Rich,
I know that Manchego is one of your favortie cheeses to make but as yet I have not given it a try.
I just got through reading the recipe you posted in the recipe section of the forum and have decided to give this a go within the next couple of weeks.
Before I do this, are there any tricks or traps you’ve found to making a good cheese from this recipe?
The short aging time is appealing to me and honestly it’s a cheese that I’ve never tasted. Playing around with a new recipe and type of cheese sounds like a good way to start off the cheese making season.
As I said earlier, I plan on doing a Romano first (simply to re-sharpen my skills) and then I think I’ll give this a try.
After that I plan on a batch of Camembert, then a Stilton then possibly a stirred curd cheddar and finally I will re-visit my old nemesis the swiss.
I also plan on doing several traditional cheddars which I’ve also struggled with in the past. Traditional cheddar is such a fun cheese to make but also very challenging to do correctly.
I also plan to make my first attempt at a blue camembert this year(Cambozola?), since I feel that I’ve come about as close as I’ll ever get to turning out a perfect Camembert. I’ve heard that adding p. roq. adds a whole new aspect to a decent Camembert make so it sounds as if it’s a good challenge.
Man, just typing this all out has me itching to get started once again.
Winter sucks but I really do love making cheese.
So, if you (Rich) or anyone else can give me some advice concerning Manchego I’d love to hear it.

Dave

We just had our first snow dump here in South Alberta, about 6 inches. I can post a pic later.

Dave, sorry about the delay.  My computer went down and I’ve just now finally gotten back on line.

No, nothing special with Manchego - its a great, easy, straightforward recipe.  I’ve also experimented with using just Meso starter instead of half meso and half thermo (I called it a Mesochego), and its great too.  Really good with onion, chives, or smoke flavor.

So, have fun and bon apetit!

Okay, thanks for the information.
I’m going to try this within the next few weeks since most people rave about how good it is.
I’ll be sure to post my results once finished.

Dave

Rich

So the straight meso worked out well?  Any difference in texture or flavor?  I’m going to give it a try soon.  Thanks for the idea.

No change in texture.  Its still a slightly moist, firm cheese with a very solid appearance - no holes.  I’m opening another one this morning - this one hickory smoke flavor - to take to a Church dinner.  The taste is a bit milder without the thermo starter.  One of these days I’m going to have to try and leave one alone long enough to get a little age on it to see how the flavor develops.  But its hard to do when there’s only 40 lbs of cheese in the cave; most of them cheddars that have long age times.