I’ve been working on a curd knife that would do both horizontal and vertical cuts in the same operation. I’ve got the design worked out, and its at the machine shop now. But just for kicks, I thought I’d try doing the horizontal cut before the vertical. I was thinking I might get a better, more uniform cut. Once the vertical cut is made, there is a lot of sloshing around doing the horizontal. So, I ran my one directional knife around once, then did the vertical cuts. The result was amazing. The difference in uniformity was quite noticeable, and the curd held up better during stirring.
BTW, I’ll post some pics when the new knife is finished.
No, it’s not that. I still haven’t received the prototype from the fabricators. Since it’s a fairly small job for them, it gets put off so they can do the big stuff. I haven’t forgotten.
OK, the long awaited, astonishingly simple, and maybe patentable curd knife is now ready. I got them (one 1/2” and one 3/4”) today and spent some time stringing the 3/4’ model.
It is used by putting it into the pot just after the rennet is added and stirred in. Once the curd reaches the clean break stage, the knife is rotated 1/2 turn, then pulled up and out of the curd mass. Of course there will be some curd that is not cut - along the wall of the pot and directly against the floor of the pot - but I’m estimating that 98% of it will be perfectly cut to dimension.
I’ll be trying it out for the first time on Tuesday, and I’ll give y’all a further report.
So I made Havarti this morning, and it requires a 1/2” cut. Overall I was quite pleased with the results. Generally it was a smooth even cut. A couple things to consider: First, with a really solid curd set, spinning the cutter rotates the entire mass. I used a series of quick micro turns to get it done. Then, when pulling the cutter up to do the vertical cuts, again, the curd mass wants to rise with it. I used a very slow pull to allow the curd to slice itself through the cutter. The very top of the mass, however, wanted to just lay on the filament. I had to giggle it up and down a bit for it to fall.
So, I’m happy with it, but I have to perfect the technique.
So, I’ve been using the new cutters (1/2” and 3/4”) for a month now, which means about 10 batches, and they are working out very well. I have found that a rapid upward pull works far better than the slow drawing I did initially. Not only is the curd cut more consistent, but the cutting process which used to take a couple minutes, now takes about 15 seconds. I highly recommend that serious cheese makers go with this tool. It will have to be custom made to fit the pot you use, and, frankly, it’s a bit pricey unless you are going to use it a lot. But for me, it’s definitely worth it.
