milk type
Cow
coagulant
Animal Rennet
milk treatment
Raw
location
North Cadbury, Somerset
milk source
Own herd
breed
Holstein-Friesian
season
All year
average age
18 Months
cheesemakers
Jamie Montgomery; Steve Bridges; Tim Griffey
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Montgomery's Cheddar is made using the traditional, time-consuming method of 'cheddaring' – the cutting, stacking and turning of the curds by hand.
background
our work with this cheese
Accompaniments
Serving Suggestions
Top your shepherd's pie with a grating of Montgomery's and then bake for a beautiful cheesy mash topping.FAQs
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Montgomery's Cheddar
Rich, brothy, savoury flavours are the hallmarks of the Cheddars we select from Montgomery’s


Montgomery's Cheddar is made using the traditional, time-consuming method of 'cheddaring' – the cutting, stacking and turning of the curds by hand.
milk type
Cow
coagulant
Animal Rennet
milk treatment
Raw
location
North Cadbury, Somerset
milk source
Own herd
breed
Holstein-Friesian
season
All year
average age
18 Months
cheesemakers
Jamie Montgomery; Steve Bridges; Tim Griffey
background
Montgomery's Cheddar has since 1911 been made at Manor Farm, where the milk from the 200-strong herd of Friesian cows that roam the 1,200-acre farm is used exclusively for making the cheese, considered by many to provide the benchmark for Somerset Cheddar. The careful, measured approach to modernisation pioneered by Jamie Montgomery means engaging only those advances that will improve the make without compromising on the processes that define the cheese. As well as the time-consuming method of 'cheddaring' – the cutting, stacking and turning of the curds by hand to drain the whey away – Montgomery's uses a traditional 'pint' starter (as opposed to the powders favoured by industrial cheesemakers) and an old, slow peg mill, lending the cheese its characteristically brittle texture. Each wheel is wrapped in muslin cloth and rubbed with lard before being stowed on the wooden shelves of the cellar for between 12 and 18 months, during which time they are carefully turned and tended. Once upon a time, all this was standard practice; today Montgomery's is one of only three farmhouse Somerset Cheddars left in the county to be made using these traditional techniques.
our work with this cheese
Every month, two or three members of our buying team will visit Manor Farm in order to select those wheels we wish to sell at Neal's Yard Dairy. Alongside Jamie Montgomery, we'll carefully taste all the cheese made over the course of that month and select those wheels we wish to sell wholesale, those we think will work in our London shops, those we think our European buyers will enjoy, and those best suited to our American buyers, whose tastes are different again. We've been working with – and tasting – Montgomery's Cheddar for many years, providing feedback and understanding, and we draw upon that learning when we're selecting cheeses to best satisfy the broad palette of our various customers. Those we choose are set aside and continue to age at Montgomery's maturing rooms until such a time as they ready to be transported to our Bermondsey arches for sale in our shops, to restaurants, or to the United States.
pairing suggestion
Top your shepherd's pie with a grating of Montgomery's and then bake for a beautiful cheesy mash topping.