Hi guys…..
For the past month or so I’ve been trying to perfect a Gouda recipe, that would turn out the type of cheese that I want my own Goudas to be.
This is my own recipe that is a mixture of several different pieces of information I’ve gathered from the internet.
One thing that I found while making this recipe is that each recipe differs from one another and that in some cases they differ drastically. I’ve tried all of them individually and was never completely happy with the results.
This particular Gouda was made on 12-18-2009 and it is by far the best example of this cheese that I’ve made to date.
I did make one batch previous to this one but it….well, quite literally sucked mostly due to the fact that I wasn’t paying attention and used MA starter culture instead of MM100 (HUGE MISTAKE).
Anyway, this batch did turn out as planned.
The cheese is nice and soft, nice and pliable and has just a hint of sharpness at two weeks old. Of course the flavor hasn’t developed just yet, but the Gouda flavor is definitely there. I’m looking forward to seeing how this one progresses over the next couple of months.
Just as it seems to be with every cheese, Ph is the key to this one.
All of my previous batches had a somewhat crumbly texture and a sharpness (that bordered on bitter) right out of the mold.
Since I am focusing on hitting my Ph markers, I feel that I am finally getting a handle on this variety of cheese, as well as a few others. This makes me happy.
Anyway, here are a couple of pics of the sample wedge I sliced out of a 4.5 lb. wheel. I can’t wait to see what this one will become with another month or two of aging.

Dave

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I really don’t know if the holes are mechanical openings or if they are the “eyes” that are supposed to be in a Gouda. I do know that they are not perfectly round, (as I would expect proper eyes to be), but I’ve also seen these same types of openings in some of my swiss cheeses. At this point I’m not worried about getting the perfect eyes in this cheese. My main goal was to get taste and texture right and on those two points I feel I’ve accomplished these goals.

Dave

Looks good, great to hear your success. I thingk eyes make for good “eye candy” and texture.

That’s a good looking cheese, Dave.  I’ve had a lot of trouble with Gouda as well; so I’m hoping to learn from your experimentation.

Thanks guys. I’m still nibbling on the cut section of this wheel and I am really happy with how this one turned out.
I’ll put the recipe in the recipe section when I have a little more time. It is pretty much Ph specific so I’m afraid it will really only benefit those that use a meter.
I plan on making quite a bit more of this over the next month or so. As I said in an earlier post I’m limiting my cheese making to only a few varieties this year.

Dave