I was reading the British Cheese Board file on salt and cheese and it seems to suggest that salt is an essential part of the cheese-making process.

I have been avoiding any foods with added salt for over a year in an attempt to help lower my blood pressure, which has been successful.  Some soft cheeses like mascarpone and ricotta cheese traditionally have no salt added, although you have to check the label carefully.  I have made cottage cheese from sour milk without salt and this works very well.  However, I also like hard cheese but was unable to find a single example of this in the shops without added salt.  So I decided to try and make it myself.

I can report that the texture and appearance of the cheese is just as normal and there have been no problems at all in production process.  Of course the flavor is milder and subtler and you need to adjust to that, a bit like tea or coffee with no sugar at first.  I have made the cheese from sour milk which gives it a pleasant acidic tangy flavor, something like Caerphilly.  I also incubate the sour milk with yogurt starter before draining the curds and pressing which improves the tanginess further.  Unlike some contributors who may try to avoid acidity in cheese, it is very necessary for flavor once you take out the salt.  Sure the cheese tends to be a little crumbly, but addition of the yogurt to the incubation ameliorates that.  There is no need to use rennet because the curds naturally separate from the whey.  Of course the cheese is not salt-free because milk naturally contains about 50mg of sodium per 100ml.  The point is that there is no salt added in the processing.

Therefore I can report that hard cheese without any added salt is perfectly simple to make and appears to keep well and mature normally.  When making small cheeses for personal consumption (like I do), and if the cheese is to be matured, it is advisable to wax the cheese to prevent thickening of the rind and any moulds from forming on the outside.  It also tastes good eaten fresh and unwaxed within a few weeks.

I hope one day it will appear in the shops.  I’m sure there would be a big demand for it.

Any thoughts?

Best regards,

Chris Aylmer

Not using salt I thingk is a bit like Russian roulette, If it works for u great. Dealing with milk u have to be very clean since it is prone to bacteria, especial wild bacteria. As u mentioned, the taste is milder, salt also brings out the taste.
As for your blood pressure, u might look at other things u are eating, like white sugar/flour intake (ive dealt with health problems most of my life).

I’ll echo Neil’s comment:  if it works for you that’s great.  I’m wondering how long you keep a cheese before it is totally consumed?  It would seem that another effect of salt is as a preservative; and long term cheeses may be adversely affected without its addition.  This is, however, just speculation since I’ve not made any salt free cheese.  Do you have any experience along these lines?

Thanks for your comments Neil and Rich. 

In answer to Neil, I don’t eat any foods with added sugar at all now and I only use whole grain flour for bread and pasta.  Dried fruit in moderation and occasionally a little honey to sweeten tart fruits from my garden are OK.  So I am on a whole grain/no added salt/no added sugar diet!  It certainly makes you cook from scratch and avoid all processed foods. I have not had any problems with bacteria so far or any upset stomachs from the sour milk cheese.

Rich…..I keep the cheese for two to three weeks at most if it is not waxed.  Otherwise, being a small sized cheese, it forms too deep a rind.  I am experimenting with aging the waxed cheese.  I don’t think it will deteriorate once waxed.  Some mold does sometimes form on the surface of the fresh cheese but it doesn’t bother me too much.  That seems to be a general observation in salted cheese too….presumably the temperature, humidity and ventilation need to be strictly controlled to avoid that.

It might help if I give a little more detail.
As regards bacteria, of course I rely on natural lactobacilli in the milk to perform the souring process.  I normally start with a six-imperial pint plastic bottle of pasteurized whole milk(120 fl oz = 7.5 US Pints?) and take off the seal under the cap so that I can release any build-up of pressure if necessary by loosening the cap.  You don’t want an exploded bottle of sour milk in the kitchen!  I leave the milk at room temperature on the kitchen window sill until it separates into curds and whey…this may take from a few days to a few weeks depending on temperature.  I could regulate the temperature but have not found it necessary.  I am not in a hurry.  I prefer to allow it to happen naturally.  Normally, there is no gas produced and no fizziness which I think may be a good sign.
I then pour the sour milk into a bowl and incubate it with half a cup of natural yogurt for a few hours at around 40 deg C or 100 deg F in the oven(dial setting checked with thermometer).  This firms the curds into a cap floating on the surface.  Then the curds are drained of whey through a strainer.  Incidentally, I don’t waste the whey but bring it to the boil, leave it to cool, strain it and make ricotta cheese with it.
I “mill” the drained curds for the hard cheese and spoon it into a plastic 3.5 inch mold lined with muslin stockinette material.  There is always some excess milled curds which I add a little yogurt to and eat fresh as cottage cheese.  I close the muslin over the top of the curds and then set it up in my homemade press with 27 lb pressure for a day or two.
This process yields a round-shaped cheese of about 8 oz.  I unwrap the muslin and reclothe the cheese with new muslin and leave at room temperature for a few days to form a rind.

After that I can eat the cheese fresh over a couple of weeks or wax it for keeping.  I always keep it in a muslin wrap to allow breathing and discourage mold formation.  The cheese has a tart tangy flavor from the acidity and is a fairly crumbly style of cheese.  There are some well known and respected acid cheeses similarly crumbly in the UK like Caerphilly and Cheshire cheese.

If eaten fresh within a few weeks there are seldom problems of mold.  I don’t bother too much if some mold forms on the rind..it can add to the flavor!  I have waxed a cheese to see how it develops over a longer period and will report in due course.  So far I have eaten the cheese fresh.  It certainly needs waxing if kept for a month or more because the rind penetrates too deeply in such a small cheese.

Thanks for your interest.

Chris.

U could look at adding Bloomed culture in u like Brie etc, the fur will give it protection.

I make everything from scratch myself including Ketchup etc lol. “Food” is no longer food nowadays and its scary if u know what they do to it or how dirty it realy is.

Yes, I did make some brie or camembert-style cheese over 20 years ago.  I used a little of the shop-bought cheese blended with milk as a starter culture.  I stored it in the wine shop cellar I worked in at the time.  Unfortunately it decided to grow a black mold amongst the white, but I cut that out and still ate most of it.  I hate to waste things!

I make tomato ketchup too….Its so simple.  I just add home-made herb and garlic vinegar to tomato puree plus some pepper and spice and stir well (no added salt in anything of course!).  It goes fine with french fries.

I tried one of my cheeses which had been waxed and matured for a month….what a difference!  Very full flavoured and a melting texture rather than the crumbly texture it has when fresh.  I shall certainly be maturing some more in future.  Only thing I should have done was use a colored wax.  It would be easier to make sure there is none left on the cheese.  My brother’s wife gave me some food grade paraffin wax which is white when set, like a candle.

This is the first cheese I’ve ever matured in wax.  I know many of you are seasoned hands at maturing cheese.  After 6 months it might be pretty powerful stuff!

Chris.

The paraffin wax is prone to cracking and subjecting the cheese to bacteria. The cheese was is pliable and worth investing in.
Aging does make a huge difference.

Then too, if you happen to have a vacuum sealer in your kitchen, it does a great job without the mess of waxing.