Mal - in my experience, stirred-curds benefit just as much from longer aging as traditional cheddared types. I've never made an actual "cheddar", only stirred curds, and the soonest that I've felt they were right was about 8 months. Of course, being the impatient one that I am, I ALWAYS tried them at 6 or 7 months and they were pretty good, but 8 seems to be the minimum, where the flavors have actually developed and mellowed together to produce truly great yumminess. The 12-month ones are even better!