- May 31, 2022
- 634
- 1,173
Now days, 99% of cheddar is aged in a vacuum bag (I've got two smaller wheels doing this right now). Back in the day, however, they took cheesecloth and lard and formed a protective barrier that could breathe, but would help protect the actual cheese from molds.
Because this is intended for long aging, I wanted it to be large enough that it would not immediately dry out and start cracking (I hope). This weighs just a shade over 5 1/2 pounds, and used six gallons of milk.
In the cave for a year.
Sanitize those tools.
Raw material
I had to get a bigger pot to handle this much milk. My old brewpots are big enough, but won't fit in the sink.
So there's nothing to see during the process other than stirring some stuff in and waiting. The cultures and annato go in first, then after a wait rennet is added to coagulate the whole thing.
After a rest, it's time to cut the curds using a cheese harp and my slicing knife.
Now I stir for 45 mins while raising the temp. Here's the curds starting out:
And here's what it looks like after they've cooked all the way down and are being drained.
Gathered up and drained for a bit longer.
The slab goes back into the warm pot, and the cheddaring process begins. Cut it into slabs, and every 15 mins or so rearrange them to put the tops on bottom. I do this until the PH of the curd is 5.4. This batch went way faster than the last batch I did, I'm glad I was measuring frequently.
After the cheddaring is done, the slabs are milled into smaller pieces, and the salt is mixed in.
Into the largest mold I have.
Let the pressing begin. The first couple are just to get it solidified, then we start adding serious weight, including a heavy 24-hour press with a flip in the middle.
First press
Flip & Second Press
Flip & third press
This one is after a 12-hour overnight heavy (70 pounds) press
Flipped it, and another 12 hours at 70#
Now it sat out with cheesecloth over it at room temp for a couple of days to dry the surface out.
(Insert a 3 week gap where I had it vac sealed because the compressor was out on my cave.)
Ok, time to band it. Whenever we get a hog, I render all the leaf fat down to lard. It gets used in biscuits, and to confit stuff, and anything else where they want you to use Crisco or the like.
The cheesecloth goes into the lard. It was heated to around 300 F, but really, it just needs to be hot enough to sanitize.
Let the cheesecloth cool, then wrap well.
You don't want any air gaps between the cloth and the cheese surface. After smoothing it out by hand as well as possible, I vac sealed the whole thing for 24 hours to eliminate all air gaps and firmly affix the cloth to the cheese.
Final pics at top already.
Because this is intended for long aging, I wanted it to be large enough that it would not immediately dry out and start cracking (I hope). This weighs just a shade over 5 1/2 pounds, and used six gallons of milk.
In the cave for a year.
Sanitize those tools.
Raw material
I had to get a bigger pot to handle this much milk. My old brewpots are big enough, but won't fit in the sink.
So there's nothing to see during the process other than stirring some stuff in and waiting. The cultures and annato go in first, then after a wait rennet is added to coagulate the whole thing.
After a rest, it's time to cut the curds using a cheese harp and my slicing knife.
Now I stir for 45 mins while raising the temp. Here's the curds starting out:
And here's what it looks like after they've cooked all the way down and are being drained.
Gathered up and drained for a bit longer.
The slab goes back into the warm pot, and the cheddaring process begins. Cut it into slabs, and every 15 mins or so rearrange them to put the tops on bottom. I do this until the PH of the curd is 5.4. This batch went way faster than the last batch I did, I'm glad I was measuring frequently.
After the cheddaring is done, the slabs are milled into smaller pieces, and the salt is mixed in.
Into the largest mold I have.
Let the pressing begin. The first couple are just to get it solidified, then we start adding serious weight, including a heavy 24-hour press with a flip in the middle.
First press
Flip & Second Press
Flip & third press
This one is after a 12-hour overnight heavy (70 pounds) press
Flipped it, and another 12 hours at 70#
Now it sat out with cheesecloth over it at room temp for a couple of days to dry the surface out.
(Insert a 3 week gap where I had it vac sealed because the compressor was out on my cave.)
Ok, time to band it. Whenever we get a hog, I render all the leaf fat down to lard. It gets used in biscuits, and to confit stuff, and anything else where they want you to use Crisco or the like.
The cheesecloth goes into the lard. It was heated to around 300 F, but really, it just needs to be hot enough to sanitize.
Let the cheesecloth cool, then wrap well.
You don't want any air gaps between the cloth and the cheese surface. After smoothing it out by hand as well as possible, I vac sealed the whole thing for 24 hours to eliminate all air gaps and firmly affix the cloth to the cheese.
Final pics at top already.
