfaces.
4. 4
   Cook curds Stir gently while raising the temperature slowly to 38–39°C (100–102°F) over 30–40 minutes — no more than 1°C (2°F) every 5 minutes. Hold at target temperature and continue gentle stirring for another 30 minutes. Curds should shrink, firm up, and feel springy when squeezed.
5. 5
   Drain whey Let curds settle for 5–10 minutes. Ladle or pour off whey to just above the curd mass.
6. 6
   Cheddar the curds Allow the curd mass to knit into a solid slab. Cut into bricks, stack, flip every 15 minutes for 1.5–2 hours at 38°C. See the cheddaring section above for details.
7. 7
   Mill Break or tear the cheddared slabs into thumb-sized pieces (about 1.3 cm / 1/2 inch). This is called milling.
8. 8
   Salt Add non-iodized cheese salt at about 2% of curd weight (roughly 1–2 tablespoons for an 8 L batch). Toss gently and let sit 5–10 minutes for the salt to dissolve.
9. 9
   Press Line a hard-cheese mold with cheesecloth. Pack in the salted curds. Press at 9 kg (20 lb) for 30 minutes, flip, press at 18 kg (40 lb) for 12 hours, flip again, press at 23 kg (50 lb) for 24 hours.
10. 10
    Air dry Remove from press and cheesecloth. Place on a rack at room temperature for 2–5 days, flipping daily, until the surface is completely dry and smooth.
11. 11
    Coat and age Apply cheese wax (2–3 coats), cloth bandage with lard, or vacuum-seal. Age at 10–13°C (50–55°F) and 80–85% humidity. Turn weekly. Minimum 2–3 months.

During aging, enzymes from the starter culture and residual rennet slowly break down casein into amino acids and peptides. This proteolysis creates the increasingly sharp, complex flavors. Fat breakdown contributes nutty and caramel notes in long-aged wheels.

For the universal cheesemaking steps behind every cheese, see how to make cheese at home. To explore other aged styles, try Monterey Jack or Gruyère. The rennet calculator sizes your dose for any milk volume and rennet type.