Hope this works out okay, otherwise I'll be very sad.
I have tasted garlic Gouda and horseradish Cheddar. I like both. I decided I would try to fashion the latter. In my search, I saw several versions with dried horseradish. I had decided I wanted to make mine with non-dried root. There are a number of bottled wet variations of horseradish, and a lot of them include egg and a lot of other stuff I didn't want in my cheese. I found one that I thought I could work with at the same store where I buy my raw milk. The product I bought has horseradish, vinegar, and salt (yeah, and some other
natural flavorings, whatever those are).
I tested the pH of the horseradish out of the jar and confirmed that it was very acidic. I adjusted it with a little sodium bicarbonate.
I used my MA4001 mother culture cubes, melted, and added some LH100. From an earlier linuxboy guideline "
diacetylactis adds a buttery richness and L. Helveticus helps to control bitter peptide formation". The ST component in the MA4001 tries to follow Hansen's suggestion.
initial pH: 6.60
renneting: 6.50
draining: 6.30
moulding: 5.80
1 gallon Dungeness Valley whole raw milk (I marked the cream line on the jug)
2 gallons Twin Brook whole creamline milk
8 cubes MA4001 MC, melted
1/16 tsp LH100
1/2 tsp CACL2 in 1/4 cup distilled water
1 tsp anatto in 1/4 cup distilled water
1/16 tsp Renco dry calf rennet in 1/4 cup chilled distilled water
3 TBS pickling salt
2 TBS horseradish
3/8 tsp baking soda (to adjust pH of horseradish)
ripened at 90F
floc'd in 11 minutes and I used a 3X factor
cooked at 102F
cheddared and then cut into cubes
mixed in pH-adjusted horseradish and salt
put curds to the mould with plastic cheesecloth
pressed in the warm pot using 80 lbs for 15 minutes to knit the rind
flipped, rewrapped, pressed in the warm pot using 80 lbs/2.6psi for 15 minutes to knit the rind
flipped, rewrapped, pressed in the warm pot using 150 lbs/4.9psi for 4 hours
flipped, rewrapped, pressed in the warm pot using 80 lbs for 3 hours
pH 5.40 -- out of the press, dried, weighed, into the minicave to airdry at room temperature
I am hoping that the amount of horseradish I added will give a nuance of the root and not be overpowering. Less is more.
-Boofer-