Author Topic: Why are my winter cheeses so soft?  (Read 6986 times)

High Altitude

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Re: Why are my winter cheeses so soft?
« Reply #15 on: March 29, 2013, 05:14:23 PM »
Thanks, High Altitude!  I have never used Calcium chloride since I use raw milk but I could try that.  Did your saggy cheese dry without slumping too much?  What was the taste of your cheese like this?  How did the texture turn out?

Tia -  I dried the saggy cheese out at room temp (66-68F), with it doing the majority of slumping in the first 48 hours.  [Because it was so wet, I didn't think it would dry as quickly or as well in the more humid cheese "cave/fridge"].  After that it stayed there and dried out fine over about a 6-7 day period....would have been much longer in the cave, I'm sure, and I didn't want it to start developing molds.  Because of the dried red pepper flakes in this particular make, it did have some small cracks on the surface, but waxing covers all that ails, right?  Unfortunately I cannot give a report on taste of texture as it's not ready to open for another month or two.

How is your cheese drying out at the moment?

Offline Tiarella

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Re: Why are my winter cheeses so soft?
« Reply #16 on: March 30, 2013, 02:54:52 AM »
My cheese is drying fine and I rather like it's "relaxed" shape.   ;). I have been dreaming of opening a can of wild experimentation upon this unsuspecting cheese.......think clay washes, whiskey and bark.   Hmmmm! :o

High Altitude

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Re: Why are my winter cheeses so soft?
« Reply #17 on: April 02, 2013, 09:47:48 PM »
My cheese is drying fine and I rather like it's "relaxed" shape.   ;). I have been dreaming of opening a can of wild experimentation upon this unsuspecting cheese.......think clay washes, whiskey and bark.   Hmmmm! :o

Well if you do something like that your "unawares" wheel of solidified cultured milk ;-), you simply must post pics of the process!!

Offline Tiarella

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Re: Why are my winter cheeses so soft?
« Reply #18 on: April 03, 2013, 01:41:48 AM »


Well if you do something like that your "unawares" wheel of solidified cultured milk ;-), you simply must post pics of the process!!

Well, don't know how it happened this way but I ended up with a cocoa/olive oil schmeared cheese.  I was thinking more of a cocoa powder rub to just lightly "antique" the rind (didn't want to call it a "distressed" finish because of course I want all my cheeses calm, not distressed) and then wash it with the whiskey but to do that I probably should have lightly wet the cheese with the whiskey and then sprinkle and rub the cocoa powder into it.  live and learn.  Instead I made a thick paste and "iced it" like a cake.   :D  BUT.....the upside is that it looks like a giant truffle now....something like I'd dream about and smile in my sleep.   :-*  I'll attach a photo.  Photos of my other rinds are in The Lounge under my recreational cheese photo thread.  Please visit and share your photos there......comment on mine and others.

High Altitude

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Re: Why are my winter cheeses so soft?
« Reply #19 on: April 06, 2013, 05:02:45 PM »
Mmm, looks good Tia!  Can we see it again in a month please?  You just let it sit like this and flip occasionally right, no other "babysitting"?

Offline Tiarella

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Re: Why are my winter cheeses so soft?
« Reply #20 on: April 06, 2013, 06:40:42 PM »
Mmm, looks good Tia!  Can we see it again in a month please?  You just let it sit like this and flip occasionally right, no other "babysitting"?

Well, I did a little baby-sitting last night.  I really didn't know what care might be needed but I saw it had the beginnings of what I presume was a bit of PC so I massaged it in.  It was rather like smoothing icing on a very firm cake and the chocolate smell was divine.    Made me want to open the chocolate drawer and have a snack but I got distracted by the paprika Caerphilly which had white and wild blue mold and needed more massaging.  Actually I coated that one with olive oil.  I'm wondering if I could get a shoulder massage by putting a little PC growth on my shoulders but not sure if Joseph would notice since my skin is so pale after such a long winter. 

I do think this cheese is going to do well.  Not sure how the mold issues will work and if massage will continue to be the care it needs.  With the previous paprika Caerphilly I let it get to a dryish state, then salted and then rubbed and oiled.  Not sure how I'll handle this chocolate one......don't want to use olive oil.  Maybe I could use coconut oil if I think oil is needed to keep molds at bay.  It feels like chocolate sacrilege to let it get all moldy the natural rind way.  Maybe my second chocolate coated cheese could be an experiment for natural rind......in fact I should have used coconut oil to create the chocolate paste.....why didn't I think of that.  Darn!  Now I better go eat some chocolate.

 Oh, and since this one is a Tomme I'm not sure how long to age it out....any suggestions?