Joseph Harding

Joseph Harding (22 March 1805 in Sturton Farm, Wanstrow, Somerset, England – 1 May 1876 in Vale Court Farm, Marksbury, Somerset) was responsible for the introduction of modern cheese-making techniques and has been described as the "father of Cheddar cheese". He is credited with inventing the "definite formula" for the production of cheddar cheese.

A number of websites describe him as the inventor of the Cheese Mill. It is unclear if this assertion is true. The cheese mill is different from the cheese press, which has been used traditionally for centuries. Certainly, Harding introduced new equipment into the process of cheese making, including a "revolving breaker" for curd cutting, which saved much manual effort.

Family background

Joseph Harding was the second son of Joseph Harding (born 24 June 1778, died Friday 23 September 1814) of Sturton Farm and Mary Yeoman of the Great House, Wanstrow. The Harding family had originally come from Pewsey, Wiltshire where they had farmed for five generations. Joseph Harding's siblings were:

Alonzo Harding, born on Friday 13 October 1802 (who died on Friday 7 February 1806) Joseph Harding born on Friday 22 March 1802 (of Cheddar Cheese fame, but clearly year of birth differs from that in introduction) John Harding, born on Saturday 18 March 1807 Richard Harding, born on Sunday, 7 May 1809. Became a missionary to Jamaica. George Harding, born on Thursday 21 February 1811 Mary Yeoman Harding, born on 18 December 1812 and mother of Rev. Henry Hayes Vowles. She had "a life of much sadness, but her sweet disposition, like her mother's, made her a favourite with everybody". Isaac Harding born on Monday 20 February 1815. Isaac became a missionary in Australia at the time of the great gold discoveries. There "he led a very active and adventurous life until he died in 1897. It is said that he was stoned from one town and stopped the cricketers' Sunday play in another by pocketing their ball".

His dictum was "Cheese is not made in the field, nor in the byre, nor even in the cow, it is made in the dairy".

The English method of producing cheddar cheese was known in America as "the Joseph Harding Method".

Joseph Harding described good cheese as: "close and firm in texture, yet mellow in character or quality; it is rich with a tendency to melt in the mouth, the flavour full and fine, approaching to that of a hazlenut".

Harding believed that "a sharp cutting instrument in breaking the curd is injurious and that the curd should be allowed to split apart according to its natural grain".

Harding was insistent upon temperature control and strict hygiene in the production of cheese. He stated "the milkers may not enter the dairy, a tin receiver is placed outside the house, into which the milk is poured and conveyed to the cheese tub by a conduit, at each end of which is a strainer to prevent any filth from the yard from passing into the cheese-tub". This technique is notable as a development in food hygiene.

Joseph Harding method

The Joseph Harding (or English) Cheddar system differed from later systems as follows:

the manner in which the necessary acidity in the milk is produced. In the old method a certain quantity of sour whey was added to the milk each day before adding the rennet in the old method the curd was allowed to mature in the bottom of the tub

Globalisation of a very English Cheese

Harding and his wife visited Ayrshire, Scotland and were responsible for the introduction there of modern cheese-making techniques. Similarly he received visits from Americans who took his ideas across the Atlantic. For these reasons cheddar cheese is produced not only in Somerset, but across the world. He did not charge for his educational efforts.

Not only did Harding himself teach his cheddaring methods in Scotland, but his wife was also invited to Ayrshire to teach.

The American dairyman Xerxes Willard visited Harding in England in 1866 and noted that in Harding's Cheddar system "He has simplified the process of manufacture and helped to reduce it more to a science". As a result of Willard's visit, cheddar cheese production and its popularity increased enormously in the United States.

Joseph Harding's son Henry Harding was responsible for introducing cheddar cheese production to Australia. "Cheese making in Small Dairies", Bath and West and Southern Counties Journal (1868)