A traditional cheesemakers still adopts century-old methods to produce cheddar as they say it gives the best flavours – but it does mean vegetarians can’t eat it.
The Montgomery family make unpasteurised cheddar seven days a week to ensure the freshness of the milk at the farm in Cadbury, Somerset, they have owned since 1911.
Jamie Montgomery is one of the few cheesemakers who still uses calf rennet – a set of enzymes taken from the stomachs of young cows – to set in curds.
And he still uses the same strains of starter culture as his grandfather Sir Archibald Langman did before the beginning of the First World War.
And almost uniquely, he uses a peg mill to break up the cheddared curd which gives the cheese its brittle, broken texture.
A traditional cheesemakers still adopts century-old methods to produce cheddar as they say it gives the best flavours – but it does mean vegetarians can’t eat it
The Montgomery family make unpasteurised cheddar seven days a week to ensure the freshness of the milk at the farm in Cadbury , Somerset, they have owned since 1911
Montgomery’s Cheddar currently make 120 cheeses each week from the milk produced by their 200 Friesian cows.
The cheeses are wrapped in muslin cloth on wooden shelves and left for at least 12 months to mature.
They are supplied to high end boutiques across the country and international customers.
Jamie, 63, said that the industry has experienced a resurgence in recent years with the increase of independent delicatessens.
He said: ‘I remember being taught how to grade cheese at five or six years old so I could appreciate good cheese early.
Jamie Montgomery is one of the few cheesemakers who still uses calf rennet – a set of enzymes taken from the stomachs of young cows – to set in curds
‘It’s nice that there seems to be a demand for proper artisanal and traditional cheese.
‘If you try and deviate from the old methods, that’s when things go wrong.
‘What we do is a real tradition and not just for the sake of it, as preparing cheese like this is the best way to do it.’
Rennet helps cows, sheep, goats and other mammals to digest their mother’s milk.
But the animals have to be killed for cheesemakers to extract the substance.
The use of calf rennet in the making of cheese used to be the standard way of separating milk into solid curds and liquid whey.
But nearly all cheddar found in supermarkets and other shops is now made with vegetarian rennet produced from microbes.
Some traditional cheeses, including Parmesan, are always made with animal rennet.