True Cheddar Range
At Ashgrove Cheese we pride ourselves on creating Australia’s finest cheddars.
There is a reason this cheese became the most popular cheese in the world and we would like to people to experience the wonderful traditional flavour of true cheddar cheese.
- Premium Vintage
- Extra Tasty
- Parkham Mature
- Deloraine Cheddar
- Cloth Matured Cheddar
- Cloth Matured Rubicon Red
Flavour - Made using traditional Cheddaring techniques then aged for a minimum of 18 months to 2 years resulting in a superior strength of flavour and character.
Texture -
Slightly flaky.
Wine and Drink Suggestions - Wine, Cabernet Sauvignon or Vintage Port. Beer, Porter or Bitter
Serving Suggestion - A compulsory addition to any cheese board of distinction. The best cheese to use when maximum flavour is desired.
Flavour - Made using traditional Cheddaring techniques then aged for 12 months to produce a mellow, full bodied and slightly nutty flavour.
Texture - Firm, good for cutting.
Wine and Drink Suggestions -
Wine, Shiraz.
Beer, Porter
Cider Dry.
Serving Suggestions - Excellent flavour profile for cheese boards and platters. Ideal paired with a full bodied red wine.
Flavour - Designed to have a mellow flavour this is the mildest of the Ashgrove True Cheddar range.
Texture - Firm, good for slicing.
Wine and Drinks Suggestions - Wine, Pinot Noir. Beer, Pilsner. Cider, Medium Dry.
Serving Suggestions - The mild Cheddar flavour makes this cheese ideal for slicing or cubing for sandwiches, snacks and platters.
Flavour -
Medium flavoured Cheddar with attractive red wax coating.
Texture - Firm, good for cutting. Red wax coating around surface.
Wine and Drink Suggestion - Wine,Shiraz. Beer, Porter. Cider, Dry.
Serving Suggestion - Superior cheese for slicing. Cut into wedges & leave the wax on when serving on cheese boards and platters to add colour.
2010 Australian Grand Champion Cheddar
Flavour -
Aged in the traditional cheese cloth bandage this Cheddar has a drier texture and more complex flavour resulting from the cloth maturing process.
Texture - Slightly flaky and drier texture than other Cheddar’s.
Wine and Drinks Suggestions - Wine,Cabernet Sauvignon or Vintage Port. Beer, Porter or Dark Ale. Cider, Dry.
Serving Suggestions - Perfect for creating a superior look to cheese boards. An ideal cheese to serve alone with crackers and fruit. Leave the cloth on for adding texture to the cheese board.
Production
Traditional Cloth Matured Cheddar wheels are matured in the traditional cheese cloth bandage. Each week the maturing wheels are rubbed and turned by hand to create a firm rind around the surface of the cheese.
Time is important for the development of flavour in cheese. To ensure all Ashgrove Traditional Cloth Matured Cheddars meet the expectations of customers for a depth of flavour and character no cheeses are released at less than 15 months of age.
Awards
Ashgrove Traditional Cloth Matured Cheddar was crowned Champion Cheddar Cheese at the 2010 and 2006 Australian Grand Dairy Awards.
This cheese was also awarded Champion Cheese at the Austrlain Specialty Cheese Awards in Sydney in 2009. These awards follow numerous other awards since first release including Champion Cheddar of the 2000 Sydney Regent Good Living Cheese Awards, Champion Farmhouse Cheese and first prize in the Vintage Cheddar class of the Royal Adelaide Show 2002, Champion Cheddar of the 2002 Royal Hobart Show, first prize for Vintage Cheddar in the 2005 Royal Perth Dairy . It has been awarded a gold medal at the Australian Specialty Cheese Makers Show in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006.
Flavour -
Aged in the traditional cheese cloth bandage this Red Leicester style cheese has a darker red colour and more complex flavour resulting from the longer cloth maturing process.
Texture - Slightly flaky and drier texture than standard Rubicon Red.
Wine and Drinks Suggestions - Wine, Cabernet Sauvignon or Vintage Port. Beer, Porter or Dark Ale. Cider, Dry.
Serving Suggestions - A colourful addition to premium cheese boards. Ideal to accompany the Cloth Matured Cheddar. Leave the cloth on for adding texture to the cheese board.
Cheddar cheese was first produced in the Somerset county of England to utilise surplus spring milk production. It was developed as a hard cheese so that it would keep for the entire year until more cheese was made the following spring.
Today Cheddar is the most commonly produced cheese in the world. Fully mechanised systems have been developed to mass produce this cheese for the enormous market. Many different systems and techniques are used to make Cheddar. The result being that a great deal of cheese is called Cheddar but very little is produced using the traditional Cheddaring methods.
At Ashgrove Cheese, Cheddar is only produced through the late spring and summer when the cows are in the peak of their lactation and the milk is ideally suited to Cheddar cheese production.
The milk is not standardised prior to cheese making. The Ashgrove Farm dairy herds produce milk with a slightly higher fat content than the standard used for Cheddar. This results in a cheese that is slightly creamier than standard Cheddar with a rich nutty flavour.
Inaugural Cheese Maker Jane Bennett spent two years making Farmhouse cheese in England prior to the establishment of Ashgrove Cheese. Six months of this time was devoted to making traditional Cheddar in Somerset 5 miles from Cheddar Gorge.
This experience forms the basis of the Ashgrove Cheddar production using traditional hand “cheddaring” techniques in open vats. Once the whey is removed from the vat the curd is allowed to matt together before being cut into large slabs.
Producing Cheddar cheese this way is very hard work and requires a fit and dedicated workforce. It produces a cheese of superior texture that becomes flaky though not crumbly with age.