Wednesday, March 13, 2013

And I Shall Call Him "Cheddar"



Here's my first hard cheese from Penny's milk.

It's a farmhouse cheddar that's supposed to be a rather simple cheese to make, but it was hard for me to focus and get all the steps right because:
1. I'm not good at following directions, and have a short attention span.
2. It's been a long time since I made a hard cheese and practice makes perfect.

I made it three days ago and waxed it today. It will be ready to eat in one month.

Today I'm making a stirred curd cheddar which takes one more month to ripen, but I like the recipe better.
I didn't lose as much milk into the whey with the more complex recipe.

I need to make a Parmesan next because we use a lot of it, but I fear the aging process of an unwaxed cheese, which has to be aged at high humidity for a long time.
My plan is to use a cooler with some water in the bottom and a rack to keep the cheese on.

If my brining and aging is satisfactory, I will boastfully post for you to see the process.

6 comments:

  1. It looks beautiful! (Removing silly comment about crayons and wax.) I'll look forward to hearing how it turns out.

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    1. Now I have to look in my email for the deleted comment. Banning comments makes them irresistible, you know that right?

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    2. I just deleted it after I typed it in, Mollie, so it won't show up anywhere ever. Mwah ha ha!

      Delete
  2. I thought for sure you got another cat and were naming him Cheddar.

    Good luck with the cheese making. I look forward to hearing how all your cheeses come out. I still have quite a few wheels in our wine refrigerator. This is the first year I made enough to get us through the winter.

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  3. A new cat would have been an educated guess!

    I'm looking forward to the results even more than you are, believe me!

    With a cow, it seems like I could make enough to get us through the winter easily. I just need to use will power :(

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  4. I will bring you Dutch cheese if you bring me your cheese.

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