Intermediate Cheesemaking: Beyond chevre

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My gouda needed to be scraped off the cloth with a sharp knife when I went to turn it in the mold after the first half hour of pressing. I used a fresh cloth, and put the cheese-encrusted one in a bowl to soak. I decided to press for a couple more hours and turn it again, and it was completely melded with the cloth AGAIN. So I used my last good cloth and rewrapped it, turned it, and put it back into the press. I decided to leave it a bit longer, and left it for another...um....14-15 hours! The cloth peeled off nicely and it is on the counter, in the brine. The two fetas that were in the brine are in a bowl in the fridge until they can have their brine back.

I must say, re-using the brine seems to be a very good thing. That brine is really starting to smell delicious....I could almost drink it! If it weren't so salty, that is. It really is finger-lickin' good, though, and I always lick the spoon when I turn a cheese in the brine. Mmmmm!

That brine cost me about $18 so far in Celtic salt, so I will re-use it indefinitely, straining it on occasion. Haven't strained it yet. Have added more brine, though.

I just can't emphasize enough how good it smells. This HAS to be imparting more flavor to my cheeses.

 

[Wildsky]

This is the cheese I posted on 7/14 (post #166 page 17) - its been aging a month now - in the fridge because I didn't have suitable arrangments to age it at 50 degrees. I figured it might just take longer at a colder temp - its coming along really well.

Sadly one edge got a little dried out - I'm hoping it won't mess up the entire cheese. I turned it, and poked holes in it and covered it again - I put a half papertowel soaked in water in with it.

It smells DELIGHTFUL - not very strong, I have to put my nose right up there - but it smells like - CHEESE

Its kinda fluffy looking with the mold.

 

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Yummy looking!!!

My Gouda is not good-a and the pigs may get it.... I think it was just too hot and humid...shoulda made mozzarella instead. The top and bottom got soft and smelly and I sliced it off, salted it, and tried to dry it some more. It does not smell good. The pigs loved the slices I took off, though. I'm going to cut out the middle and see if that smells ok, then just eat it without aging. My second real failure in two seasons of cheesemaking....I am disappointed, but trying to keep it in perspective. I think this comes under the heading of not crying over spilt milk, huh?

 

[Wildsky]

Yummy looking!!!

My Gouda is not good-a and the pigs may get it.... I think it was just too hot and humid...shoulda made mozzarella instead. The top and bottom got soft and smelly and I sliced it off, salted it, and tried to dry it some more. It does not smell good. The pigs loved the slices I took off, though. I'm going to cut out the middle and see if that smells ok, then just eat it without aging. My second real failure in two seasons of cheesemaking....I am disappointed, but trying to keep it in perspective. I think this comes under the heading of not crying over spilt milk, huh?

Bummer!!!!

We have a fridge in our garage, I should really get hubby to put it in the basement and use that for cheese aging..

Its really hard to keep the humidity right, I should have checked mine a week or so ago - but I just left it there and didn't think about it. I don't think drying out is too bad, the rest will probably be ok.

 

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My Gouda was quite good-a after a good trimming, which made the pigs happy as well. It is all gone now. It was quite mild, since I didn't let it finish ripening as I did not want to lose it. I ate it in hunks for lunches and snacks. Usually with peach pie. I will try the recipe again when I am sure our heat wave is really over.

Today I made the cheddar recipe in the 200 Recipes book....the long version. Boy, was it long, too! I only had three gallons of goat's milk today, so I asked dh to pick up one gallon of cow's milk (just barely pastuerized and not homogenized) from a local dairy. Can't easily get raw milk, but I wanted to try it with a percentage of cow's milk to improve the texture. I will let you know in about six months!

We tried the fresh curds, and they were quite good. The cheese is in the press now, where it will remain overnight.

 

[Wildsky]

Good luck with that cheddar, I haven't tried it again... it was super long and drawn out and mine flopped.

Lemme know when its ready and I'll be over for tea!

 

[Henrietta23]

I am so sick of mozzarella. I have got to try something more advanced.

 

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I think mozzarella is the most difficult cheese to get right. Most everything else I've made has been FAR easier. Cheddar has a lot of steps and I set the stove timer a bazillion times, but the steps are easy. I put on the tv when doing the 40 minutes of stirring and raising the temp (cooking) and I didn't use the stove for this. I put the pot in the sink and added tap water, adding more every five minutes to get the 2 degrees per five minutes required. I occasionally would drain the sink and start over as the water cooled. It would be different if it were still 95-105 F in my kitchen, then I would be adding cool tapwater to the sink to get the temp down.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

hey Free!

wow did i need to ask you about MY bad gouda... so... i got to the step of letting mine dry for a couple days. i thought i was being clever and i put it in an unused oven to dry - and it TOTALLY molded! and it smells bad.. should i just dump it????

my next (and slightly larger one) is now sitting on the counter. we dont have a hot day so i'm hoping it will be ok.

thoughts about what went wrong? needed more air?

boo

are you over gouda for now?? back to cheddar?

hum....

 

[Henrietta23]

I think mozzarella is the most difficult cheese to get right. Most everything else I've made has been FAR easier. Cheddar has a lot of steps and I set the stove timer a bazillion times, but the steps are easy. I put on the tv when doing the 40 minutes of stirring and raising the temp (cooking) and I didn't use the stove for this. I put the pot in the sink and added tap water, adding more every five minutes to get the 2 degrees per five minutes required. I occasionally would drain the sink and start over as the water cooled. It would be different if it were still 95-105 F in my kitchen, then I would be adding cool tapwater to the sink to get the temp down.

Maybe, because I'm using the "easy" New England Cheese Co. kit to do it, it's not that great? I've had a couple of yummy batches. The last two where just blah. Oh well, It will cool down for a long period of time eventually and I will feel motivated to try something new!