Most time rewarding cheeses are

1- Aged cloth wrapped cheddar cheeses.
2- Swiss type cheeses (Gruyere).

those cheeses are the most rewarding when it comes to aging.

All other cheeses are different classification (all fresh and washed curd chesses (Gouda….)) which aged from week to few months)

I see where your personal preferences lie.  It would seem to me that ANY cheese is rewarding - because of the effort put into its making.  But the MOST rewarding ones would be the ones you have experimented with and achieved a desired result.  By the way, Nabil, what do you have against waxed cheeses?  Or mold ripened cheeses??  Are they not as challenging?

Green Cheese Maker - 25 August 2008 08:48 AM

I see where your personal preferences lie.  It would seem to me that ANY cheese is rewarding - because of the effort put into its making.  But the MOST rewarding ones would be the ones you have experimented with and achieved a desired result.  By the way, Nabil, what do you have against waxed cheeses?  Or mold ripened cheeses??  Are they not as challenging?

Thank you for your nice comment; when i was thinking of all cheeses: i taste, i made, i studied, i thought about it’s process for last two years, i came up with this conclusion, of course it could be related to personal preferences (even i have never made them) but this is my idea about those group of cheeses, it is related to its history and the real purpose of doing this cheeses (saving lot of summer milk for the winter) imagine there was no way to save the milk (in form of cheese) for the next year? this will make us to throw away everyday milk (i am talking if i was a mountain farmer in alps), or to make a fresh or short term aging cheeses.

i have nothing against cheese wax, i use only cheese wax, but make sure that will never get same results as unwaxed cheeses, the cheese needs to breath, but as homemakers our wheel is small to keep up with drying out (think rind). i aged my cheddar for 9 months in wax, and when i cut it, the small was not nice, i let it to breath, and the cheese smell became fantastic, even some times when u buy commercial cheeses, they write, open, wait for 15 mins then consume to get the best flavor and smell.

Mold ripened cheeses are my favorites and challenging, but it can not last and aged for years….

cheers

I find the more work went into the cheese the more rewarding it is, however i find any successful cheese is a moment of happiness and rejoice.
As for waxing, I use it so it does not dry out , thats the problem with making small batches, youl end up with a hockey puck unless u have a good “cave” to keep the moisture. Wheels of 50lbs or more develop a rind that protects the inner cheese, dont thingk any of us can do that big a wheel.

I totally agree, rewarding to me is producing a tasty cheese that I have made myself, regardless of the type.  It is even more rewarding when my family members think that it is good as well.  My daughter loves my feta’s and farmhouse cheddar.  My wife like them all.  Making 3 gallon batches only produces a small wheel so they need to be waxed to keep from drying out.

i think that i could not express what i want to say, because your answers went off the main idea