Montgomery's cheddar

[max1]

Hiya all!

Currently doing an internship at Montgomery's cheddar.  Those of you who know Montgomery's cheddar, will know that it's one of the best in the world.  Very very interesting to see exactly how it's made, do I thought I'd let you guys know so you can shoot me some questions, if you have any, while I'm here.  Can't reveal the fine details and tips and tricks of the recipe, but I'll answer what I can.

I'll probably do a longer post later, with pics, etc.

Cheers!

[linuxboy]

Curious about the heritage culture strains. If you can't talk specifics, can you talk about origin and history?

[max1]

I'll have to look up the particular strains.  I know they are all from the Somerset region.  Originally all the farmers would use some of their starter from the day before, to start up a new bulk culture.  If ever anything happened to their particular culture, they would go over to the next farm and borrow some culture from them.  Over the years, I suppose the best strains were purified/selected.  Then, at one point, a company called Barbers came along.  They set up a lab and isolated the strains that the cheese makers had been using for generations, and made them commercially available.  That's how it's done now: all the cheese makers buy their starters from Barbers under the form of a bulk starter.  It comes frozen in a little bottle.  About a pint I think.  they use 7 different strains that they rotate throughout the week to minimize the risk of phage.

[linuxboy]

Oh, this is Ray Osborne's project, right?  All makes sense now. Deep respect for Ray and what he has done for the industry.

IIRC, he primarily focuses on strains of l lactic lactis and l lactis cremoris.

[max1]

Yup that's it