Guys…
Not sure if I mentioned it or not but about three weeks ago I attempted my pepper “Swiss” cheese.
What I did was to use my swiss recipe for the curd, with the omition of the proprionic shermanii additive.
Well tonight I was a little bit bored and decided to cut into this wheel and I have to say that this will be a cheese that I’ll be making a LOT in the future.
The texture is MUCH like a commercial pepper jack and the flavor is pretty much right on as well ( more firm but very moist and very nice). It does NOT have the crumbly texture that I’ve seen with every other attempt at a pepper jack style of cheese.
As I said, this cheese is going to see a lot of action from here on out and since it’s pretty much my own recipe…...
Well I’ve decided to name it: Alpine Pepper Cheese.
If anyone would like to give this a try, I posted my swiss recipe in the recipe section of the forum.
The only thing I did differently was to omit the propronic shermanii bacteria and add both green “pickled” jalepenos and red pickled bell peppers.
I did boil the peppers in vinegar for about 10 minutes and gave them plenty of time to dry out.
The addition of the peppers was done while loading the mold,alternating between layers of curd and layers of peppers.
Rich suggested mixing the peppers into the curd, but I was going for a nice sealed rind with none of the peppers exposed.
Since I still have peppers exposed, I will probably give his suggestion a try on the next batch.
Also, I think I’ll double the amount of peppers that I put in the next attempt since they are somewhat sparse in this one.
All in all,I’m absolutely thrilled with this cheese and can’t wait to get another one going.
I’m serious guys.
I’ve only had a small slice (trying to get rid of the winter fat) but this cheese is one of the best I’ve made, hands down.
I’d love for you all to give it a try and let me know what you think.
Dave