Late, late, late! Have I left it too late to make a hard cheese in time for Christmas? Anyone got a decent ‘fast’ cheese that will be OK in, what, 5 weeks from now?

Nope, not too late yet.  A Manchego would be ready in as little as one week.  And Dave says his Gouda is ready in two weeks.

A 5 week old Brie would not be too shabby, just put lots of culture in it. 

Good ideas ... I’ve never tried making brie, but I have a suspicion the cultures would take longer than 5 weeks to get here in the post ;o) Gouda and manchego are favourites though ... I’ll look for instructions in the recipe section. Thanks guys!

EldonBlue….

I’ve re-thought my Gouda aging period and now consider it to be a cheese that requires a minimum of 2 months before opening.
I will say that it is edible at the one month mark but it is so much better the longer it ages.
At 6 months it is without a doubt the best cheese I’ve tasted and I plan on letting at least one batch go to 12 months just to see how it turns out. Sorry for the confusion of previous posts but they were made before working on my own recipe and finding the Ph markers that work.
Now that I seem to have a handle on the ph of this cheese I’ve found that Gouda does not come into it’s own without a certain amount of aging time. Before I simply went by the “sharpness” of the cheese which was due to excessive acid buildup.
Now that I am concerned with sharpness, flavor and texture I cannot recommend this variety of cheese without proper aging.
On a side note, this past weekend I made a “white” Gouda with added peppers.
I figure the texture is really nice on this type of cheese so it should be a nice alternative to a pepper jack (which I have NOT been able to make properly).
I would take Rich’s advice and give the Manchego a try. I’ve also read that it is ready in a short amount of time.

Dave

As a further follow-up, let me mention that I opened my first “Dave’s recipe” Gouda last night.  It was right about a month old and it was fantastic.  I can’t imagine how good it would be if I let it age to 6 months, and I doubt my wife will let this one go more than a few days before its devoured.  If I get some time off work in the next few weeks, I hope to make several of them so I will be able to set some back for longer aging.

U dont need to order it, go to a store and buy a good one and cut off the furr and use that in the batch.

@ Neil ... so that’s what they mean by shaved cheese ... 

LOL, mixing the rind in the milk will give u more then u need, its how I started

OK, I’m going manchego (sans smoke). Everything went swimmingly until I took the cheese from the press following the last 6 hours @ 30lb pressing ... big chunks came away from the edges with the cheesecloth ... why would that happen? I didn’t wet the cheesecloth before I ladeled in the curds ...

Disaster ... or maybe not. The pressed cheese was placed into brine; (recommended 6 hours at 45F) ... I put it in at 4 pm intending to remove it at 10 pm, but forgot until I woke at 2 am! So I got up and removed it after 10 hours brining. Oh yeah, it’s salty. It broke in half as I took it out. And it’s really crumbly. So, what I have is a wonderful feta,  but I have wrapped the better-looking half and will mature it for a month. I don’t expect it to change much though. The rest is in plastic containers with olive oil awaiting a marriage with black olives, cucumbers, tomatoes and dill. 

Sounds like too much acid :(

Thanks, Neil ... caused by? cured by?

Too long standing before draining. No cure, just learn for next time.