The process to develop a cheese takes a lot of time and effort. Here are some photos of our small 40ltr trial vat in action....

Here we are stirring the curds and whey, formed after we've heated milk, with added culture. This produces an acidic milk which when our vegetarian rennet is added splits the milk into whey (a yellow liquid) and curds (white lumps).

Stirring releases the lactic acid from the curds which form the basis of the cheese. Because the curds are so soft and can tend to stick together, stirring by hand is the best method - even though the arm really aches after 45 minutes!

Here are the curds - in a very soft state.  Whilst stirring the temperature is turned up, (scalding) which causes them to harden Soon after, the whey is drained leaving just the curds. You get about 2-3kg of curd from 20 litres of milk. After draining the curd sticks together with a 'chicken breast', consistency. This is then broken up (milled)  and salted ready for pressing.

The waste product whey, can be used to make other cheese (such as ricotta, although it requires a costly process), act as a fertiliser or can go to pigs as food.

The curds are wrapped in cheesecloth and then pressed for 24-48 hours, are dipped in hot water or brine, then readied for wrapping in bandages, to manage moisture loss during the maturation process. Here ia a 3kg cheddar type cheese, straight from the press, ready to be wrapped and stored in controlled temperature and humidity.

Unfortunately, with these semi-hard and hard cheeses, we have to wait until they mature. Unlike mass produced cheeses which are sometimes synthetically aged, ours sit on old fashioned wooden shelves for many months to develop flavour.

These  individual 'Dunlop' style cheeses weigh around 400-500 grams and are waxed straight after pressing. They mature in their wax shell in cool conditions. The wax jacket results in a moist cheese which can be mild or mature, depending how long it is kept.

Here we have a 4kg hard cheese, freshly bandaged and beginning to slowly mature. Mold grows on the surface to eventually form a thick rind. The cheese will need at least three months in cool, damp conditions.