What Is Cheddar Cheese Made Of? The Simple Ingredients Behind Bold Flavour

Walk into any grocery store in Canada and you'll find dozens of cheddars. But crack open a wedge of Balderson's 5-year extra old and it's clear: not all cheddar is the same. So what actually goes into it?

The Four Core Ingredients

Cheddar cheese — including Balderson's — is made from just four things:

• Milk: Balderson uses high-quality cow's milk from local Ottawa Valley farms. The quality and fat content of the milk has a direct impact on the richness of the finished cheese.
• Bacterial cultures (starter cultures): These are added to the milk to begin fermentation. The bacteria convert lactose (milk sugar) into lactic acid, which starts the process of curdling and gives cheddar its characteristic tang. Different culture strains can influence the final flavour profile.
• Rennet: A natural enzyme that causes the milk proteins to coagulate into a solid curd. Traditionally derived from animal sources, rennet is what separates liquid milk into curds and whey.
• Salt: Added during and after the cheddaring process, salt draws out moisture, acts as a preservative, and enhances flavour. It also plays a role in the development of the rind.

That's it. Four ingredients — and then time.

What Makes Cheddar “Cheddar”

Beyond ingredients, cheddar gets its name from a specific production technique called cheddaring. After the curds form, they're cut, cooked, and then stacked and turned repeatedly to expel whey and develop a firm, layered texture. This step is what distinguishes cheddar from other hard cheeses.

The Role of Aging

Once the wheels are formed and salted, aging takes over. The same four-ingredient cheese becomes something entirely different depending on how long it rests:

• Fresh (unaged): mild, moist, creamy
• 1 year: familiar cheddar flavour, smooth texture
• 3 years: firmer, sharper, more complex
• 5 years: intense, crystalline, deeply nutty — the kind of cheese people remember

The bacterial cultures continue working slowly throughout aging, breaking down proteins and fats into the compounds responsible for complex flavour. Those crunchy white crystals in an aged cheddar? That's tyrosine — an amino acid produced during this process, and a sign of a well-aged cheese.

Why Balderson's Cheddar Tastes Different

Balderson has been crafting cheddar in the Ottawa Valley since 1881. The combination of local milk, traditional cheddaring technique, and patient aging in carefully controlled conditions produces a cheese that's won international recognition — and that's been a fixture on Canadian tables for generations.

The ingredients are simple. The craft is not.

Explore Balderson's aged cheddars →