ottawa foodies

a number of my american recipes call for sharp cheddar. what exactly is sharp cheddar and what is our canadian equivalent? i usually use old cheddar when it calls for sharp, but i read that sharp has good melting properties, which old doesn't always have.

my f-in-law buys a cheese in a small red tub that i think is called sharp cheddar, but it is pricey for such a small amount.

HipFunkyFun - Well here is the entry from Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org and based on the info I was able to find by GOOGLE "sharp" seems to mean that the cheese isn't mild, so it probably is what we would know as something in the 2 year old range (LOL, Cheddar does seem to come is a variety of ages... and no two producers seem to agree on how long to age it).

Like you, I've always used whatever aged cheddar I have hanging around... sometimes that is 2 year old, othertimes it is extra old ("The Man" likes 5 year and up... the older the better).

Hmmm, I just noticed this article says "Mild, Medium, Sharp, Extra Sharp..." thinking that most times ours are labelled... Mild, Medium, Old and Extra Old... perhaps they correspond, article doesn't say yes or no.

i know from tasting sharp cheddar in the states it has a creamier feel than our old cheddar. i wouldn't say sharp and extra sharp are the same as our old cheeses.

Based on my experience with American cheese, I'd say their sharp cheddar is more like our medium aged cheddar, so about 1-2 years old. Extra sharp is old cheddar so anywhere between 3-5 years. I think Americans use a different process to make cheddar or they pasteurize longer or hotter or something because I regularly find their cheddars to be more rubbery (with exception to Cabot and Dakin Farms, which are spectacular brands).

HipFunkyFun - Here is another link... www.chow.com/stories/10907 this one from Chowhound, seems to be that "creamier" has more to do with production than the "sharp" factor... sharp indeed seems to be a reference to age. As you probably know, cheeses like wine can vary from place to place just based on the "ingredients" and "factors" (in wine that would be varietals & terroir)... so even though Vermont & Quebec are neighbours, they can be different enough in techniques and cow sourcing (who knew) to account for ultimately a variation in products.

Now as to whether one can get Sharp New England Cheddar here in Ottawa... that is a whole other Question.

EDIT - Looks like Chimichimi and I were on the same wave length at the same time :-)

And I agree... I much prefer Canadian Cheddar over any American's that I have tasted.

our cheese is definitely tastier and i have often been asked to smuggle cheese over the border into the states.

what i want is something with the old flavour, but a better melting property. there was something done on this in cook's illustrated at one point, but i don't know if i still have my mag around.

agreed, that from what i've read online, sharp is closer to medium here.

HipFunkyFun - Just thought about that "red tub"... If I am not mistaken isn't that more of a cheddar spread... I seem to recall seeing that at one time (having it?). Would equate more in my mind to the consistency of a cheese ball that I serve around Christmas (minus the nuts, herbs, etc). I also know that in some Restaurants in the USA I've seen cheese (Cheddar?) served in small crocks, and that you are supposed to enjoy with your bread while you wait for your meal to arrive (like this attached picture... minus the advertising label).

F&T - The clothbound aged cheddar from Shelburne Farms in VT is MINDBLOWING... it's truly the parmigiano reggiano of cheddar cheese, if that even makes sense?! I visited the farm and bought a bunch of cheese from them the second last time I was in VT, the best were the clothbound and the tractor cheddar.

Visit their site: www.shelburnefarms.org/

Chimichimi - Dang, just came back recently from a weekend in Vermont... if only I'd known that ahead of time :-(

Will make a note for future reference, hoping to get down that way again later this Fall.

really good aged cheddar is crumbly by nature. I realized only a couple of years ago that the sharpest cheddars that I love are pretty much all canadian. I didn't know that aged cheddar is a rare thing in the US. As for the spreadable sharp cheddar, there is one sold in loblaws near the cream cheese called McLaren's sharp cheddar or something. I wouldn't take that over a block of super aged cheddar.

PC excellent 5 year old cheddar. Give it a shot.

The red tub - whose name escapes me - is marketed as a spread but it was always hard as the hinges of hell and really, really difficult to actually spread. We used to buy it all the time about 10 years ago. It was pretty sharp, yeah. Very good product. "Cold pressed" or something or other isn't it?

The Red Tub is called "Imperial", is it not?

And, yeah, it's nigh-impossible to spread without having it very, very warm.

(Not that anybody asked, but my favourite thing to do with Red Tub Pressed Cheddar Product is to use it in a tomato sandwich. Toasted bread, thick tomato, and enough black pepper to cause sneezing three blocks over.)