I followed Mr T's tutorial on aging blocks of unsliced hard cheeses in their original cryovaced packages. I bought two blocks of cheese. One five pound mild yellow Cheddar and a three pound three year aged white Cheddar. On 3.8.18 I opened the five pounder after about four years and five months of aging in the fridge bottom crisper drawer. Talk about patience. The cheese expelled liquid whey (I guess) as it shrunk, calcified and sharpened, giving it a sliceable but crumblier texture. After opening the package I rinsed the liquid from the cheese surface, paper towel dried and put on a rack to dry over night, flipping 180° to give the bottom the same air circulation. I cut off 1/4 and vac sealed the rest for continued aging and for smoking when temps get a little warmer outside. A tiny crumble is packed with a sharp rich Cheddar flavor and is the best I've had in the Cheddar line of cheeses. The other block will go to eight years being aged in 2019 and I may go longer. I have another five pound block I got in December 2014 so its about 3.5 years old. I think I need to get another block so I have perpetual special occasion cheeses. It's waiting for the first block to age that is the hard part. A little goes a long way. This pic was in the resting over night stage and bloomed to a richer yellow when the surface dried.
