Well guys, here’s a pic of the stirred curd cheddar I did yesterday.
I feel as if I hit my Ph marks pretty well on this one and after taking it out of the press I’m happy with it.
After giving it a lot of thought I doubt that I age this one long at all…..probably only a couple of weeks.
My reason for doing this is because I am trying to perfect a process and there’s no sense in making more of this variety, (using the same recipe) unless I know that my recipe is correct.
If I am happy with what I find I will continue aging the rest of the cheese for several months, taking samples at 3, 6 & 9 months to see how it ages.
I will probably be doing a lot of the early cuttings on many of my cheeses this year.
Last year I was not happy with many of my cheeses after aging and of course I had several of each variety that were pretty much all the same.
This year is devoted to refining things and keeping what works and getting rid of what doesn’t. This process worked well on my Camemberts so I’m going to apply that reasoning to the rest of my cheeses as well.
Honestly the only varieties of cheese that I’ve been happy with are my Camemberts, Stiltons, Goudas and Swiss (happy with the taste and texture of swiss but not with eye formation).
I’ve decided that it’s time to rethink all of my recipes and make adjustments as needed. The first variety that I’m trying this with is cheddar so here’s my results so far.

Dave

Oh, and before anyone else has the chance to say it…..
I hate the bumps too, but they do seem to go away with age.
No matter what I do, I cannot get rid of the bumps when it first comes out of the press.

Dave

I thingk it looks great! need more practice with your camera

i think the bumps add character.

great

Dave, the cheddar looks pretty good, albeit a wee bit pale for my personal preference.  I usually use a lot of color in cheddar.  I just opened a stirred curd cheddar last week that had aged for 5 months and it was superlative.  A great, sharp taste that everyone raved about.  The 4 lb. wheel did not last long.

Hey Rich, great to hear from you again.
On this batch I tried cutting the amount of annatto I used in half, just to see how it turned out. Unfortunately it is a lot more pale than I really like so I guess I’ll go back to my usual dosage of 1/8 tsp. per 4 gallon.
I would love to age this cheese for a longer period but I simply don’t want to make more unless I know that I have the right recipe. In fact I’ll probably be cutting several of my cheeses early this year just to make sure things are right.
I plan on sampling a wedge of this within the next few days to a week and then vacuum bagging the rest if things appear to be good. Then I will take samples at different periods of aging to see what it’s like.
I’ve also decided that I’m going to limit the types of cheeses that I make this year to just a few varieties and refine the process. Of course that’s just the plan at this point and once the real bug hits, who’s to say.
One thing that I can say for sure…....My passion for this hobby hasn’t changed a bit since last season. I really do enjoy this.

Dave