Extra-sharp cheddar
long-aged cow's-milk cheese · Cheese
Top 10 pairings
Extra-sharp cheddar is cheddar taken to its extreme of age — matured for roughly eighteen months to several years and sold as "vintage," "reserve" or "extra mature." Long ageing dries it out and firms it up until it breaks dry and crumbly rather than slicing clean, studs it with crunchy white crystals, and drives its flavour to an intense, tangy, almost bitter-savoury bite. It is a finishing and eating cheese — cut in slivers for a board, shaved over a dish — not a melter.
Picking a good onedrag
Firm, clean cut face, tangySweating, cracked, rancid
Wrapped wedgeEveryday bestPregnant, over 65 or low immunity? Pick pasteurised, or heat it steaming hot.
Cut faceEven colour, face a shade duller
Smell at the cutTrue to its age, a little quieter
These cues are Cheddar's, and hold across its varieties; where this one differs, its own page says so.