LITTON Cheney’s Ford Farm cheesemakers are preparing for their biggest Christmas yet with demand for Wookey Hole Cave Aged Cheddar at an all-time high.

The company, which has established a worldwide reputation for its a traditional, cloth-wrapped Cheddar matured in the caves at Wookey Hole in Somerset, has had close to one million truckles ordered already.

Director Mike Pullin, who came up with the idea for maturing Cheddar in Wookey Hole, said: ‘Since we started making the Cheddar, demand has increased dramatically year on year to this amazing zenith this Christmas.

“We are now producing 500 tonnes of our 27kg traditional Cheddars every year. Customers just can’t seem to get enough of it.

"It has a distinctive, creamy and tangy flavour combined with added earthy and nutty top notes which come directly from the cave.’

Wookey Hole Cave Aged Cheddar starts its life in the dairy in Dorset where it is made by hand to a traditional recipe using milk sourced from local grazing herds and pressed into 27kg moulds.

Mr Pullin added: “We either sell these full-size Cheddars direct to specialist retailers, or we remove the cloths here and cut them into portion sized wedges.

“In response to demand for the Christmas season, we have also diversified into 1.8kg and 1.2kg whole truckles to give real cheddar enthusiasts the opportunity to enjoy the experience and flavour of a cloth-wrapped cheddar in a manageable size.

"We also produce a line of black waxed cave aged truckles.”

As the Cheddars mature in the caves, they take on a surface mould, which is an integral stage in the maturation process.

Mr Pullin said: ‘The cheese looks incredibly beautiful at this stage, almost festive. We brush off most of the mould before we despatch the Cheddars but the exterior remains authentically speckled and rustic.”

The Cheddar is aged for well over a year and the Cheddar now being despatched was made at the dairy in late summer of 2012.