Lye Cross Farm is home to 1,200 Holstein-Friesian dairy cows, 250 of which are organic. The dairy cows are milked twice daily in our hi-tech milking parlour. Fresh milk is delivered everyday from our local dairy herds and stored in special tanks The next stage is to pasteurise the milk in readiness for cheese making Once pasteurised, the milk is mixed with ‘Starter Culture’ and ‘Rennet’ to begin turning it into cheese The curds and whey run off onto the cooling table The curds and whey are stirred with large shovels to drain the whey The curd binds together until it can be cut into slabs and stacked (Cheddaring) which helps to remove excess whey and develop the texture The blocks of curd are fed into the mills which cut them into small pieces The milled curd is now stirred and mixed with salt The salted curd is fed into the pressing towers where it is formed into blocks As the curd blocks exit the towers they are wrapped in plastic and sent to be packed for storage The blocks are now boxed using special wooden slats and finally sent to the maturing warehouse The blocks mature for 8 to 18 months until the desired texture and flavours have fully developed The cheese is wrapped, labelled and boxed for retail or trade in our modern packing facility.
Image Gallery The Cheese Making Process