Cheddar - Aging Duration Recommendations (To eat or not to eat)!

[Katbaker]

  My first ever cheese (farmhouse cheddar) will be four weeks old this weekend do I try or leave it to age a little longer? I'm so exited about trying it I don't think I can hold out much longer!!

[steffb503]

I know the feeling.
I made many hard raw goat cheese that I opened before they were ready and I was not happy. They tasted great the day I opened it but it got bitter as time went on. I was instructed, nice way of putting it, to leave it alone till it was ready. Boy what a difference.
Wat it will be worth it.

[Katbaker]

Is four weeks not long enough to age it then?

[morfeo]

four weeks is too soon especially for a cheddar, I recommend you to leave it at least 6 months, if you cut it now its flavor will be very mild and it will be a little acid too. If you are too curious to see how the cheese will taste just cut a little peace try it and wax the rest, that way you will see that is not ready.
But I highly recommend you to leave it alone at least for 6 months, and if your are patient enough wait 1 year your patient will be rewarded.

[Katbaker]

Ok I'll try   

[MrsKK]

When I started out with cheesemaking, I was making cheddar also.  I cut it into quarters after about a month of aging.  We ate one quarter at that point, then waxed the rest of them and tried them about every 3-4 weeks.  It was a good way for me to figure out the effects of aging.

Now that I make a lot more cheese (normally anyway) it is easier to wait it out.

I recommend making Lancashire, as it has decent flavor at 4 weeks and is meant to be eaten by around 90 days.  It is a good one to make for eating young while you are waiting for the other cheddars to age.

[Tomer1]

In 4 weeks its very likly still acidic and not very enjoyable.
give it 4 months.

[Boofer]

Wait.

Fill the idle hours, in between, making more cheese, then you'll just be in a dither trying to decide which to eat. 

-Boofer-

[Katbaker]

Mrskk thanks for the idea going to get me some wax keep trying it till it's aged to the point that I love it!

Thanks everyone else for your support and advice 

[Tomer1]

When you get the urge just buy some cheese. nothing wrong with that.

[smilingcalico]

I understand the struggle not to eat a cheese. 6 months as Steff suggested is a great amount of time to wait for many hard cheeses.  My patience isn't that strong unfortunately.  At the minimum, I would suggest 2 months.  There really isn't much flavor development for hard cheese under that length of time.