# Ashtray Cheese



## mfreel (Sep 15, 2014)

Just popped some cheddar and some pepper jack that got smoked 2 hrs and 20 min with peach pellets back in April.  I have had some of the same batch, which was great.  These two, packaged separately, have a terrible ash taste.

Any ideas?


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## JckDanls 07 (Sep 15, 2014)

maybe they were over top of the pellets that was putting out the smoke and taking a direct hit  ??  dunno..  just guessing


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## mfreel (Sep 15, 2014)

This is quite the mystery.  This is the first cheese that's been bad.  Really strong, and nasty, smoke.  The others were okay.

Maybe they needed to sit longer before vacuum sealing?  With 4+ months, I figured it would have sat long enough to mellow.


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## driedstick (Sep 19, 2014)

That's weird!! Never had that problem before, I am wondering if these two pieces were directly over the smoke, and got the first hit of smoke before the others and just absorbed more smoke or like Jck 07 was saying?? Don't throw it out Shred it and put it on a casserole or in a salad or grilled cheese, you will love it. 

A full smoker is a happy smoker 

DS


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## mfreel (Sep 19, 2014)

I couldn't take it.  Pitched it.  

I tried some that I did on the same day back in April.  Different kind of cheddar, but excellent.  I have no idea.  The bad stuff was Crystal Farms from Bag n Save in Omaha and the good stuff was a block of cheddar from Sam's Club.


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## ctonello (Sep 19, 2014)

My last batch turned out the same. Was a ventilation issue for me I believe, not positive because I haven't tried again since.


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## wade (Sep 20, 2014)

Give it another try keeping the cheese away from being directly above the smoke. Let us know how it goes.


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