Hi I just started making cheeses a couple of months ago. I started out with making mozzeralla and never thought I would progress beyond that, but of couse cheese making can be kind of addicting. It’s like a challenge. And then there is the anticipation of waiting months to see if indeed you have succeeded or of course failed. My confusion lies in the mold or not to mold question. Is mold good or bad / I know cheese basicly is mold but I am finding posts about bad mold and mold on cheddar etc. I have made farm cheddar, stir-curd cheddar and monterey jack, feta and recently swiss cheese. I have been waxing but when I made my stir-curd cheddar she said wax or not so I didn’t. About 2 weeks in the cave I noticed some dark green to light green mold growing only on the bottom of the cheese. I panicked and read all I could on what was going on. I washed it well with brine removing all of the mold. Let it dry and then waxed it. Is mold on cheddar a bad thing ? From what I read it seems to be. I have been keeping a blog on my exploits at mozzarellacheese101.blogspot.com even shows my cheese press that I made. It came out great and only cost me 20 bucks or so. I use play sand ( cheap ) in a large stock pot for the weight up to 50lbs. Easy to adjust by adding a gallon of sand for every 10lbs of weight needed. The book I have been using is by Ricki Carroll. Great book but as any cheese recipe you must use what works for you since milks types and weather temps do affect the outcome. I have been ordering most of my cultures and supplies through her website. I am sure that most of you who have been making cheese for awhile have been to cheesemaking .com Well just wanted to introduce myself to this cheese making community. Thanx for listening.. Below is a picture of my new blue. at 4 weeks
Unless your making Blue/Brie cheese, treat it as suspicious. Wash with vinegar and scrub it clean, wash again then wipe it with fine salt, push the salt in the surface like sandpapering it so u have a nice concentration on the skin.
This is a inoculated cheese using a root of danish. The finish is nice and dry so I think it will be just fine…..The excess moisture is finally gone such a pretty color…....
Your picture looks great ! Sometimes water beads form on the surface, this is sometimes from the heat generated by the process as the cheese changes, so storage temp is important. If it ages too fast it can produce off flavors. Salt does not hurt the cheese cultures, bad bacteria however does not like salt so salting is your best freind on the surface of the cheese. Practice will tell u how much since the type of salt makes a difference.
I had the cheese wrapped in linen for the first several weeks and turned it daily. I also changed the linen whenever I saw excess moisture. Now the moisture is gone I have it unwrapped in my cheese cave. 50 degrees at 70% humidity. I was afraid that I was not going to get enough veining so I sterilized a skewer and made more holes and made sure the original holes were cleared from bloom. I figure about 3 weeks I’ll cut into it…I am so excited…This cheese thing is a blast but the waiting is killing me. I have a farm cheddar that will be at 4 weeks next sunday so going to taste test it and if it’s not sharp enough rewax and back in the cave for 4 more weeks.
When using Rikki Carrol’s book you must know that her pressing weights are for a 4” mold. I didn’t know that, used a 5 1/2” mold, curds didn’t knit, lessons we learn the hard way. I like the book, it has some good instructions in it. I also like the 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipe book. It has more instructions for things that I had to learn the hard way. It also has a lot of recipes that I was searching the internet for and couldn’t find.
I found that none of my cheeses were ready when they were supposed to be. Mine are aging a little slower, and the cave is 53 degrees.
I like Ricki’s book but it does have some shortcomings. Not always mentioning that for store bought milk you have to use calcium chloride and in the beginning of cheesemaking I was trying so hard to make sure I followed the recipes exact I would forget the calcium. Now it is in my brain for life, cheese failures will do that to a person. Other recipes in the book are not quite right for me so I have searched elsewhere and used a combined knowledge from other sources and my experiences. I might buy the 200 cheese recipe book, I like not learning from bad experiences if I can help it. All my cheeses look really good and I can’t wait to crack the farm cheddar next Sunday. See what 6 week does for sharpness. I can always rewax and put it back in the cave for another 4-6 weeks. 3 weeks my danish blue should be ready for a taste…...Yumm What a fun hobby..
I had the same thing with the calcium chloride. The 200 recipes books states calcium chloride in the recipes. I found a local milk that is not over pasteurized and works good. I also found raw milk for $7 a gallon, but I’m not doing that quite yet. I am practicing with regular milk. I made a Swiss cheese that was really good, we ate it last week. We ate it at the point where I was supposed to put it back in the cave for 3 months, and it was delicious.
My stirred curd cheddar that is 7 weeks old is very mild. I made it with Rikki’s recipe and it calls for 2 tablespoons of salt for 2 gallons of milk, and it is too salty for me. I don’t think that the salt flavor should be so prominent. That may be why it is so mild, the salt is doing something to the aging. I will use 1 tablespoon next time.
I’m not real sure about my pepper jack. I can’t tell if it has a sour flavor because I vacuum sealed it instead of waxing, or if it’s just not ready yet. Pepper Jack made and pressed by Rikki’s recipe is really moist. I’m thinking about pressing it a little more next time to cut down on the moisture. I vacuum sealed it and then had to open the bag and dry out the cheese because it filled up with whey.
The 200 recipe book has different recipes for the same cheeses in Rikki’s book. The traditional cheddar is the only one that I have tried, and I screwed it up by using half as much culture as I needed, and then forgetting the salt. Some days you should not make cheese, no matter how bad you want to.
I think it takes 6 months for a cheddar to get a flavor sharp enough to really taste. I would call mine extra mild at this point, and I would rather have medium. I rewaxed it and put it back in the cave to wait.
I haven’t tried blue cheese yet. I made some camembert that spoiled and stunk up the house, but I haven’t tried the blue. I’m thinking gouda.
If your not phobic of furry cheese definitly try blue. It is amazing to watch it mature and grow. I took out my blue tonight at about 5 weeks very blue, and I showed it to my wife and said what would you do if you found this on the street. She said I would throw it out. Well hair on food scares most people but cheese makers <grin > I ordered 200 recipes cheese book tonight. Cost me 23.00 including shipping. I hope it is worth the price, but hey I found several people on this site who think is is good so, hey I’ll bite…..
I’ve been enjoying your conversation. Unfortunately, my cheese fridge has died, ruining several nice cheeses. I’m at an impass until I replace it. I did want to mention that 2 T salt for a 4 gal batch works quite well for me; so I think you’re right about backing off on the salt.
You can still talk cheese, even if you can’t make cheese for awhile. The talking helps to pass the time between cheeses, so you’ll have more time to talk for awhile.
Oh yeah, I am going to try blue cheese. The store here where I buy my cheese cultures has ordered the cultures for blue cheese. The sell stuff to make beer, wine and cheese. I live close to Atlanta Georgia and I know of two places that sell cheese supplies. I have ordered many things from Rickki’s site and another site called CheeseMaker.com, but I had rather buy stuff local and support the local business man, if he has what I want to buy.
I’m still thinking gouda might be the next thing I make. I love a smoked gouda.
I seem to be hooked on feta. It is so easy to make and very eatable in 2 days. I have been making it at least 1 time a week. Tonight I decided to make a double batch. I actually mailed 1 batch to my sister in oregon 400 miles away, but since it can age at room temp for 5-7 days it is easy to ship without ice. I figured out that hanging it to allow the excess whey out is an absoulte waste of time. I press mine in a mold with only about 10lbs overnight. In the morning I plop it out of the mold and slice it about 1/2 inch slioces then I salt both sides with kosher salt put it in a pyrex pan cover with a towel and let drain for 1 day pouring off whey as if acummulates. You can let it sit out until it is as dry as you prefer. For me 2 days is plenty. AWESOME STUFF…......I’m working on a swiss right now. I just took it out of the cave and wil have it at room temp for 3 weeks for the holes to form ( if I get nay holes ) < grin > here are some pics of my feta and my swiss…..
When one first stars out its hard not to take a recipe word for word, since one does not have experience. I found best to have at least 3 sources of recipes and then compare them and average them out. Once u learn the basics then u can have more confidence in what to expect.
Well I made my double batch of feta and it turned out Wonderful. And if u like feta it requires no cheese cave to make it. Here are some pics of my newest creation…..
