The hunch that the sharpest cheddars don't bite the way they used to is everywhere in Vermont. The science says the answer is more complicated than "they ruined it" — and partly about you.
I just age Cabot cheddar myself - the expiration date is so far in the future, you can stock up when it's on sale and let it sit a month or more in your fridge before opening.
Great question, Rich — and yes, it makes a real difference.
A traditional wheel is usually bound in cloth and aged on a shelf, so it can breathe: moisture evaporates over the months, the flavor concentrates, a rind forms, and a whole population of molds and microbes sets up on the surface and feeds back into the cheese. That's where a lot of the earthy, "old-cellar" complexity comes from — and the lower moisture is exactly what favors those tyrosine crystals from the piece.
A modern retail block does the opposite: sealed in plastic, it ages in its own airless little world, staying moister, growing no rind, and landing on a cleaner, tangier, more uniform profile.
The neat part is you can taste the difference inside one brand.
Cabot Clothbound is the same Cabot cheese, but instead of going into film it's sent to Jasper Hill's cellars in Greensboro to be wrapped in cloth and aged the old way — turned and brushed by hand for months.
Same milk, same maker, completely different cheese. It's about the cleanest proof I know that *how* you age it matters as much as how long.
I just age Cabot cheddar myself - the expiration date is so far in the future, you can stock up when it's on sale and let it sit a month or more in your fridge before opening.
Informative article. Is there a difference when cheddar is aged as a traditional big wheel?
Great question, Rich — and yes, it makes a real difference.
A traditional wheel is usually bound in cloth and aged on a shelf, so it can breathe: moisture evaporates over the months, the flavor concentrates, a rind forms, and a whole population of molds and microbes sets up on the surface and feeds back into the cheese. That's where a lot of the earthy, "old-cellar" complexity comes from — and the lower moisture is exactly what favors those tyrosine crystals from the piece.
A modern retail block does the opposite: sealed in plastic, it ages in its own airless little world, staying moister, growing no rind, and landing on a cleaner, tangier, more uniform profile.
The neat part is you can taste the difference inside one brand.
Cabot Clothbound is the same Cabot cheese, but instead of going into film it's sent to Jasper Hill's cellars in Greensboro to be wrapped in cloth and aged the old way — turned and brushed by hand for months.
Same milk, same maker, completely different cheese. It's about the cleanest proof I know that *how* you age it matters as much as how long.
Thanks for your comment!