Smoked cheddar
cold-smoked aged cow's-milk cheese · Cheese
Top 10 pairings
Smoked cheddar is ordinary cheddar given a second life over wood smoke: a young-to-medium block cold-smoked until its surface tans to a burnished amber and its aroma turns smoky-bacon, woody and faintly sweet over the familiar cheddar tang. The smoke sits mostly on the outside — a graded ring of colour and aroma that fades from a toasted rind to a pale cheddar core — so each bite reads as tangy, buttery cheese wrapped in campfire.
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.