Joseph Harding

Joseph Harding (born Sturton Farm, Wanstrow, Somerset, England on the 22 March 1805 and died Vale Court Farm, Marksbury, Somerset 1 May 1876) was responsible for the introduction of modern cheese making techniques and has been described as the "father of Cheddar Cheese".

A number of websites describe him as the inventor of the Cheese Mill. The cheese mill is different from the cheese press, which has been used traditionally for centuries.

Background

Joseph Harding was the second son of Joseph Harding 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 .

Technical Innovations in the production of Cheese

Joseph Harding is attributed with "an easy way of draining the curds of as much of their moisture as possible. This resulted in a semi-hard, close-textured, non-crumbly cheese, the style universally associated with Cheddar. Harding, born into a cheesemaking family in 1805, was more than any other individual responsible for the international spread of Cheddar as a popular cheese, helping to introduce Cheddar-making into Scotland, and also training American cheesemakers on their visits to Somerset."

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'

Globalization of a very English Cheese

Harding visited Scotland and was 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.

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.

As a result of Harding's willingness to share his knowledge with foreign cheesemakers, later makers of cheddar from the West of England faced severe competition, in particular from intensive production in north America.

Educational Ideas

Harding was a strong believer in the promotion of education and proposed the establishment of a Dairy College in the West of England which was realised in the form of the Somerset Agriculture College.

Publications

Recent Improvements in Dairy Practice, Royal Agricultural Society of England Journal (1860)

Cheese making in Small Dairies, Bath and West and Southern Counties Journal (1868)

Further reading

Harding: Two Notable Brothers by E. Harding. Published privately (1963).