The Cheddar Workshop: Results Night at Kernel Brewery 6th October 2026

Cheddaring is the part of a Cheddar make everyone talks about and nobody can quite pin down. The stacking and restacking of curd blocks is supposed to build the texture, express the moisture, and make the cheese what it is. But eight artisan producers still making artisan Cheddar approach this process in different ways (some don’t even cheddar!), and today's practice looks nothing like what the Somerset cheesemaking schools described in the 1890s. So what is cheddaring actually doing?
 
In July 2025, Bronwen Percival and Jenn Kast brought cheesemakers from eight different farms to Westcombe Dairy to run an experiment. A single vat of milk was run through Westcombe's normal make, then divided four ways on the cooling table, with each portion handed to a team of cheesemakers to texture it using a different method. Everything else — milk, starter, rennet, maturation — was held identical. The four cheeses have been ripening next to each other at Westcombe ever since.
 
Over the past year those cheeses have gone in front of some 400 tasters. On the night, Bronwen and Jenn will talk you through the experiment and what the sensory analysis found, including some surprising results. Then taste all four for yourself and put your questions to them directly.