by Brent Tester
As summer winds down and the leaves begin to turn, autumn's food and beverage traditions begin to take center stage at France 44. In our Wine & Spirits shop, customers grab seasonal cider pressings, richly spiced beers, and more robust white and red wines. In our Cheese Shop, our customers begin to crave the most iconic cheese of the autumn season: cheddar! This year, to ease our way back into the autumnal state of mind, we dedicate the entire month of September to cheddar cheese, its accompaniments, and the traditions surrounding it… Welcome to “Chedtember!”
What exactly makes cheddar, cheddar? Like many iconic styles of cheese, cheddar derives its name from its birthplace: the village of Cheddar in Somerset, England. Just outside of the village sprawls the Cheddar Gorge: a cavernous, limestone gorge where the first wheels of cheddar cheese were (and still are!) stored and aged over 800 years ago. In this traditional method, cheesemakers rubbed the outside of the wheels with fat (e.g., lard, butter, oil), wrapped them tight with bandages, and left them to mature in the Gorge’s caves. These caves provide ideal conditions for cheese maturation: a consistent and cool temperature with high humidity levels. The porous bandage around the wheels allows the cheese to breathe; moisture escapes and ambient molds imbue the cheese with that distinct “cave-y” bite.
Montgomery’s Cheddar
This centuries-old tradition is still carried on today in Somerset, and you can find some stellar examples in our cheese case. Try Montgomery’s Cheddar, a 3rd generation family cheddar recipe made today by renowned cheesemaker Jamie Montgomery. Montgomery’s is bold, toothsome, earthy, and rustic. We love Montgomery’s Cheddar with a touch of chestnut honey, fresh apple slices, and an off-dry cider–a hint of sweetness goes a long way in balancing out the strong bite of the cheese.
These days, “cheddar” refers to something else beyond its birthplace: an action, a verb. To “cheddar” a cheese is now an understood, technical process within cheesemaking. The cheddaring process consists of stacking, flipping, cutting, and milling the curd once the desired consistency, moisture level, acidity, and pliability are achieved. In the United States, some cheesemakers still uphold the cheddaring and cave-aging traditions of Somerset. In our cheese cases, you can find Cabot Clothbound, a bandage-wrapped, cave-aged cheddar made by Cabot Creamery in collaboration with Jasper Hill Farm of Vermont. Cabot Clothbound is salty, bright, acidic, and sweet; it’s a cheddar hand-crafted for the American palate. We love Cabot Clothbound with a glass of Pinot Noir and a few slices of Recla Speck
Widmer’s Cheddar
For most of our customers, cheddar cheese evokes a specific set of expectations. It should be salty, sweet, sharp, and (perhaps most importantly) shaped as a block. The American expectation of block-shaped cheddar is a consequence of another evolution in cheddar cheesemaking. Rather than shape the curd into wheels, cover them in fat, and bandage them in porous wraps, American cheesemakers began shaping the curd into blocks, covering them with wax or vacuum sealing them in plastic, and aging them for much longer than their clothbound counterparts. Aging cheese in a state of asphyxiation works to maintain a higher level of moisture, develop its signature acidic bite (“sharpness”), and protect itself from outside flavor influences. At our shop, Widmer’s Six-Year Cheddar is a staff and customer favorite. Its profile is distinctly sharp, biting, sweet, and nutty–a quintessential example of American cheddar making. We love Widmer’s Six-Year Cheddar with a fuller-bodied Chardonnay and a bite of Valrhona Carmelia Feves.
Perhaps, none of the classics sing to you. If you’re in the mood for something novel and spicy, try Red Head Creamery’s Red Temper Cheddar. Red Temper is a younger cheddar intensely flavored with honey chipotle. Red Head’s eye-catching cheese is spicy, sweet, creamy, and sessionable. We love Red Temper with a glass demi-sec Vouvray or Riesling, and if you’re feeling adventurous, melted over a bed of La Reyna Corn Tortilla Chips.
Regardless of your style preference for cheddar cheese, we’ve got you covered at France 44. To kick off your own autumnal traditions, come visit us at the Cheese Shop and ask your monger what cheddar cheese we are featuring this week!