There's a small company here in Washington state that sells what it calls "hot" smoked cheese. What they mean is that they smoke it over 100°F instead of cold smoking it. That results in a softer, more flavorfully smoking cheese. I set out to try to replicate what they did and I'm very happy with the results. In my MES 30 Gen 1, the temps reached from 111° to 133° before if finally settled down to 111 and 113 for the last hour or two of the 5 hour smoke. I kept the heating element turned off because the applewood pellets in my AMNPS provided more than enough heat. I think this is the way I will smoke cheese from now on. As you see, the color is darker than with cold smoking. You can also see the imprinted patterns of the Q-MATZ the cheeses were resting on, which is what I also wanted. The cheeses were smoked on racks 2 & 3 in my MES, and I switched rack positions and flipped the cheeses once during the smoke. From the left, the cheeses are Jarlsberg, Gruyere, medium cheddar, and Gouda. First time I've smoked these European cheeses. I usually smoke just mozzarella and sharp cheddar. I've vacuum sealed them and will let them sit 2-3 weeks in the fridge before sampling them.
