Author Topic: Peppers - How Add To Pressed Cheeses  (Read 3571 times)

Susie

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Peppers - How Add To Pressed Cheeses
« on: August 20, 2012, 06:01:00 PM »
I'm a gardener and I had an abundance of jalapeno and serrano peppers this summer. I decided to dehydrate some and then grind them to use in various recipes and dry rubs. The serrano pepper powder I made is all red serrano peppers and it's a bit spicy but also has a smell that makes me think of pimento. So of course, I'm thinking CHEESE! Is there a clever way to incorporate this into a cheese make? What about using it as part of a rind treatment?

I have zero experience with this type of thing. I mean, I made a standard pepper jack with my fresh peppers. I'm currently aging a farmhouse cheddar with an olive oiled rind and that's my first natural rind. I'd love to do something fun and different with this gorgeous red dust I have! Any ideas?

BobE102330

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Re: Peppers - How Add To Pressed Cheeses
« Reply #1 on: August 20, 2012, 06:58:49 PM »
Ah, a fellow chilihead!   8)

I've heard of people using cayenne rubbed on the rind as a mold inhibitor.  Not sure if serranos are hot enough to work, but it's worth a shot.  Rub enough of it into the rind to cover.

Maybe infuse a make with shili powder so the pepper and cheese tastes are mixed.  Boil some in a bit of water and add to the milk when you heat it (after the chili water has cooled of course.)

Mix serrano powder in the stuffing of your jalapeno poppers.

Not cheese related but mix some ground pepper with maple syrup. Heat for a while and strain.  Nice hot/sweet accompanyment - good on brie.  Oh, it is cheese related after all.

Cold smoke some of the powder to make chipotle and whatever you call a smoked serrano. 

My peppers are a bit late, but I plan to try the same sort of thing with fatalis and habaneros.  I might do one with bhut jalokias and send it to my serious chilihead son when ripe. 

Susie

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Re: Peppers - How Add To Pressed Cheeses
« Reply #2 on: August 20, 2012, 08:45:57 PM »
Infusion - that sounds like an awesome idea to try. Now I'll have to figure out how much but I suppose I could taste the milk and get an idea  of where I'm at. Hmm. This could be fun!

My jalapenos are the hottest things EVER this year - drought and excessive heat, maybe? I bet they'd retard mold growth! I think they burned a layer of tissue off my tongue.  :o

Thanks for those ideas. My mouth is watering!

mtncheesemaker

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Re: Peppers - How Add To Pressed Cheeses
« Reply #3 on: August 21, 2012, 02:16:47 AM »
http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,5110.msg38305.html#msg38305 is a link to a discussion about Ibores cheese; I would like to try this with my dried ground peppers also, but never quite get a round to it!

BobE102330

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Re: Peppers - How Add To Pressed Cheeses
« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2012, 03:24:33 AM »
My grande jalapenos are pretty mild, but I needed to water quite a bit to get anything growing.  My Serranos have a good medium heat (on my personal scale).  Hopefully both will heat up a bit when they ripen.   

I like/tolerate a lot of heat, so I would start out with a Tbsp of ground pepper per gallon and see if it was hot enough. 

Let us know how it works out.

Susie

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Re: Peppers - How Add To Pressed Cheeses
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2012, 04:34:55 PM »
Thanks, Pam. I would love to make something that pretty!

I literally dreamed about this last night.  :o
Hoping I can set up to do it by the weekend, maybe. I will definitely record what I did and report my results!

Susie

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Re: Peppers - How Add To Pressed Cheeses
« Reply #6 on: September 23, 2012, 04:01:51 PM »
After life delayed cheesemaking for a while, I finally got around to this. I did a 2-gallon make and used 2 tablespoons of my dried, ground serrano. The pepper settled quite a bit during the make. When I drained the curds, I poured the whey over the curd, thus catching most of the pepper in my cheesecloth. I pressed for an hour, then milled the curd and tossed with salt, then back in the press. So in the end, I have a colored cheese (there is no annatto in this) and streaks of red pepper, fairly evenly distributed. Looks pretty. Smells good. We'll see how it tastes in a few weeks!


BobE102330

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Re: Peppers - How Add To Pressed Cheeses
« Reply #7 on: September 23, 2012, 05:32:29 PM »
NICE!  I'm still drying my peppers, but I do believe I must do something like that, soon. 

A cheese to you for the inspiration!

MrsKK

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Re: Peppers - How Add To Pressed Cheeses
« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2012, 12:35:08 PM »
Very pretty!

I look forward to hearing how it tastes.