I’m hoping to someday find a recipe to make a Black Diamond style cheese. It’s a sharp and somewhat dry/crumbly white cheddar from Canada, aged 2 to 4 years. Has anybody any tips for where to find such a recipe?

Thanks for any tips!

Ranked by experts alongside the otherwise incomparable English farmhouse cheeses, Black Diamond Cheddar is made from raw milk. Established in 1933 by Robert F. Hart, Black Diamond Cheese Limited has over 65 years experience of excellence in cheese making. Their famous cheddar, aged 18 months to 2 years, comes out extra smooth. This is a world class cheese, and is awarded the blue ribbon prize yearly. Today, Black Diamond is probably Canada’s most well known cheddar. Made from raw milk, this white cheddar encased in black wax has a sharp, robust, tangy flavor.

Product Metrics:

Country: Canada
Region: Ontario
Milk: Cow

Rind: Black wax rind
Aging: 2 years or more
Recommended wines: Light dry wine, roses or light fruity wine, full bodied red wines or ports, ale, dark or imported beer.
Consistency: Firm
Taste: Sharp, robust, tangy
Brand name: Black Diamond
Height: 1.5
Length: 6.6
Width: 3.9

It is not a style, it is a brand name, the style is a real Cheddar.
You have to make a traditional Cheddar and wax it black - that’s all.

I’m familiar with the company and brand name, what I’m looking for is a recipe that will result in a cheese close to that specific style of cheddar. There are several different “cheddar” recipes, and technically they are only cheddar-style and can vary considerably.

This is a case of me liking Black Diamond Grand Reserve Cheddar and wanting to do my best to duplicate it myself. I’m skeptical that simply aging some random cheddar recipe an extra couple years will do the trick, but are you really saying that is the case? There are a lot of cheddar-style recipes out there, is there one most likely to result in the crumbly sharp tangy result I’m after?

WOW , i should try to reach 2 years againg with my cheddars

And to think that I find it hard to wait 3 months for a Gouda.  Can’t imagine waiting 2 years to sample a cheese!

LOL, thats the whole problem, we cant wait that long unless we have a stock pile, I have 1 year old Stilton but nothing else (actually i still have my first Parmesan). My Gouda is 4 months old and will crack it soon.

mauibay - 08 June 2009 03:37 AM

I’m familiar with the company and brand name, what I’m looking for is a recipe that will result in a cheese close to that specific style of cheddar. There are several different “cheddar” recipes, and technically they are only cheddar-style and can vary considerably.

There are 3 main types of Cheddar: Traditional, Farmhouse and Stirred Curd. You should make the Traditional, don’t forget that cheese taste is affected by the cow’s specie, the food the cows eat, starter culture types, preciseness of manufacturing, and so on…
I wish you luck and happy cheese making.

Try these:

Cheese Recipes (Cheddar)
Cheddar Recipe

Alex - 08 June 2009 03:29 PM

There are 3 main types of Cheddar: Traditional, Farmhouse and Stirred Curd. You should make the Traditional, don’t forget that cheese taste is affected by the cow’s specie, the food the cows eat, starter culture types, preciseness of manufacturing, and so on…
I wish you luck and happy cheese making.

Try these:

Cheese Recipes (Cheddar)
Cheddar Recipe

Thanks for the info, advice, and recipes! I intend to give those a try. I especially like to see recipes that give pH values!

Two cheeses ago, I made the traditional cheddar.
It takes a long time to make but what I liked about it was that ,I got a lot of whey back after draining it .
Because it is not a washed curd cheese.
I then poured it back into the cheese pot, added a pint of “half and half” and a quart of whole milk, and made a batch of whey ricotta.
My wife used it and cooked the best lasagna that I have ever tasted.

r-dub - 08 June 2009 11:32 PM

My wife used it and cooked the best lasagna that I have ever tasted.

Next time try to make Gniocchi with Ricotta instead of potatoes. This is a real delicatesse.