INTERMISSION, Part Four: Waxing the Cheese

Well, here's cheese #2, the "Stirred-Curd Cheddar," out of the mold. I stayed up until 2:00 am on Saturday night / Sunday morning to take care of that. It looks superb, an even better looking cheese wheel than the first.

I can't wait to try them both.

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Below: photos of waxing the Farmhouse Cheddar on Sunday night. There must be some trick to waxing the cheese that I haven't gotten the hang of because it was really tough to not have it just be a big mass of lumpy wax. I tried dipping, but the cheese slipped out of my hand and splashed wax, which is no good. In the end it was a combination of dipping and brushing. It's kind of funny looking but should seal it nicely for the aging.


So, into the micro-fridge they go, set at the highest setting and with a container of water to help the humidity. My hygrometer clocks in at 45 degrees and a humidity of 82%.

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I waxed the Stirred-Curd Cheddar tonight (no pics, since it looked exactly the same), so they're both in now and aging.

Check back in 60 days, when I'll be cutting into them both.

INTERMISSION, Part Three: Stirred-Curd Cheddar

Last night I made a second cheddar, inspired by what I hope will be the success of the first. I started when I got home from work and was up until 2:30 a.m. working on it. This is a different type of cheddar, referred to in the book as "Stirred-Curd Cheddar," as opposed to the Farmhouse that I made a few days ago.

The process was a bit different, and lengthier. Most of the difference came in after the curds had been cut, heated to 100 degrees, and drained. In Farmhouse I had to hang them up in cheesecloth at that point for an hour. For this Stirred-Curd cheddar, after having the whey drained off the curds are returned to a pot and maintained at 100 degrees for an hour.

Also, just a physical difference, for this recipe the curd gets cut into 1/4" cubes rather than 1/2" as in the previous batch, so the curds are finer. That first shot above is of the curds being loaded into the press.

There's the cheese starting to take shape, after the first 10 minute press.

Here's after the second ten-minute press, with increased pressure.

Then ... a two hour press at even higher pressure after which I snapped the photo above. Looks pretty darn good.

Currently this cheese is in the press at an even higher pressure, which will be sustained for 24 hours. That means I've got to set an alarm for 2:00 a.m. to get up and unmold the cheese.

Oh, one other noteworthy bit: I intended to use 2 gallons of Mapleline milk again, but the grocery only had two half gallons, one in glass and one in plastic (another $2.00 deposit on that glass bottle! ouch). I bought both of those and then mixed them with two half gallons of Our Family Farms milk purchased from a different store. As a result, the yield seemed slightly smaller than the first cheddar I made. After the two hour press, this new cheese was about an inch and a half tall while the Farmhouse wheel is closer to 2 inches. I also want to try to get a small scale so I can better quantify by weight exactly what the yield of cheese to gallons of milk has been.

I'll check back in with a photo when the cheese comes out of the mold (although I may not post at 2:30 a.m.) and also hopefully a photo or two of the Farmhouse Cheddar and it's progress.

The house smells cheesy, but I like it.

INTERMISSION, Part Two: No Pressure

The Farmhouse Cheddar that I made last night came out of the press today after 12 hours, and it looks great.

Now, it sits for 3 days or so, air drying and getting flipped over a few times a day.

At the end of the work day, I came home and flipped it over. It's starting to feel dry on the surface and develop a lovely yellowish rind (see below). I don't know if I'll be able to wait the full 60 days for curing, but maybe if I keep making cheese I can keep my mind off of it.

INTERMISSION: A cheesemaking adventure

Well, as you can tell from the last post, the garden really got away from us towards the end -- not the least of the reasons being that the softball season got busier. I regret neglecting the plants, and hope to do better this year.

In the meantime, I've finally revisited my cheesemaking interest, largely thanks to a birthday gift from my Aunt and Uncle. They took me to a Cheesemaking 101 class this past weekend, held at The Hitchcock Center in Amherst. During the class we made, as a team, Farmhouse Cheddar.

I decided tonight to try to make a batch at home.

I started off with two gallons of Mapleline Farms whole milk, purchased from the health food grocery store around the corner. At first I bought two half gallons, in glass bottles. Mapleline is charging a $2.00 deposit on each bottle now, which was kind of shocking, in an effort to get people to actually return them. When I got back home and looked at the Farmhouse Cheddar recipe a little more closely, I realized I needed two gallons, so I went back and bought two more half gallons, this time in plastic.

Heating the milk, in the sink with hot water, up to 90 degrees.

Then you add the starter culture and wait a while. Then you add rennet, the coagulating agent, and wait a while.

Checking for a good break in the curd. This was a little soft, so I gave it another five minutes.

Cutting the curd into 1/2" cubes, or an approximation thereof.

Heating the curds to 100 degrees, and stirring and further cutting any remaining large chunks.

Here, I think I was at about 97 degrees. See how the whey and curds have separated very well, and the curds have gotten smaller and harder.

Draining the curds in a colander lined with cheesecloth.

Close-up of the curds.

The curds again, after squeezing out more whey.

Strung up for draining.

After draining, I dumped the curd mass in a stainless steel bowl ...

... then broke it all up into "walnut-size" pieces and added cheese salt.

Then, the curds get loaded into the cheese press (a present from Christmas 2006 that I used for the first time tonight ...).

The press is lined with cheesecloth and the curds are loaded.

Under pressure.

After the first press.

After the second press.

A close-up of the cheddar after the second press. I flipped it over again and put it back in the press with increased pressure.

And that's where it sits as I write this. All in all, I spent about four and a half hours working on this cheese. It went into the press for the third time at 11:30 pm and needs a whole bunch of hours.

I'll check back in with photos when it comes out of the press.