1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:03,960 We are a nation of cheese lovers. 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:08,760 Working our way through nearly 2,000 tonnes of it every day. 3 00:00:11,040 --> 00:00:13,080 And it all starts off with milk. 4 00:00:13,080 --> 00:00:17,200 It takes 700 tankers like this to feed our daily habit. 5 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:21,800 With around 2,000 types to choose from, 6 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:23,600 everyone has their favourite. 7 00:00:23,600 --> 00:00:26,800 I love a bit of the squeezy stuff. 8 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:28,320 We're in the right place, then, 9 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:31,080 because this factory makes processed cheese! 10 00:00:33,720 --> 00:00:35,480 I'm Gregg Wallace. 11 00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:37,040 That's a massive fondue, isn't it? 12 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:38,160 It is. 13 00:00:38,160 --> 00:00:40,240 Big cheesy smell! 14 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:44,800 I'm learning the fon-dos - and don'ts - of this ultra modern 15 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:46,840 and deeply traditional food. 16 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:51,680 Blessed be the cheese makers. Blessed be the cheese makers. 17 00:00:51,680 --> 00:00:53,840 I'm Cherry Healey 18 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:57,920 and I'll be sniffing out the secrets of smelly cheese. 19 00:00:59,440 --> 00:01:02,080 And finding out how to perfect... 20 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:04,000 Mm. Mm-hm. 21 00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:06,360 ..my favourite comfort food. 22 00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:10,560 You've taken a household staple to a new level. 23 00:01:10,560 --> 00:01:13,120 Historian Ruth Goodman 24 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,160 helps uncover the 100-year-old recipe... 25 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:18,120 Ugh, that's horrible. 26 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:21,040 ..for the first convenience cheese product. 27 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:27,880 Over the next 24 hours, 28 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:33,920 this factory will squeeze out over 115,000 tubes of processed cheese. 29 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:35,440 That should "brie" good. 30 00:01:35,440 --> 00:01:36,600 CHERRY CHUCKLES 31 00:01:36,600 --> 00:01:38,760 Welcome to Inside the Factory. 32 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:03,320 This is the Primula cheese factory in Gateshead near Newcastle. 33 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:10,080 This three-acre site produces over 3,000 tonnes of spreadable cheese products every year. 34 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:15,080 As well as creamy spreaders and liquid dippers, 35 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:19,240 they make seven different flavours of their best selling spreadable cheese. 36 00:02:20,960 --> 00:02:26,280 And this time, we're following production of their hot jalapeno chilli variety. 37 00:02:27,640 --> 00:02:31,520 But before we put the squeeze into our cheese, 38 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:33,720 first, we have to make cheddar. 39 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:39,280 This hard cheese is our most important ingredient, 40 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:45,640 and it's made 178 miles southwest on the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales. 41 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:49,400 Wow. What a location for a factory. 42 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:51,520 So pretty. 43 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:58,720 South Caernarfon Creameries make 36 tonnes of traditional cheddar every day. 44 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:04,680 The dairy's owned cooperatively by the farmers who supply it with milk. 45 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,960 Their tankers come into the intake area 20 times a day. 46 00:03:11,360 --> 00:03:14,280 Mark Edwards is in charge of production. 47 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:15,400 Mark! 48 00:03:15,400 --> 00:03:17,360 How are you? Pleased to meet you. Gregg Wallace. 49 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:18,560 You are the top man, right? 50 00:03:18,560 --> 00:03:20,760 Le Grand Fromage? Yes. Excuse me. 51 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:23,680 Obvious questions - how much milk is on there? 52 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:26,240 There's about 28,000 litres on there. 53 00:03:26,240 --> 00:03:27,600 How many in one of your silos? 54 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:30,200 About 100,000 litres. Whoa! 55 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:32,400 How many will you go through in a day, do you reckon? 56 00:03:32,400 --> 00:03:35,400 We'll go through about four silos a day. 57 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:39,120 That's enough milk to fill 5,000 baths. 58 00:03:39,120 --> 00:03:41,080 Are they all from the same breed of cow? 59 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:42,240 Yes, Friesian. 60 00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:44,160 Are you? Put a jumper on! 61 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:45,360 GREGG CHUCKLES 62 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:48,040 Milk is nearly 90% water. 63 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:50,960 The rest is natural sugar known as lactose, 64 00:03:50,960 --> 00:03:52,960 plus fat and protein. 65 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:54,880 The driver will take a sample 66 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:58,160 and we'll test it for the quality, fats and protein. 67 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:02,320 If we've got high levels, that will get us a good yield of cheese. 68 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:04,000 Well, it looks like that one's past. 69 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:05,760 That's right. That's ready to go now. 70 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:07,960 We're ready to tip into our silos. 71 00:04:11,360 --> 00:04:14,240 Our squeezy cheese production line begins. 72 00:04:16,760 --> 00:04:19,640 The milk pours along this 600 metre pipe... 73 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:25,480 ..and into the creamery's 629 square metre cheese making room. 74 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:29,640 The first job is to pasteurise the milk 75 00:04:29,640 --> 00:04:32,200 by blasting it with heat for 25 seconds. 76 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:36,440 This destroys any unwanted bacteria - 77 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:39,040 the kind that might cause infection. 78 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:43,400 Right, Gregg. There's our pasteurised milk going into our vat. 79 00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:45,280 And it's gushing in as well! 80 00:04:45,280 --> 00:04:48,800 Now we need to add our starter culture to the milk. 81 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:52,960 Starter culture is a mix of specially selected good bacteria. 82 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:54,640 Tip that in now. 83 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:57,520 Oh! It's in little balls. Yeah. 84 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:02,920 These frozen cultures begin the cheese making process 85 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:08,000 by feeding on the lactose in the milk and changing it to lactic acid. 86 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:12,200 They also create the building blocks for taste and texture. 87 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:16,440 Mate, this little sachet cannot be making a difference 88 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:18,240 to a swimming pool full of milk! 89 00:05:18,240 --> 00:05:20,680 It certainly is. 90 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:23,560 The exact mix of bacteria is top secret. 91 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:29,480 But to work properly they need to stay at a cosy 39 degrees Celsius 92 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:31,120 for 25 minutes. 93 00:05:33,480 --> 00:05:36,320 So, what cheddar are we making for our squeezy cheese? 94 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:38,600 We're making a mature cheddar. 95 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:39,920 So if I wanted a mild cheddar 96 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:42,240 would I need a different type of culture? 97 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:45,000 A different culture, yes, would give you a different flavour. 98 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:49,640 Today cheddar is manufactured all over the world 99 00:05:49,640 --> 00:05:52,880 but it started in a little village in the west of England. 100 00:05:52,880 --> 00:05:56,600 So, how can a cheese from Somerset go global? 101 00:05:56,600 --> 00:05:58,040 Over to Ruth. 102 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:09,760 I'm deep inside Cheddar Gorge, 103 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:12,880 in one of the caves that local cheese makers 104 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:16,960 are reputed to have stored and matured their cheese 105 00:06:16,960 --> 00:06:19,000 for nigh-on a thousand years. 106 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:24,400 By the 17th century, cheddar was a highly sought after 107 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:27,040 and expensive regional variety. 108 00:06:28,440 --> 00:06:30,960 It was one of hundreds of different cheeses 109 00:06:30,960 --> 00:06:32,880 being made on farms across Britain. 110 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:39,320 And historically, any type of cheese making was more of an art 111 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:41,160 rather than a science. 112 00:06:41,160 --> 00:06:44,560 Recipes were often closely guarded secrets. 113 00:06:48,440 --> 00:06:51,400 Working with the variables of milk and bacteria 114 00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:55,760 and without sterilisation, meant results could be rather hit and miss. 115 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:02,040 But all that changed in 1860, thanks to a Somerset cheese maker. 116 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:08,320 I'm meeting modern dairyman, John Spencer... 117 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:11,280 Oh, I love this curds and whey stage. 118 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:14,600 ..who's introducing me to this local hero - 119 00:07:14,600 --> 00:07:17,120 the father of modern cheese making. 120 00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:20,680 This is Joseph Harding. 121 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:23,760 He was a dairyman and cheese maker 122 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:27,360 and published in 1860 this pamphlet 123 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:30,560 called Recent Improvements in Dairy Practice. 124 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:34,440 One of the main ones was hygiene. 125 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:35,680 OK. 126 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:40,240 So, before, you would have people maybe coming in from the cow shed 127 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:41,720 into the dairy. 128 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:43,040 He stopped all that. 129 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:45,600 As well as cleanliness, 130 00:07:45,600 --> 00:07:48,920 Harding also insisted on scientific precision. 131 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:55,120 I noticed that Sean's got a probe for measuring the temperature here. 132 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:57,360 I mean, in the mid 19th century, 133 00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:00,240 thermometers were a relatively new thing. 134 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:03,560 So before thermometers, people are just guessing? 135 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:05,560 Well, I think more than guessing, 136 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,280 but two people would make very different judgments, 137 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:09,680 I'm fairly sure. 138 00:08:09,680 --> 00:08:13,560 So, when Harding is talking about being more accurate 139 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:17,360 with his temperatures, what he's saying is you can standardise it. 140 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:18,480 Absolutely. 141 00:08:20,600 --> 00:08:23,680 Another innovation was strict timekeeping. 142 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:28,680 Sean has really got his eye on the clock. 143 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:31,400 It needs to stay in the water for 60 seconds. 144 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:32,960 Not 55 or 65. OK. 145 00:08:32,960 --> 00:08:35,280 It makes a big difference. Oh, right. 146 00:08:35,280 --> 00:08:40,080 And again, this is the sort of thing that he documented and insisted on, 147 00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:43,240 and has influenced us right down to today. 148 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:48,840 Joseph Harding's improvements 149 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:52,280 meant cheddar could be reliably produced to the same standard 150 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:53,640 day after day... 151 00:08:55,800 --> 00:08:59,960 ..which positioned it for popularity beyond its home county. 152 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:02,480 Glyn! 153 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:03,840 Ha-ha, Ruth! 154 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:05,920 Hello. Marvellous to see you again. 155 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:08,200 I've got you a cheese sandwich. Oh, good. 156 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:09,680 A cheddar cheese sandwich. 157 00:09:09,680 --> 00:09:11,240 Oh, excellent. 158 00:09:11,240 --> 00:09:15,040 Food historian Glyn Hughes is going to tell me what happened next. 159 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:19,200 I understand the process by which Joseph Harding 160 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:23,000 was making this cheese into something much more... 161 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:24,560 organised. Mm-hm? 162 00:09:24,560 --> 00:09:27,160 But how did it take off? 163 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:30,400 Well, his family became really quite evangelical about it - 164 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:32,760 not just him, but his son Henry and his wife - 165 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,360 and they went all over the region trying to persuade people 166 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:38,520 to take up this new simplified and better method of cheese making. 167 00:09:38,520 --> 00:09:40,400 But they weren't totally interested. 168 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:43,240 The local farmers in Somerset - "No, we've always done it that way." 169 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:45,640 You know people what are like. Yeah. They wouldn't change. 170 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:47,680 And then this fella came along, 171 00:09:47,680 --> 00:09:51,280 an American with the most astonishing name 172 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:53,800 of Xerxes A Willard. 173 00:09:55,200 --> 00:09:56,440 Oh, dear! Poor man. 174 00:09:56,440 --> 00:09:57,840 What a name. 175 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:00,440 Xerxes A Willard was a small time farmer. 176 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:02,400 He'd got a small dairy farm, 177 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:04,800 but he was also a journalist and food writer. 178 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:06,120 He arrived in Cheddar 179 00:10:06,120 --> 00:10:09,200 and he found this absolutely superb cheese being made here, 180 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:11,320 and he became very friendly with Joseph 181 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:13,320 and he went back to the United States 182 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:16,800 and spread the idea of this Cheddar cheese. 183 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:20,600 Willard transported Harding's methods 184 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:23,680 into new American cheese factories 185 00:10:23,680 --> 00:10:26,960 and because it was cheddar that he liked so much, 186 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,320 that's the kind of cheese they manufactured. 187 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:32,840 And that's why, within no time at all, 188 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:36,240 cheddar has most of the market for cheese in North America. 189 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:38,920 Extraordinary. 190 00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:40,320 Mmm. Yep. 191 00:10:42,360 --> 00:10:44,280 This is rather good actually, isn't it? Mmm. 192 00:10:50,960 --> 00:10:52,960 GREGG: In the North Wales creamery, 193 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:56,200 we're also following Harding's cheese making rules 194 00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:59,440 and the bacteria developing our cheddar flavour 195 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:01,240 is doing its job, 196 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:05,560 converting the lactose in our 22,000 litres of milk into 197 00:11:05,560 --> 00:11:06,960 lactic acid. 198 00:11:08,200 --> 00:11:09,280 Now what? 199 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:11,080 Our vat's nearly full of milk. 200 00:11:11,080 --> 00:11:14,360 Now we need to add our rennet to our milk. Right. 201 00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:15,920 Can I? Yeah. 202 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:17,040 Right. Put that in there. 203 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:19,720 What is rennet? 204 00:11:19,720 --> 00:11:25,120 It's a natural enzyme and reacts with the milk proteins to set them. 205 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:28,040 So, the culture 206 00:11:28,040 --> 00:11:29,920 raises the acidity? Yes. 207 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:33,360 The rennet is then acting on that acidity? That's right. 208 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:35,360 And between the culture and the rennet, 209 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:38,400 it's going to turn the milk into something solid. That's right. 210 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:40,520 So, we press this button here, 211 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:41,640 add rennet, 212 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:43,120 and that's it. 213 00:11:43,120 --> 00:11:45,960 That's now dispersing all and rennet into the vat. 214 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:50,960 We've got to wait now fo 40 minutes for that to set. 215 00:11:50,960 --> 00:11:52,920 Right. We'll go and put the kettle on. Yeah. 216 00:11:52,920 --> 00:11:55,200 Got any milk? Plenty of milk. Loads of milk! 217 00:11:55,200 --> 00:11:56,640 Can I have a latte? 218 00:11:56,640 --> 00:11:58,240 Yeah! 219 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:02,720 Almost two hours after the fresh milk arrived, 220 00:12:02,720 --> 00:12:05,320 it looks completely different. 221 00:12:07,200 --> 00:12:08,640 There you can see... 222 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:10,120 So, what's happening there, 223 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:13,720 all the milk proteins now are joining together like a big jelly. 224 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:16,120 It actually looks like it's going off. No, that's fine. 225 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:17,760 Let me smell. 226 00:12:19,680 --> 00:12:22,840 Yeah. If that was in my fridge, that's going in the bin. 227 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:27,080 The protein and fat are clumping into what's known as curds 228 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:30,720 and are starting to separate from the watery part of the milk 229 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:32,320 called the whey. 230 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:34,440 That is definitely thickening up. 231 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:36,360 Am I going to meet an enormous spider? 232 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:38,720 No, I don't think so. We're not allowed them in here. 233 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:43,480 I'm no Little Miss Muffet, 234 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:46,680 and to me it's not looking too promising just yet. 235 00:12:46,680 --> 00:12:48,480 It actually it's like yoghurt, doesn't it? 236 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:49,680 Yes, it does, yeah. 237 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:53,880 Serrated blades cut up the thickening curds, 238 00:12:53,880 --> 00:12:56,760 helping to separate them from the whey. 239 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:03,360 An hour later and it's all poured into what looks like a bathtub 240 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:05,680 for someone with very long legs. 241 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:09,560 There are four of them, each 12 metres long. 242 00:13:11,360 --> 00:13:13,680 You can see now, there's our curd solid. 243 00:13:13,680 --> 00:13:16,880 You know that rubbish scrambled egg you get on an aeroplane? 244 00:13:16,880 --> 00:13:19,360 That just looks like that, yeah! That is it, isn't it?! 245 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:24,600 It's sweet. 246 00:13:24,600 --> 00:13:25,720 Quite sweet, yeah. 247 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:28,320 Oh, that's really nice! 248 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:31,600 So, what you want is all the liquid gone 249 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:35,800 and just the curds. That's right. No way?! No, no whey! 250 00:13:38,280 --> 00:13:40,120 Three hours into making our cheddar, 251 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:44,200 and we've drained off a staggering 12,000 litres of whey. 252 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:47,880 It used to be thrown away 253 00:13:47,880 --> 00:13:50,960 but these days it's turned into a powdered supplement 254 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:52,600 popular with body-builders. 255 00:13:53,640 --> 00:13:55,360 The object of the game now 256 00:13:55,360 --> 00:13:58,120 is to get the remainder of this liquid out of here. 257 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:01,040 So, what we need to do now is stir these curds, 258 00:14:01,040 --> 00:14:03,640 and the whey will continue to drain off. 259 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:06,240 We need to press these buttons here, the two green, 260 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:07,840 and that'll stir the curds. 261 00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:12,680 The more whey that's removed, 262 00:14:12,680 --> 00:14:14,840 the firmer the cheese will end up 263 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:17,080 and our cheddar needs to be solid. 264 00:14:18,680 --> 00:14:21,240 Now we need to add salt to our cheese. 265 00:14:21,240 --> 00:14:22,440 There's the salt. 266 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:24,560 We need to spread evenly 267 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:27,160 all the way up, following those stirrers. 268 00:14:27,160 --> 00:14:28,200 All right. 269 00:14:28,200 --> 00:14:32,880 What is the salt doing, apart from obviously adding flavour. 270 00:14:32,880 --> 00:14:35,600 It's slowing the activity of those cultures 271 00:14:35,600 --> 00:14:37,320 that we put in earlier on. 272 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:40,560 It's also driving out any more moisture that's in the curds. 273 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:42,880 Right, OK. So it's drying it. 274 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:44,760 It's adding to the flavour. 275 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:47,560 It's stopping the cultures developing, 276 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:49,600 and is it helping to preserve it as well? 277 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:51,560 It is obviously a preservative, yes. 278 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:54,240 So it'll stop the cheese from spoiling. 279 00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:56,920 You're a fully fledged cheese maker now, Gregg. 280 00:14:56,920 --> 00:14:58,440 Blessed be the cheese makers. 281 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:00,240 Blessed be the cheese makers. 282 00:15:03,960 --> 00:15:05,920 After ten more minutes of stirring 283 00:15:05,920 --> 00:15:10,880 we've removed almost 60% of the milk's original water content. 284 00:15:10,880 --> 00:15:15,640 Our curds are now fully formed and ready to be shaped. 285 00:15:17,240 --> 00:15:19,320 They travel to the pressing area... 286 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:24,160 ..where they've blown ten metres up to the top of these metal columns. 287 00:15:25,400 --> 00:15:27,320 These are our cheddar towers. 288 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:29,640 The cheese is filled right to the top. 289 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:31,480 Cheese on top of cheese, 290 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:36,040 squashes it down. The pressure of the cheese then forms a block. 291 00:15:36,040 --> 00:15:39,120 So there's no weight up in those towers pushing them? 292 00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:41,520 The weight is simply more cheese? Yeah. 293 00:15:43,080 --> 00:15:45,680 The chimneys are kept constantly topped up 294 00:15:45,680 --> 00:15:48,480 with one and a half tonnes of cheddar. 295 00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:52,120 It's the equivalent of two dairy cows lying on top 296 00:15:52,120 --> 00:15:53,840 and squashing it down. 297 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:58,640 And the only technology is an enormous metal chimney. 298 00:15:58,640 --> 00:15:59,840 It's a metal chimney 299 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:02,800 with a blade at the bottom that cuts the blocks off. 300 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:04,320 Amazing. 301 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:09,080 Years ago we used to put our cheese into moulds and press them by hand. 302 00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:13,640 It'd take about 24 hours to create a block of cheese. 303 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:16,520 Now, with this modern technique that we've got here now. 304 00:16:16,520 --> 00:16:18,800 you'll get a block within 45 minutes. 305 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:24,000 That is spongy! That's still spongy. 306 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:28,040 That then will go off into our cold store for maturity, 307 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:30,800 and that's where it'll all firm up and become harder. 308 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:34,280 This spongy thing will turn into a block of cheddar? 309 00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:36,160 Nice hard block of cheddar cheese. 310 00:16:36,160 --> 00:16:37,880 And how long's that take? 311 00:16:37,880 --> 00:16:39,960 Between three months and 12 months. 312 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:42,600 Between three months and a year?! Yeah. 313 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:48,200 Maturing the cheese gives the bacteria inside 314 00:16:48,200 --> 00:16:50,160 time to develop the flavour. 315 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:53,320 The longer it rests, the stronger it'll taste. 316 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:57,640 It's taken five hours and ten minutes 317 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:01,400 to make nearly 2,400 kilos of cheddar. 318 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:05,200 Now it's vacuum-packed and sent to the chiller. 319 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:10,640 All cheeses start the same way, as milk and bacteria. 320 00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:16,920 But they can end up looking, tasting and smelling very different. 321 00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:20,680 Cherry is checking out the microbiology 322 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:23,200 behind this mind boggling variety. 323 00:17:24,400 --> 00:17:27,680 Choosing my favourite cheese is like choosing my favourite child. 324 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:29,320 It's not possible. 325 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:31,640 I love them all equally. 326 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:35,160 But how come there are so many types of cheese? 327 00:17:35,160 --> 00:17:38,080 And where does that smell come from? 328 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:42,720 I've come to Somerset 329 00:17:42,720 --> 00:17:45,800 to learn from award winning cheese maker Roger Longman. 330 00:17:45,800 --> 00:17:47,080 Hi, Roger. 331 00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:49,640 Hi. Good to see you. So, what are you making? 332 00:17:49,640 --> 00:17:51,640 So, this is going to become a brie. 333 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:54,200 I love cheese, so this is like Disneyland for me. 334 00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:55,680 The right place to be. 335 00:17:56,960 --> 00:18:00,000 Soft, squishy brie packs a smelly punch. 336 00:18:01,720 --> 00:18:04,480 But at the extreme end of the cheese-ometer... 337 00:18:04,480 --> 00:18:06,440 Holy Moley! 338 00:18:06,440 --> 00:18:08,160 ..is this goat's cheese. 339 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:12,760 Wow. That is a very intense smell, 340 00:18:12,760 --> 00:18:14,280 to be polite. 341 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:16,800 So this is a washed rind cheese. 342 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:20,440 We wash the cheese every single day to grow a rind on it 343 00:18:20,440 --> 00:18:22,160 that is made from bacteria. 344 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:24,800 So, the offensive smell... The perfect aroma. 345 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:26,480 ..is caused by the bacteria? 346 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:27,760 It is, absolutely. 347 00:18:27,760 --> 00:18:29,840 It's given off by the bacteria as it grows. 348 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:33,160 It's a very similar bacteria that can grow in people's feet. 349 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:36,720 Because if I smell that in my trainers, they are going in the bin. 350 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:38,720 And yet with this, I can't wait to eat it. 351 00:18:38,720 --> 00:18:39,840 It's very odd. 352 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:43,320 It is, but on a cheese, it's absolutely what you're looking for. 353 00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:47,400 The smell is only one of the things the bacteria are producing. 354 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:51,240 They're also altering the taste and texture of the cheese. 355 00:18:52,560 --> 00:18:54,200 Now, I never thought I would say this, 356 00:18:54,200 --> 00:18:55,880 but can I help you wash your cheeses? 357 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:58,000 You can absolutely help me wash my cheeses. Yes. 358 00:18:58,000 --> 00:18:59,360 This is so weird! 359 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:05,680 The bacteria we're encouraging to grow are already in the air 360 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:08,880 which makes them unique to this location. 361 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:11,960 Ten miles down the road there'll be a different bacteria 362 00:19:11,960 --> 00:19:14,120 which will create perhaps a different colour 363 00:19:14,120 --> 00:19:16,080 and also a different flavour. 364 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:19,360 I can only make this particular cheese, this particular taste, here. 365 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:24,360 That's smell explained. 366 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:28,560 Oh, yes! A cheese board. 367 00:19:28,560 --> 00:19:31,520 Now there's another mystery I want to solve. 368 00:19:31,520 --> 00:19:34,160 Why are there holes in Swiss cheese? 369 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:36,120 Again that's caused by bacteria. 370 00:19:36,120 --> 00:19:37,760 What we get in Swiss cheese, 371 00:19:37,760 --> 00:19:40,280 you get little spores of hay dust in the milk. 372 00:19:40,280 --> 00:19:41,520 It's perfectly safe. 373 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:42,680 There's no harm from it. 374 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:44,880 That just happens to be the perfect breeding ground 375 00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:46,440 for the bacteria to grow on. 376 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:48,720 The bacteria's eating some of the cheese 377 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:50,600 and it's producing carbon dioxide. 378 00:19:50,600 --> 00:19:54,560 There's big holes! Yeah, they do cause this a pocket of air 379 00:19:54,560 --> 00:19:57,160 but it can't escape out of the cheese so it just keeps growing, 380 00:19:57,160 --> 00:19:59,680 and then you end up with this bubble inside the cheese. 381 00:19:59,680 --> 00:20:01,920 It's pretty amazing. That's absolutely incredible. 382 00:20:02,920 --> 00:20:05,800 So far, bacteria seem to be the answer 383 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:08,040 to all my cheesy questions. 384 00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:10,720 What is the blue in Stilton? 385 00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:13,440 So, the blue is not a bacteria. 386 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:15,120 It's not? It's a mould. 387 00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:17,360 But we do add it with the starter cultures at the start 388 00:20:17,360 --> 00:20:18,440 when we make the cheese. 389 00:20:19,920 --> 00:20:22,360 Mould is a microscopic fungus. 390 00:20:22,360 --> 00:20:25,480 On bread that's gone off, it can be harmful, 391 00:20:25,480 --> 00:20:29,640 but most cheese moulds don't produce the same toxins. 392 00:20:29,640 --> 00:20:31,760 But it's perfectly safe for people to eat. 393 00:20:31,760 --> 00:20:33,960 It has a tremendous flavour. 394 00:20:33,960 --> 00:20:36,240 Not made in Somerset, unfortunately. 395 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:37,680 We're not allowed to make Stilton, 396 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:39,920 but it's one of the best blue cheeses around. 397 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:42,320 Like champagne and Parma ham, 398 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:45,520 Stilton has protected status of origin. 399 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:47,240 So this is Stilton as well. 400 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:50,000 How come they look so completely different? Where's the mould? 401 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:53,320 OK. This is a young Stilton before it's developed the blue mould. 402 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:55,880 You'll see very fine cracks in it. 403 00:20:55,880 --> 00:20:58,760 And that's where the blue mould will grow at a later stage. 404 00:20:58,760 --> 00:21:00,680 So the spores are already in there. 405 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:02,160 They just haven't grown yet. 406 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:03,600 Why haven't they grown? 407 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:05,120 Why are they being so lazy? 408 00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:06,280 They can't breathe. 409 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:08,920 They need oxygen. There's no oxygen in that cheese at the moment, 410 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:10,920 so the mould can't grow on the inside. 411 00:21:10,920 --> 00:21:12,200 So how do you get the oxygen in? 412 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:15,560 We get the oxygen in by using a stainless steel needle. 413 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:20,640 It's a technique developed at least 200 years ago. 414 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:24,440 And we just basically push it in the cheese at an angle, 415 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:26,400 all the way in... 416 00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:28,120 Thar she blows! 417 00:21:28,120 --> 00:21:31,120 So that is like opening the windows. That is opening the window. 418 00:21:31,120 --> 00:21:35,120 So that the lovely spores can have enough fuel... 419 00:21:35,120 --> 00:21:37,200 Absolutely. ..to start growing. Yep. 420 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:39,520 When it's about four weeks old, 421 00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:42,240 a Stilton is pierced around 100 times, 422 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:44,800 which allows the mould spores to spread 423 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:48,400 creating its blue veins and distinctive tang. 424 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:49,800 It is very artistic. 425 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:51,160 It's probably like a snowflake. 426 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:53,960 You could cut it and every time it would be a different pattern. 427 00:21:53,960 --> 00:21:55,320 It's beautiful. 428 00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:58,000 So there we have it. 429 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:00,120 The huge variety of cheeses that we enjoy 430 00:22:00,120 --> 00:22:03,400 are all thanks to mould and bacteria. 431 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:06,120 They are the unlikely heroes of the cheese board. 432 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:13,640 MUSIC: Rather Be by Clean Bandit 433 00:22:13,640 --> 00:22:17,760 Thanks to our bacteria and three months of maturing, the cheddar 434 00:22:17,760 --> 00:22:21,120 for our processed cheese is ready. 435 00:22:21,120 --> 00:22:24,880 And a new delivery is made every week to the factory in Gateshead. 436 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:29,960 The company, run by a charity, 437 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:34,520 has been making cheesy products since 1924, 438 00:22:34,520 --> 00:22:38,160 and they all start in the preparation room. 439 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:42,520 There's 200 kilos of cheddar waiting for me and new products officer 440 00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:46,760 Sharon Cunningham to begin turning it into spreadable cheese. 441 00:22:46,760 --> 00:22:48,840 Here? Yeah, just there. 442 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:55,000 Right. How do you get that into a little, squeezy tube? 443 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:56,880 Now, you're going to cut it in half. 444 00:22:56,880 --> 00:22:58,760 Like this? Yeah, yeah. 445 00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:02,280 Crying out loud! 446 00:23:02,280 --> 00:23:04,800 The cheddar's in 20 kilo blocks, 447 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:08,920 and we need to chop them up so the factory's machines can cope 448 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:11,360 with this very dense cheese. 449 00:23:11,360 --> 00:23:13,920 Do you know what? It's better if you wiggle it. 450 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:18,480 I need enough cheddar for 5,400 tubes. 451 00:23:18,480 --> 00:23:20,320 How many of those have I got to cut in half? 452 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:21,640 You've got to cut... 453 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:27,560 ..196kg, so there's about... Well, you've cut that one. 454 00:23:27,560 --> 00:23:29,600 About another nine of them. Yeah. 455 00:23:29,600 --> 00:23:32,800 Can you phone me wife and tell her I'm going to be late for dinner? 456 00:23:32,800 --> 00:23:35,160 Right, OK. On the scale? 457 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:36,200 Yeah. 458 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:45,680 You're getting the hang of that now, Greg. 459 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:50,200 That is physically really quite demanding. 460 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:52,000 It takes me 20 minutes... 461 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:53,800 SHE CHUCKLES 462 00:23:53,800 --> 00:23:55,920 ..of solid slicing. 463 00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:57,560 Ugh! That'll do. 464 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:02,640 I've never have been so relieved to see the back of a piece of cheese. 465 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:07,280 But it's not the only kind we're using. 466 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:12,840 We've also got 144 kilos of Gouda. 467 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:19,600 Together, they'll make up 42% of our finished spreadable cheese. 468 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:24,480 Why do you add Gouda? Gouda is a milder flavour. 469 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,240 Very mild. Compared to that. Oh, love, give us a bit! 470 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:33,280 Crying out loud! Just done 20, 30 kilo of cheddar for you 471 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:34,880 and what do I get?! 472 00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:37,480 What wouldn't fill the stomach of an average mouse! 473 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:41,920 That is a lovely, strong, mature cheddar, but that's 474 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:43,280 too strong for you. Yes. 475 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:46,120 So you put the Gouda in to make it milder, basically. Yep. 476 00:24:46,120 --> 00:24:48,000 Right, how much Gouda? I'm frightened to ask. 477 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:49,760 144, it'll be. 478 00:24:53,200 --> 00:24:57,120 Thankfully the Gouda is soft enough to go in as it is. 479 00:24:57,120 --> 00:25:00,040 We still need 15 kilos. Go on, put that on. 480 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:04,360 That's a total of 340 kilos of solid cheese that will go 481 00:25:04,360 --> 00:25:06,440 into our squeezy tubes. 482 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:07,840 Yes! Yay! 483 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:10,600 I've gone right off cheese. 484 00:25:10,600 --> 00:25:12,240 I can imagine! 485 00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:18,680 We'll be putting these hefty chunks into hi-tech tubes, but cheddar 486 00:25:18,680 --> 00:25:22,800 was first sold as a convenience food a whole century ago. 487 00:25:24,000 --> 00:25:29,040 Ru's finding out how it all began with food historian Polly Russell. 488 00:25:29,040 --> 00:25:32,560 Polly! Hello! Great to see you again. You too, you too. 489 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:37,320 So, when and where do we see the beginning of processed cheese? 490 00:25:37,320 --> 00:25:38,920 We have to go back 100 years. 491 00:25:38,920 --> 00:25:43,320 We're going to go back to Chicago, and it starts with a man whose name 492 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:47,440 will be familiar to you - James Lewis Kraft. 493 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:50,040 Is that Kraft with a K? Kraft with a K. 494 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:52,960 Familiar? Oh, yes, it is! 495 00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:56,560 And he was the son of a German immigrant farmer 496 00:25:56,560 --> 00:26:00,080 and he was delivering cheese to Chicago on the back 497 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:01,600 of horse-drawn carts. 498 00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:06,520 He wanted to find a way to produce cheese that would not deteriorate, 499 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:10,080 that would remain totally stable. 500 00:26:10,080 --> 00:26:11,920 Before modern refrigeration, 501 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:15,360 cheese went off quickly in the hot Chicago summers. 502 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:19,200 But Kraft found a way to stabilise it, 503 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:21,520 giving it a much longer shelf life. 504 00:26:22,920 --> 00:26:26,440 And I have a patent here from 1916. 505 00:26:26,440 --> 00:26:29,800 "The Improved Process of Sterilizing Cheese." 506 00:26:29,800 --> 00:26:31,520 Sterilizing. 507 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:34,960 Yeah, the sterilizing is crucial because bacteria, microbes, 508 00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:37,000 are absolutely essential to cheese. 509 00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:40,640 They are what makes cheese cheese, but it also means that it changes, 510 00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:42,240 that it is, you know, precarious. 511 00:26:42,240 --> 00:26:44,640 Yeah, it's a sort of living organic substance. It is. 512 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:47,360 It is. By sterilizing the cheese, it is not 513 00:26:47,360 --> 00:26:48,760 going to deteriorate, 514 00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:51,320 and that's what this patent is for. 515 00:26:54,200 --> 00:26:56,800 We're recreating the very first processed cheddar 516 00:26:56,800 --> 00:26:59,920 by following the original patent. 517 00:26:59,920 --> 00:27:03,880 It doesn't actually specify what sort of cheddar to use. 518 00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:07,840 We're using a quite mature farmhouse cheddar. 519 00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:10,200 There are no other ingredients. 520 00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:13,040 The patent simply requires the cheese to be heated. 521 00:27:13,040 --> 00:27:15,760 "A temperature of 175 degrees Fahrenheit, 522 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:18,600 "maintained for a period of ten or 15 minutes 523 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:21,640 "is ample to ensure thorough sterilization." 524 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:24,880 Processing complete. 525 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:27,640 We pour it into a container to set up. 526 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:30,360 So that's it. 527 00:27:30,360 --> 00:27:32,400 Got some sterile processed cheese. 528 00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:37,080 Once cool, it's ready for sampling. 529 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:41,520 Ew! 530 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:43,040 Oh, my! 531 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:48,240 That's horrible. That's just vile. 532 00:27:48,240 --> 00:27:50,040 It's the texture thing. 533 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:53,040 It's like butter and chalk mixed together, isn't it? Yeah! 534 00:27:54,160 --> 00:27:57,640 It's hard to imagine that this is what the inventor had in mind, 535 00:27:57,640 --> 00:28:01,520 and it tastes nothing like today's processed cheese. 536 00:28:01,520 --> 00:28:04,520 So this time we're adding an ingredient that isn't mentioned 537 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:09,840 in the patent, but that's essential when combining fats with liquids. 538 00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:12,120 We're going to use an emulsifier. 539 00:28:12,120 --> 00:28:14,000 Now, I suspect that Kraft used 540 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:17,960 an emulsifier back in 1916, because they were around then. 541 00:28:17,960 --> 00:28:19,480 Do you think he did it deliberately? 542 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:21,480 In his patent, he's actually quite vague. 543 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:24,320 Yeah, it's interesting cos usually, you know, a patent is 544 00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,760 supposed to stipulate very clearly. Clearly. 545 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:28,120 Yeah, I mean, maybe he thought, 546 00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:30,040 "I've spent years and years working this out. 547 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:31,960 "I'm not having someone else come along..." 548 00:28:31,960 --> 00:28:34,320 And nick it. "..and nicking it." Yeah. 549 00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:44,960 Completely different. 550 00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:47,800 And that's just that little bit of emulsifier and nothing else. Yeah. 551 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:51,840 It's really bound everything together, hasn't it? 552 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:55,400 This silky processed cheese was sold in blocks and made 553 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:57,360 its creator extremely rich. 554 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:04,200 By 1930, it's estimated that 40% of all cheese sold in America 555 00:29:04,200 --> 00:29:07,080 was produced in Kraft factories. 556 00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:09,600 We're talking about processed cheese but I tend to think 557 00:29:09,600 --> 00:29:11,280 of it, you know, like, pre-sliced. 558 00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:18,480 Yes. Norman Kraft, brother of James, in 1935 wanted to work out a way 559 00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:22,080 to make processed cheese even more convenient for the consumer 560 00:29:22,080 --> 00:29:23,880 and produced sliced cheese. 561 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:31,080 So, what Norman worked out was that if you put the molten cheese 562 00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:35,880 on a cold stainless steel top and then rolled it with a 563 00:29:35,880 --> 00:29:37,960 cold stainless steel rolling pin, 564 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:41,360 it would remain pliable enough to get it into slices. 565 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:46,000 My goodness. So that is that is your processed cheese slice, isn't it? 566 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,240 That's your processed cheese, yup. 567 00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:51,440 And that first becomes available in 1950. 568 00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:52,760 Have we improved it? 569 00:29:52,760 --> 00:29:54,520 It's much easier to eat. 570 00:29:55,960 --> 00:29:59,680 The sharpness is gone, but so is all that horrible texture. 571 00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:03,160 This is what you expect from modern processed cheese. 572 00:30:03,160 --> 00:30:04,600 It took the US by storm, 573 00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:08,040 its convenience making it an instant fast food hit. 574 00:30:09,600 --> 00:30:11,680 And giving us those American classics - 575 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:14,880 grilled cheese and cheeseburgers. 576 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:17,480 The main thing is that it's the ultimate product 577 00:30:17,480 --> 00:30:19,840 for mass production in terms of food. 578 00:30:19,840 --> 00:30:22,040 Total uniformity, complete consistency, 579 00:30:22,040 --> 00:30:24,240 there's never going to be any waste. 580 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:28,840 I mean, it just suits the modern food supply system perfectly. 581 00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:31,480 And in that sense, it's ingenious, 582 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:35,920 but I wonder, you know, the extent to which housewives before 583 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:40,120 had ever thought, "Gosh, slicing cheese is a real bother." 584 00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:41,840 LAUGHTER 585 00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:43,240 I don't know! 586 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:52,840 In Gateshead, we're ready to process our blend 587 00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:54,440 of hard cheddar and Gouda. 588 00:30:56,360 --> 00:30:58,560 Cooking it up will give it a long life, 589 00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:02,920 but how on Earth are we going to make it soft and spreadable? 590 00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:06,360 OK, where do we start? 591 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:07,680 Right, dose of water. 592 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:09,760 Water?! Water. Water?! Water. 593 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:14,720 The cheese makers took ages taking all the water out of it! 594 00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:17,600 I know. We're putting it back in. 595 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:19,560 Do you want to do it? Just put that down? Yep. 596 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:20,960 And then you press that one. 597 00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:28,000 It needs 177 litres of water. 598 00:31:28,000 --> 00:31:29,640 Right, what goes in now? 599 00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:32,360 The liquid cheese. Liquid cheese? Yeah. 600 00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:34,760 But that's what we're supposed to be doing, 601 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:37,920 turning this hard cheese to liquid cheese. 602 00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:42,840 What we're pumping in is cheese made using different production methods, 603 00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:44,600 which keep it soft. 604 00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:46,040 It's a low-fat cheese. 605 00:31:46,040 --> 00:31:50,440 You can have more cheese for less calories, and it adds to the taste. 606 00:31:52,440 --> 00:31:56,440 The liquid base is essential for making and keeping 607 00:31:56,440 --> 00:31:57,840 our cheese squeezy. 608 00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:01,560 What goes in next? 609 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:04,240 Milk powder. It'll make it a little bit sweeter. 610 00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:05,280 Whoa-argh. 611 00:32:06,800 --> 00:32:10,480 Now what goes in? We put in the whey powder. 612 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:12,760 You've got whey powder? Yep. 613 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:15,400 You know the cheddar makers, they've taken the whey out, 614 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:17,040 you're going to put the whey in? We are. 615 00:32:17,040 --> 00:32:20,040 They've taken the liquid out, you're putting liquid in. Yeah. 616 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:23,280 Mate, you need to get together with the cheese makers! 617 00:32:23,280 --> 00:32:26,440 We seem to have made cheese only to be unmaking it again. 618 00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:28,360 In there? Yeah. 619 00:32:29,840 --> 00:32:34,000 The whey will make our base thicker and creamier. 620 00:32:34,000 --> 00:32:35,840 It's a bit hubble-bubble. 621 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:40,200 Next, it's those all-important emulsifiers... 622 00:32:40,200 --> 00:32:41,320 Stick it in? Yeah. 623 00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:43,880 ..that will stop the fats and liquids separating. 624 00:32:45,520 --> 00:32:50,280 And starch will thicken the mix, like adding cornflour to gravy, 625 00:32:50,280 --> 00:32:52,720 but there's still something crucial missing. 626 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:54,080 Can I put the cheese in now? 627 00:32:54,080 --> 00:32:55,600 No, we have to whizz it up first. 628 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:57,680 Come on, then. Lid down? Yep, lid down. 629 00:33:00,600 --> 00:33:03,000 MACHINE WHIRS 630 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:04,760 Is it going to take off? 631 00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:10,520 After nearly nine hours of active production, at last we're ready 632 00:33:10,520 --> 00:33:13,280 for the star of the show. 633 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:14,600 So can I put the cheese in? 634 00:33:14,600 --> 00:33:16,000 Yep. 635 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:17,880 And that big punch of flavour. 636 00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:21,000 Right now, that's all liquid, right? Yeah, it is. 637 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:23,720 That's like frying a lump of cheddar into a milkshake. Yeah. 638 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:30,920 Most of the factories I see, nobody touches anything. 639 00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:33,080 Little machines come out and do it. 640 00:33:33,080 --> 00:33:34,680 But this is very hands on. 641 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:36,640 So what do we do now? Stir it around? 642 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:38,760 Yeah. yeah. We heat it up and mix it up. 643 00:33:40,000 --> 00:33:41,040 Agitator! 644 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:43,640 Heating? Heating. 645 00:33:43,640 --> 00:33:45,120 Yes? Yep. 646 00:33:45,120 --> 00:33:46,920 Put it on auto. And auto. 647 00:33:48,280 --> 00:33:51,160 It's a bit space-age for a bit of cheese, innit? 648 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:55,320 Inside are 12-inch steel blades 649 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:58,200 strong enough to cut through the cheddar, 650 00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:00,640 and the giant blender doubles as an oven, 651 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:06,120 melting the cheese at 95 Celsius and spreading it through the mix. 652 00:34:06,120 --> 00:34:08,760 You can properly hear that machine working, can't you? Yeah. 653 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:12,200 And I can hear the lumps of cheese bouncing off the side. 654 00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:14,760 That machine's getting a proper workout. 655 00:34:18,840 --> 00:34:22,000 There are literally hundreds of great cheese dishes, 656 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:23,160 but, in my opinion, 657 00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:26,000 nothing beats good old-fashioned cheese on toast. 658 00:34:26,000 --> 00:34:28,560 But are you making it correctly? 659 00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:31,800 Cherry's been getting the recipe for success. 660 00:34:37,640 --> 00:34:40,800 Cheese on toast - it is a national comfort food. 661 00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:43,440 How do you make it? Brown bread. 662 00:34:43,440 --> 00:34:47,000 I toast the one side... Yes? ..with the cheese on and I put 663 00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:48,720 Worcester sauce on and then grill it. 664 00:34:48,720 --> 00:34:51,120 I'm going to put butter on both sides. 665 00:34:51,120 --> 00:34:52,160 Ooh! 666 00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:56,600 It's time to settle this once and for all - 667 00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:00,560 is there a scientific method for making cheese on toast? 668 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:06,440 I'm heading to the University of Reading to meet 669 00:35:06,440 --> 00:35:09,920 food experimenter Dr Stuart Farrimond. 670 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:12,600 Hey, Dr Stu! Hey, Cherry. Good to see you. 671 00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:14,960 So are there any golden rules? 672 00:35:14,960 --> 00:35:18,920 There is some serious science behind how to make the perfect 673 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:21,400 cheese on toast. 674 00:35:21,400 --> 00:35:24,680 Let's start with the base, the foundation, the vehicle 675 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:26,520 for the cheese - the bread. 676 00:35:26,520 --> 00:35:29,680 Now, I don't know if you've noticed this but when you toast brown, 677 00:35:29,680 --> 00:35:32,560 it never comes out quite as good as white bread, and there's 678 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:33,960 good reasons for that. 679 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:37,800 The brown bread contains a substance called ferulic acid. 680 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:43,000 That stops this wonderful browning reaction that goes on on the top. 681 00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:45,680 So I prefer brown bread. I think it has more flavour. 682 00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:47,440 I know it's got more fibre. 683 00:35:47,440 --> 00:35:50,440 But you're saying that for cheese on toast, white is preferable. 684 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:53,040 If we're just thinking about taste and flavour, then you should 685 00:35:53,040 --> 00:35:54,960 go for white. 686 00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:57,680 And Dr Stu recommends pre-sliced. 687 00:35:57,680 --> 00:36:01,040 So you might think, "Let's go for the chunky." 688 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:03,840 Let's go for the chunky one. Getting more bread in there. 689 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:07,400 But most of the flavour is coming from this browning reaction 690 00:36:07,400 --> 00:36:12,440 on the outside and so medium works out to be a really good compromise. 691 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:16,040 So the next big debate. 692 00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:20,880 Butter or no butter? Butter. Really? 693 00:36:20,880 --> 00:36:23,360 Not if you're thinking about your health, but the flavours 694 00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:27,160 that come from that browning reaction blend very well with fat, 695 00:36:27,160 --> 00:36:30,960 which is why if you have a dry piece of toast you don't get the flavour 696 00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:33,760 from it because you haven't got the fat there to release it. 697 00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:36,080 And do we need to spread it carefully? 698 00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:39,120 Need to get it right to the very edges because this is going to let 699 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:41,560 the very edge which isn't going to have cheese on it 700 00:36:41,560 --> 00:36:42,960 have some flavour to it. 701 00:36:42,960 --> 00:36:45,240 And also it'll help prevent it from burning 702 00:36:45,240 --> 00:36:46,680 when it's under the grill. 703 00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:49,360 Next up, the cheese. 704 00:36:51,720 --> 00:36:55,480 Got mild, medium and extra mature cheddar. 705 00:36:55,480 --> 00:36:58,280 So, which one is the cheese of dreams? 706 00:36:58,280 --> 00:37:02,160 The best melting cheese is either the mild or the medium. 707 00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:05,560 I would have thought you'd go for the extra mature cheddar. 708 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:08,280 The longer a cheese is aged for, 709 00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:11,320 the proteins that hold it together 710 00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:14,720 they become so tightly intertwined with one another, 711 00:37:14,720 --> 00:37:17,320 they can't soften quickly enough 712 00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:19,000 when you put it under the grill, 713 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:22,920 so it's important you have a fairly young cheese if you want it to melt well. 714 00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:29,960 I always slice but Dr Stu insists on grating and careful measuring. 715 00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:35,440 50g of cheese is the optimum amount. 716 00:37:36,520 --> 00:37:38,760 I probably got about 200g. 717 00:37:41,000 --> 00:37:43,320 The accuracy doesn't stop there. 718 00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:47,040 You would have thought you should have it really close 719 00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:48,520 to cook it well. 720 00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:51,800 The surprising thing is that if you double the distance, 721 00:37:51,800 --> 00:37:54,600 the heat only drops by a third. 722 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:57,480 So at this distance, you get a nice even spread of the heat. 723 00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:00,280 That's a scientific 18 centimetres. 724 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:04,800 You want a medium temperature, about 130 degrees C, 725 00:38:04,800 --> 00:38:09,280 because that's the temperature at which the browning reactions will start. 726 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:14,600 Science aside, cheese on toast is a beautiful thing. 727 00:38:14,600 --> 00:38:19,440 MUSIC: Je T'aime...Moi Non Plus by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin 728 00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:22,800 Look at that. 729 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:29,200 But my slapdash approach won't win any beauty prizes. 730 00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:31,040 Oh, dear. Oh, dear me. 731 00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:35,720 So mine is bad. Are there any condiments that you can use 732 00:38:35,720 --> 00:38:37,840 to really take it to another level? 733 00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:39,400 I like Worcester sauce. 734 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:42,640 I'd say put it on at the end and that heightens the flavour 735 00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:46,640 of the cheese and all the flavours that are in there. 736 00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:48,800 We're going to try mine first. 737 00:38:52,720 --> 00:38:54,920 It's not BAD. It's not bad. 738 00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:57,520 It's cheese and it's toast. How bad can it be? 739 00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:03,320 But it's quite hard to eat. It's like eating into a leather sole. 740 00:39:03,320 --> 00:39:07,000 Mm-hm. Let's try my cheese special. 741 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:10,240 Oh, it looks really nice. It looks better. Cheers. 742 00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:17,680 Mm. Mm-mm. Mm-mm. I mean... 743 00:39:19,200 --> 00:39:22,840 It's just the yummiest thing. It's lovely and flavourful. 744 00:39:23,920 --> 00:39:27,360 So I can safely say that you've taken a household staple to a new level. 745 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:30,280 We've given it the science treatment. 746 00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:42,360 At the factory, our 788 kilos of processed cheese mix 747 00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:46,280 has been cooking and blending for 35 minutes. 748 00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:47,520 Big cheesy smell! 749 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:51,040 Fabulous. 750 00:39:54,080 --> 00:39:55,800 Right, what's next? 751 00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:57,200 Put the jalapenos in. 752 00:39:57,200 --> 00:39:59,000 The extra flavour for our batch.... 753 00:39:59,000 --> 00:40:01,400 Chilies away! 754 00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:07,440 ..is a whopping 22 kilos of red and green chilli peppers. 755 00:40:07,440 --> 00:40:09,440 I'm guessing the green one's bitter. Yeah. 756 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:10,920 And the red one's sweeter. Yeah. 757 00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:14,680 One last mix and five minutes' steaming 758 00:40:14,680 --> 00:40:16,800 to cook the frozen jalapenos. 759 00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:20,640 Have we got cheese? We have got cheese. 760 00:40:20,640 --> 00:40:22,600 Go on. Shall we have a look? 761 00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:25,160 And our spreadable cheese is ready. 762 00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:29,360 Wow. I don't mind telling you that aroma is lovely. 763 00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:32,240 That's a massive fondue, isn't it? It is. 764 00:40:32,240 --> 00:40:34,480 So are we ready to pour this out? Or... 765 00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:36,280 We need to take a sample fast. 766 00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:40,040 That is red hot. 767 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:45,880 Shall we? Yes. 768 00:40:45,880 --> 00:40:47,360 Cheese! 769 00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:49,040 We got cheese! 770 00:40:49,040 --> 00:40:52,560 Before we can use our hot jalapeno mix, 771 00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:54,920 it has to pass Sharon's quality checks. 772 00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:58,760 I just can't imagine what tests you have to do on cheese. 773 00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:00,760 What do you have to test it for? 774 00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:03,400 We're looking at the consistency of it. 775 00:41:03,400 --> 00:41:04,720 It's runny. 776 00:41:04,720 --> 00:41:07,960 Yeah, but if it was a lot runnier than that, we'd be worried. 777 00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:11,000 Obviously we need to taste it. Taste it? 778 00:41:11,000 --> 00:41:13,160 Yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm your man. 779 00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:20,560 I get the tang from the cheddar and I get the heat from the chilli. 780 00:41:20,560 --> 00:41:23,040 Is that what you want? Definitely. 781 00:41:23,040 --> 00:41:24,560 OK. 782 00:41:24,560 --> 00:41:26,760 So, we put this sample in that machine. 783 00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:29,480 Is it taking an X-ray? Not an X-ray as such. 784 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:31,440 It's like fingerprints. 785 00:41:31,440 --> 00:41:35,120 So it'll shine light into the cheese and reflect it back 786 00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:37,880 to tell you what the fat and moisture 787 00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:40,160 and the salt content of it is. 788 00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:41,920 Our blend aces the tests. 789 00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:44,440 Is that it? That's done. That's it. 790 00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:47,120 That cheese is ready to go in the tubes. It is. Sharon. 791 00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:49,960 Thank you very much. Thank you, Gregg. Cheers. 792 00:41:52,920 --> 00:41:56,440 Our hot chilli cheese travels 30 meters into one 793 00:41:56,440 --> 00:41:59,000 of these 1,500-litre tanks. 794 00:42:01,360 --> 00:42:04,280 The factory makes up to four flavours at a time. 795 00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:07,440 So in here there's also salmon, prawn and ham. 796 00:42:07,440 --> 00:42:10,400 Rob Thurgood is the production manager. 797 00:42:10,400 --> 00:42:13,320 Rob. Hiya. Gregg. 798 00:42:13,320 --> 00:42:16,920 I need to get cheese from there into the squeezy tubes. 799 00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:18,640 Right, Gregg. 800 00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:20,960 Your cheese currently is in Holding Tank 1. 801 00:42:20,960 --> 00:42:22,920 We need to get it into Filler 1. 802 00:42:22,920 --> 00:42:26,200 And you do it with these hoses? With these hoses. 803 00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:29,880 In this factory there are four filling stations, and it's vital 804 00:42:29,880 --> 00:42:32,640 that my mixture is sent to the right one. 805 00:42:32,640 --> 00:42:35,840 So just like an old telephone exchange? It is. 806 00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:38,280 So this one here, that is clearly pumping 807 00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:40,160 and actually that is red-hot. 808 00:42:40,160 --> 00:42:42,920 What are the challenges with moving cheese? 809 00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:44,720 We want to keep it hot 810 00:42:44,720 --> 00:42:47,720 so it stays liquid and keep it moving, continuously moving 811 00:42:47,720 --> 00:42:49,480 all the time. 812 00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:52,600 But of this doesn't stay hot, it'll start to go thick. It will. 813 00:42:52,600 --> 00:42:54,880 No-one wants pipes full of solid cheese, right? 814 00:42:54,880 --> 00:42:56,600 Definitely not. 815 00:42:56,600 --> 00:42:59,160 How long have you got to move it through? 816 00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:01,640 You've got about an hour to keep it moving. Right. 817 00:43:01,640 --> 00:43:04,360 That... Unscrew it? Unscrew it. 818 00:43:06,840 --> 00:43:09,840 And tighten it with the big spanner. 819 00:43:09,840 --> 00:43:11,640 Push the green button. 820 00:43:12,720 --> 00:43:15,120 Your cheese is now on its way over. 821 00:43:15,120 --> 00:43:17,280 Yeah, OK, that's moving. 822 00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:20,960 Gallons of red-hot liquid cheese. It's quite scary. It is. 823 00:43:25,640 --> 00:43:27,960 We've got our cheese. Now... 824 00:43:27,960 --> 00:43:30,200 we need something to put it in. 825 00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:33,760 And Cherry's on the case. 826 00:43:35,240 --> 00:43:38,920 This Colchester factory is the UK's biggest manufacturer 827 00:43:38,920 --> 00:43:40,760 of flexible tubes. 828 00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:44,080 They make 750 million a year. 829 00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:45,920 For toothpaste, 830 00:43:45,920 --> 00:43:48,800 beauty products and, of course, cheese. 831 00:43:48,800 --> 00:43:54,000 Surprisingly, what ends up as black squeezy tubes starts off as a roll 832 00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:57,080 of white layered aluminium and plastic. 833 00:43:57,080 --> 00:43:59,200 Lee Woolgar is head printer. 834 00:43:59,200 --> 00:44:01,080 Hi, Lee. Hiya. 835 00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:04,800 So, are you going to show me how to make a squeezy cheese tube? 836 00:44:04,800 --> 00:44:07,320 I am. Where do we start? 837 00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:08,600 Printing is the first stage. 838 00:44:09,680 --> 00:44:11,440 Right. What have we got here? 839 00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:14,440 OK. This is the artwork is made up of seven different plates 840 00:44:14,440 --> 00:44:17,760 which is seven different colours which go into making the design. 841 00:44:17,760 --> 00:44:19,760 This will have all the detail 842 00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:21,520 that we need for the black. 843 00:44:21,520 --> 00:44:24,680 Every part of the design that isn't going to be black has been cut 844 00:44:24,680 --> 00:44:27,120 out of this printing plate. 845 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:29,320 And this is just a kind of rubber sheet? 846 00:44:29,320 --> 00:44:31,520 Yes. That holds the ink. 847 00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:34,800 There are six other sheets with different sections removed 848 00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:36,680 according to their ink colour. 849 00:44:36,680 --> 00:44:39,160 Let's do some art. 850 00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:40,560 Oh clever. Right. 851 00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:43,120 To print evenly, each rubber plate 852 00:44:43,120 --> 00:44:45,200 is wrapped around a roller. 853 00:44:46,480 --> 00:44:50,080 Then they're slotted into a 25-metre long printer. 854 00:44:52,680 --> 00:44:54,960 So that goes on here. Can I do it? Yeah. 855 00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:57,400 All right. Do I have to line up that bit with that bit? 856 00:44:57,400 --> 00:44:59,000 Yes. 857 00:44:59,000 --> 00:45:00,440 All right. 858 00:45:00,440 --> 00:45:02,720 Is it good to go? It is. 859 00:45:02,720 --> 00:45:06,400 Each section has a different roller and ink colour. 860 00:45:06,400 --> 00:45:07,880 Oh, look at that. 861 00:45:07,880 --> 00:45:10,080 Rich blue, that is beautiful. 862 00:45:10,080 --> 00:45:11,400 Are you ready? Go for it. 863 00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:17,200 There she blows! 864 00:45:18,520 --> 00:45:22,000 Every colour adds a new element to the design. 865 00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:24,400 Hey. 866 00:45:24,400 --> 00:45:26,600 That is just incredible. 867 00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:31,120 It's whipping through at 100 metres a minute, repeating the pattern 868 00:45:31,120 --> 00:45:32,440 12,000 times. 869 00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:34,080 That is a fast printer. 870 00:45:35,440 --> 00:45:39,880 It takes only ten minutes for a 1km reel to be printed 871 00:45:39,880 --> 00:45:41,840 and pop out the other end. 872 00:45:41,840 --> 00:45:43,920 Woohoo! 873 00:45:43,920 --> 00:45:46,200 And then it just rolls. Wey-hey! 874 00:45:47,360 --> 00:45:50,720 Oh, that's brilliant. It's like a gigantic arcade game. 875 00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:55,920 That flat white laminate has been transformed 876 00:45:55,920 --> 00:45:59,400 but it still looks nothing like a tube. 877 00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:00,840 Hi, Steve. Hello. 878 00:46:00,840 --> 00:46:04,800 Engineer Steve is ready for the next stage. 879 00:46:06,080 --> 00:46:07,200 Under there. 880 00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:09,120 And then over this roller. 881 00:46:09,120 --> 00:46:11,760 First, we thread the machine, a bit like you would 882 00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:14,480 an old-fashioned film projector. 883 00:46:14,480 --> 00:46:16,600 If you press that button there... 884 00:46:16,600 --> 00:46:20,960 Yeah. ..the machine should start for you, hopefully. 885 00:46:20,960 --> 00:46:22,520 Oh, look! 886 00:46:22,520 --> 00:46:26,600 It starts off flat, and then as it goes through there, 887 00:46:26,600 --> 00:46:28,760 it's made it a circle. 888 00:46:28,760 --> 00:46:32,120 The machine curls the sides in to form a cylinder 889 00:46:32,120 --> 00:46:35,440 then heats up the edges, melting them together. 890 00:46:35,440 --> 00:46:37,920 It's almost like a garden hose. 891 00:46:37,920 --> 00:46:40,880 A cheesy tube, like a massive snake. 892 00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:42,160 Correct. 893 00:46:42,160 --> 00:46:43,960 So, here it gets chopped. 894 00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:46,800 Yes, it gets chopped, to the same size every single time. 895 00:46:46,800 --> 00:46:50,720 I mean, it's incredibly fast. So it's two rollers chopping. 896 00:46:50,720 --> 00:46:53,360 Yes. How many are going through there? 897 00:46:53,360 --> 00:46:55,480 Running at about 160 tubes per minute. 898 00:46:56,800 --> 00:47:00,520 It'll take just half an hour to make the 5,400 899 00:47:00,520 --> 00:47:05,480 Gregg needs, but at the moment they're still open-ended cylinders. 900 00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:08,440 Oh, look, I can see here. I don't know what you call them. 901 00:47:08,440 --> 00:47:09,720 Shoulders. 902 00:47:09,720 --> 00:47:11,880 You call them what? Shoulders. 903 00:47:13,800 --> 00:47:17,640 Oh, my God, I totally see why you call it a shoulder. 904 00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:20,720 If the cap is the head, that does look like a shoulder. 905 00:47:20,720 --> 00:47:22,480 Yes. That's so brilliant. 906 00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:25,400 Once the shoulders are melted on, 907 00:47:25,400 --> 00:47:27,280 the machine adds a metal and plastic 908 00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:30,760 seal to the nozzle to make sure no cheesy mix can escape. 909 00:47:30,760 --> 00:47:33,640 And that's the bit I really struggle to get off 910 00:47:33,640 --> 00:47:35,920 cos it's really fiddly. 911 00:47:35,920 --> 00:47:39,000 It's very fiddly and very tight because it has to be a correct seal. 912 00:47:39,000 --> 00:47:41,280 And then where do you add the cap? 913 00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:42,920 The caps come down here. 914 00:47:42,920 --> 00:47:45,520 I love it - the shoulders are there, heads are there, 915 00:47:45,520 --> 00:47:47,680 what about the knee and toes? 916 00:47:52,280 --> 00:47:54,800 Then it screws on like that? Absolutely. 917 00:47:55,840 --> 00:47:57,920 Then out the other end, 918 00:47:57,920 --> 00:48:01,600 lo and behold, is that a tube that's nearly done? 919 00:48:01,600 --> 00:48:04,400 It is. It's a finished tube. Look at that. 920 00:48:06,000 --> 00:48:09,120 And only 40 minutes ago, these were a sheet 921 00:48:09,120 --> 00:48:10,720 of flat white plastic. 922 00:48:13,440 --> 00:48:15,040 So, there we have it. 923 00:48:15,040 --> 00:48:19,560 A lovely finished tube with its seal and shoulders and cap 924 00:48:19,560 --> 00:48:23,440 all in place. That's a batch there of 150. 925 00:48:23,440 --> 00:48:26,560 All they need now is some of Gregg's cheese. 926 00:48:30,400 --> 00:48:35,440 I'm on it. At the factory, my hot and squeezy jalapeno mix 927 00:48:35,440 --> 00:48:37,760 has reached its filling station. 928 00:48:39,880 --> 00:48:43,080 Right. What's this? These are the tubes. 929 00:48:43,080 --> 00:48:45,720 These are Cherry's tubes. 930 00:48:45,720 --> 00:48:48,240 We're going to fill 5,400 931 00:48:48,240 --> 00:48:52,480 of them with our 810 kilos of processed cheese. 932 00:48:53,560 --> 00:48:56,520 So, this is what you call the finger picker. 933 00:48:56,520 --> 00:49:00,280 It's the finger picker. Picks 16 tubes up at a time. 934 00:49:00,280 --> 00:49:04,600 The machine is lifting them straight from their delivery box. 935 00:49:04,600 --> 00:49:07,240 Two rubber discs go inside, captures it, 936 00:49:07,240 --> 00:49:10,440 flips it over, and then it gets pulled up by a rake. 937 00:49:10,440 --> 00:49:13,680 Oh, I can see. It's like a big fork. 938 00:49:15,400 --> 00:49:20,160 The tubes are spun into the right position with pinpoint accuracy. 939 00:49:21,680 --> 00:49:23,760 And those two blue lights, small lights, 940 00:49:23,760 --> 00:49:27,680 are looking for this blue mark all the time. That will align them. 941 00:49:27,680 --> 00:49:28,800 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 942 00:49:30,000 --> 00:49:33,560 If it wasn't the right way round, when it bent, it might bend 943 00:49:33,560 --> 00:49:35,000 down the middle of the info 944 00:49:35,000 --> 00:49:36,840 and you want it to seal like that. 945 00:49:36,840 --> 00:49:38,640 Like that every time. 946 00:49:38,640 --> 00:49:41,560 Every time. Clever! Clever. 947 00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:47,360 The empty tubes are in place. 948 00:49:47,360 --> 00:49:50,480 And above the machine is our vat of jalapeno cheese, 949 00:49:50,480 --> 00:49:52,800 bubbling away at 85 degrees Celsius. 950 00:49:54,280 --> 00:49:57,320 So, the cheese is up there in that hopper. 951 00:49:57,320 --> 00:49:59,720 How is it getting into those tubes? 952 00:49:59,720 --> 00:50:01,320 What look like steel udders... 953 00:50:01,320 --> 00:50:03,560 inside there is a metal spindle. 954 00:50:03,560 --> 00:50:05,120 The cheese comes down. 955 00:50:05,120 --> 00:50:06,640 Starts filling. 956 00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:11,440 And as it starts to put the hot cheese in, it comes away. 957 00:50:11,440 --> 00:50:14,320 Yeah. So it's got the right amount. 958 00:50:14,320 --> 00:50:19,160 150g goes into each tube, leaving enough space to seal it in. 959 00:50:20,840 --> 00:50:25,000 It looks like they're milking a cow. Robo-cow. Robo-cow. 960 00:50:26,120 --> 00:50:28,000 Well, cheese is milk, isn't it? 961 00:50:30,200 --> 00:50:33,200 Now there's a 400-degree blast of air. 962 00:50:34,400 --> 00:50:38,600 It's so hot, it melts the ends of the tubes together. 963 00:50:38,600 --> 00:50:42,280 And finally, the machine neatly trims off the edges. 964 00:50:44,080 --> 00:50:46,160 State-of-the-art engineering 965 00:50:46,160 --> 00:50:49,240 so that we can squirt some cheese out of a tube. 966 00:50:50,720 --> 00:50:52,680 Yep! 967 00:50:57,080 --> 00:51:00,560 It's taken 45 minutes to fill my batch of tubes. 968 00:51:02,640 --> 00:51:04,760 Now they're weighed... 969 00:51:04,760 --> 00:51:06,480 and X-rayed to make sure 970 00:51:06,480 --> 00:51:08,800 there's nothing inside but our mix. 971 00:51:10,040 --> 00:51:12,400 Now what happens to our tubes of cheese? 972 00:51:12,400 --> 00:51:14,760 Now the tubes go into to the blast chiller. 973 00:51:14,760 --> 00:51:17,560 Ready for packing for the customers. Incredible. 974 00:51:20,240 --> 00:51:22,000 Squeezy cheese finished... 975 00:51:23,080 --> 00:51:25,040 ..what shall we spread it on? 976 00:51:28,560 --> 00:51:33,320 Surprisingly, the rather refined cheese cracker started life 977 00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:35,560 as this. 978 00:51:35,560 --> 00:51:37,320 The hard tack ship's biscuit. 979 00:51:37,320 --> 00:51:40,680 Made for sailors to eat on long sea voyages... 980 00:51:40,680 --> 00:51:42,760 ..they were thick and tough. 981 00:51:42,760 --> 00:51:44,960 That is rock hard. 982 00:51:44,960 --> 00:51:49,440 In 1831, a factory baking ship's biscuits was established 983 00:51:49,440 --> 00:51:53,120 here in Carlisle by Jonathan Dodgson Carr. 984 00:51:53,120 --> 00:51:56,800 Mr Carr went on to develop a thinner ship's biscuit that was much 985 00:51:56,800 --> 00:52:00,080 more delicate and fit for the captain's table, 986 00:52:00,080 --> 00:52:03,920 and advertised to be eaten with cheese. 987 00:52:05,160 --> 00:52:08,440 These table water biscuits were an instant hit 988 00:52:08,440 --> 00:52:10,480 and have been made here ever since. 989 00:52:10,480 --> 00:52:12,400 Hi, Tony. Lovely to meet you. 990 00:52:12,400 --> 00:52:13,960 Nice to meet you. 991 00:52:13,960 --> 00:52:16,160 So, what's happening right now? 992 00:52:16,160 --> 00:52:19,280 We're just about to set a mix off. Can I do the honours? 993 00:52:19,280 --> 00:52:22,120 Yes, just that button there. 994 00:52:22,120 --> 00:52:24,080 There she blows! 995 00:52:24,080 --> 00:52:27,040 Tony Kidd makes seven million crackers every day. 996 00:52:29,400 --> 00:52:32,160 It's a deceptively simple recipe. 997 00:52:32,160 --> 00:52:36,600 600 kilos of flour, mixed with 155 litres of water... 998 00:52:37,840 --> 00:52:40,000 ..plus a little oil and salt. 999 00:52:40,000 --> 00:52:41,680 Wow, look at that. 1000 00:52:41,680 --> 00:52:43,760 God, it is so crumbly. 1001 00:52:43,760 --> 00:52:45,600 The mix is sent downstairs, 1002 00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:49,040 where Tony's going to show me the secret of transforming it 1003 00:52:49,040 --> 00:52:50,880 into a crispy cracker. 1004 00:52:50,880 --> 00:52:53,200 It then goes through a set of rollers. 1005 00:52:54,240 --> 00:52:57,120 Oh, look how... Can I touch it? Yeah. Yeah. 1006 00:52:57,120 --> 00:52:59,760 So when it comes out of that set od rollers, that's about three 1007 00:52:59,760 --> 00:53:01,520 and a half centimetres. 1008 00:53:01,520 --> 00:53:04,680 I mean, it's like a paving stone, it's so heavy and dense. 1009 00:53:04,680 --> 00:53:08,080 Yeah. It's really, really bound together tightly. 1010 00:53:10,560 --> 00:53:14,520 This dense, heavy dough is thinned down through a series of rollers 1011 00:53:14,520 --> 00:53:17,120 to just four and a half millimetres. 1012 00:53:18,960 --> 00:53:21,640 So, what on Earth is going on here? 1013 00:53:21,640 --> 00:53:24,160 So it just goes through our lamination process. 1014 00:53:24,160 --> 00:53:25,960 What is a lamination process? 1015 00:53:25,960 --> 00:53:29,560 To me, lamination is when you put a plastic sheet over something. 1016 00:53:29,560 --> 00:53:31,880 Basically, lamination puts layers in it. 1017 00:53:31,880 --> 00:53:34,480 So, it's a layering process. 1018 00:53:34,480 --> 00:53:36,440 So, you've now got six sheets of dough. 1019 00:53:36,440 --> 00:53:38,120 Why have you done that? 1020 00:53:38,120 --> 00:53:40,720 We'll see further down the process. 1021 00:53:40,720 --> 00:53:44,560 The layers are flattened and re-rolled until the sheet 1022 00:53:44,560 --> 00:53:47,960 is just 1.5 millimetres thick. 1023 00:53:47,960 --> 00:53:50,080 Oh, here we go. Finally. 1024 00:53:50,080 --> 00:53:52,800 All right. We have our final sheet. 1025 00:53:52,800 --> 00:53:55,280 That is... It looks like material. 1026 00:53:55,280 --> 00:53:58,240 It's so thin, it looks like a kind of cotton sheet. 1027 00:53:58,240 --> 00:54:01,480 Yeah. Is it now ready to be cut out? It is. Yes. 1028 00:54:03,440 --> 00:54:06,000 The dough speeds under a cutting roller 1029 00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:08,200 which punches out more than 5,000 1030 00:54:08,200 --> 00:54:09,400 cracks a minute. 1031 00:54:09,400 --> 00:54:10,680 Oh, look! 1032 00:54:10,680 --> 00:54:11,960 Here we are. 1033 00:54:11,960 --> 00:54:14,160 Oh, these are amazing. 1034 00:54:14,160 --> 00:54:15,880 God, they're so thin. 1035 00:54:15,880 --> 00:54:17,360 Can I pick one up? Yeah. 1036 00:54:17,360 --> 00:54:20,200 It is quite a thin... It's incredibly thin. 1037 00:54:20,200 --> 00:54:23,000 I mean, look at that. That is paper thin, nearly. 1038 00:54:29,240 --> 00:54:33,360 The delicate discs head into a 150-foot oven, 1039 00:54:33,360 --> 00:54:37,280 heated to an intense 370 degrees Celsius, 1040 00:54:37,280 --> 00:54:41,680 emerging two and a half minutes later as hot, 1041 00:54:41,680 --> 00:54:43,800 crisp crackers. 1042 00:54:43,800 --> 00:54:47,600 Hooray! Look at these. Oh, my gosh. Here they are. 1043 00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:49,960 Can we take one off the line? Yeah. They're very warm. 1044 00:54:49,960 --> 00:54:52,600 You've got to move fast. Yeah. They are very warm. 1045 00:54:52,600 --> 00:54:54,600 Woohoo! 1046 00:54:54,600 --> 00:54:56,480 Can I try it? Yeah. 1047 00:54:56,480 --> 00:54:58,000 Mmm. 1048 00:54:58,000 --> 00:54:59,400 It's really flaky. 1049 00:54:59,400 --> 00:55:01,280 Is that because of that lamination process? 1050 00:55:01,280 --> 00:55:02,760 It is. Yeah. Yeah. 1051 00:55:02,760 --> 00:55:05,240 That's the six layers of flakiness that it gives you, 1052 00:55:05,240 --> 00:55:08,560 that lamination process. And that's where you get that lovely crunch. 1053 00:55:08,560 --> 00:55:10,280 Yeah - the bite. 1054 00:55:17,160 --> 00:55:20,880 Over 150 years of biscuit making tradition, 1055 00:55:20,880 --> 00:55:24,160 coming to a cheeseboard near you. 1056 00:55:24,160 --> 00:55:28,480 And to think it all started from a rock-hard ship's biscuit. 1057 00:55:40,040 --> 00:55:45,040 In Gateshead, my 5,400 tubes of jalapeno cheese 1058 00:55:45,040 --> 00:55:46,840 has arrived in packaging. 1059 00:55:50,440 --> 00:55:52,040 That's cold now. 1060 00:55:52,040 --> 00:55:54,360 Last time I touched it, it was red-hot. 1061 00:55:54,360 --> 00:55:57,120 Now it's really cold. Below five degrees. 1062 00:55:57,120 --> 00:56:00,520 The tubes have been blast-chilled at minus 15 degrees C. 1063 00:56:00,520 --> 00:56:03,080 Now they're cold, what happens to them? 1064 00:56:03,080 --> 00:56:06,880 So, now they get put into trays of 12. This is our robot. 1065 00:56:12,240 --> 00:56:14,800 I know it's weird, but it seems to me like the machine 1066 00:56:14,800 --> 00:56:17,640 is really pleased with itself. 1067 00:56:17,640 --> 00:56:20,160 It's lovely - it's stacking them up like soldiers 1068 00:56:20,160 --> 00:56:22,840 on parade there. It's fantastic. 1069 00:56:22,840 --> 00:56:27,360 We all need a machine like this to organise our homes, don't we? 1070 00:56:27,360 --> 00:56:30,000 That's how I would like my sock drawer. 1071 00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:31,040 So would I! 1072 00:56:32,120 --> 00:56:34,360 Mate, thank you so much. 1073 00:56:34,360 --> 00:56:36,240 Thank you. Thank you. 1074 00:56:42,680 --> 00:56:47,120 It's 11 hours and 56 minutes since production began with milk. 1075 00:56:48,120 --> 00:56:51,520 And now my tubes are being loaded 15 at a time 1076 00:56:51,520 --> 00:56:52,960 into 450 boxes. 1077 00:56:54,160 --> 00:56:58,200 They travel into a massive 800-square-metre chiller 1078 00:56:58,200 --> 00:57:01,760 and from there, orders are collected for distribution. 1079 00:57:01,760 --> 00:57:05,560 Today, managing director Paul Lewney 1080 00:57:05,560 --> 00:57:07,840 is sending them off to the shops. 1081 00:57:07,840 --> 00:57:11,000 Hi. Paul. Gregg. You're the big boss. 1082 00:57:11,000 --> 00:57:13,200 Cheese ready to go. Absolutely. 1083 00:57:13,200 --> 00:57:14,720 So, as accurately as you can, 1084 00:57:14,720 --> 00:57:18,200 how many actual tubes leave your factory every day? 1085 00:57:18,200 --> 00:57:22,320 Every day, Gregg, we'll ship about 115,000 tubes. 1086 00:57:22,320 --> 00:57:26,000 Seven days a week? Seven days a week across the whole country. 1087 00:57:26,000 --> 00:57:27,640 We can't be eating that many. 1088 00:57:27,640 --> 00:57:29,960 Trust me, you are. We can't be. 1089 00:57:29,960 --> 00:57:31,920 People are confusing it with toothpaste. 1090 00:57:31,920 --> 00:57:33,800 Absolutely not. 1091 00:57:36,520 --> 00:57:38,280 This is our last pallet, isn't it? 1092 00:57:38,280 --> 00:57:39,680 It looks like it's ready to go. 1093 00:57:39,680 --> 00:57:41,680 Shall we let him load? Yep. Take it away. 1094 00:57:44,920 --> 00:57:48,000 From here, it's distributed to supermarkets all over the UK. 1095 00:57:48,000 --> 00:57:53,400 It also has fans as far afield as Malta, Greece and Korea. 1096 00:57:59,840 --> 00:58:01,840 What a journey for a piece of cheese. 1097 00:58:01,840 --> 00:58:06,400 From a creamery in North Wales to a factory in Gateshead. 1098 00:58:06,400 --> 00:58:10,200 We started off with enormous blocks of cheddar that I had to cut in half 1099 00:58:10,200 --> 00:58:11,680 and then add Gouda. 1100 00:58:11,680 --> 00:58:14,720 Then a lot of other ingredients then cook it all up. 1101 00:58:14,720 --> 00:58:17,560 All so that it would fit inside a squeezy tube. 1102 00:58:17,560 --> 00:58:19,760 Amazing.