Factory cheddar production

While several revivalist cheesemakers have become well-established in the last couple of decades, their continuing success will always be dependent on the individual cheesemaker. The output of small independent cheesemakers accounts for only about 10 per cent of the cheese made in Scotland. The other 80 per cent is made into cheddar in large-scale industrial creameries on Orkney, Arran and Islay and at Rothesay, Campbeltown, Stranraer and Lockerbie from pasteurized cow’s milk. It’s made into a natural pale yellow, or artificially coloured orange-yellow cheese produced in varying sizes of rounds, plastic-wrapped, wax-dipped and clothbound, as well as in rindless blocks.