Author Topic: Mesophillic Jarlsberg **Tasting Update**  (Read 4049 times)

Offline scasnerkay

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Mesophillic Jarlsberg **Tasting Update**
« on: April 16, 2013, 04:07:29 AM »
Yum! Nicely nutty and smooth. In fact it tastes like Jarlsberg! It had some nice eye formation but some cracks as well. I held it at 50 degrees for about 2 weeks for rind formation, then rubbed it with olive oil. It was about 4 weeks at 70 to 75 degrees, and smelled wonderful. Then 7 more weeks in the cave! I will vacuum half of it and return it to the cave for some more aging.  Scroll down for the picture!
Last time I tried Jarlsberg (about 1 year ago) it swelled up nicely with some eyes even though it was just a 2 # cheese. The make had been with a thermophillic blend from cheesemaking.com. This time with Flora Danica. The recipe suggested heating the milk to 98 degrees, and then scalding at up to 108 degrees, but I was apprehensive about cooking the culture, to I went a little lower. The make went pretty well with the exception of flocculation happening in 10 mins (still too fast - I need to cut back the rennet), and the pH being very slow to drop after rinsing and while in the press. I think the pH meter was working, but the rinse water pH must have been pretty high (our water usually measures about 7.5 when I use the pH meter). I will post pictures when the cheese is in the warm phase, to see if it swells!

Jarlsberg style  4-14-13
2 gal pasteurized cream top milk
¼ tsp Flora Danica
1/8 tsp PS
½ tsp Calcium Chloride in ¼ cup water
1.7 ml single strength calf rennet (Mad Millie)
 Floc X 3
Targets for pH: 6.4 partial drain/wash, 5.4 brine

12:20 Temp = 95, pH 6.  Cultures in, resting 5 mins, then stirred in. Resting 45 mins.
1:15 Temp = 96, pH 6.6 Calcium stirred in and resting 5 mins.
1:20 Temp = 96, Rennet stirred in. Flocculation 10 mins
1:50 Clean break, cut in 1 inch, healed 5 mins, then gentle stirring and breaking up larger chunks, progressing to stirring with a whisk.
2:30 Temp = 96, pH 6.4  Letting curds settle, then remove about 30 % whey (about 1-2 inch above curds)
2:45 Adding water at 140 degrees, stirring in a few scoops at a time, planning to add water to about ½ the volume of whey removed over a period of time
2:50 Temp = 98
3:00 Temp = 102 (final goal) with stirring
3:40 Temp =102, pH 6.6   Curds are springy, and sticking to top hand after squeezing out the whey. Let settle 5 mins
3:45 Press in pot under whey with about 10 #.
4:10 Out of pot into press with 10 #
4:30 Turned and redressed, starting to knit nicely, back in press with 18 #
5:10 Turned and redressed, well knit, back into press with 27 # whey pH still 6.6
6:15 Turned and redressed, back into press with 27 #
9:30 Turned and into press NAKED with 10 #, whey pH 6.4
6:00 AM Trimmed off edges of cheese to measure pH: now 5.4. Weight 2 # 1 oz. Into saturated brine with salt on top, at 50 degrees for 8 hours.
2:00 Out of brine and into cave at 50 degrees.
« Last Edit: July 08, 2013, 03:00:25 AM by scasnerkay »
Susan

Offline Boofer

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Re: Mesophillic Jarlsberg
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2013, 04:20:24 AM »
Fingers crossed. ;)

Yeah, I was troubled when I read the recipe in 200 Easy Cheese recipes that called for thermophilic also. Bad news.

Looks like you're on track.

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WovenMeadows

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Re: Mesophillic Jarlsberg
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2013, 01:26:26 PM »
Two things:
Adding water - which if pure pretty much has a neutral pH of 7 - will raise the pH of the vat, and then because lactose was first removed with the whey, then diluted, subsequent pH lowering of the whey/water will be much smaller and much slower. I think you pretty much can only measure your pH before draining and washing, and then again only of the curd when drained and in the press. After all, even slight variations in the amount of whey removed and water added will have a relatively large effect on pH.

Second, large-eyed Proprianic cheeses typically perform best with a part-skim milk, as too much fat I gather makes the paste softer than is ideal to capture the gas bubbles produced.

Offline Boofer

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Re: Mesophillic Jarlsberg
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2013, 01:34:36 PM »
Second, large-eyed Proprianic cheeses typically perform best with a part-skim milk, as too much fat I gather makes the paste softer than is ideal to capture the gas bubbles produced.
Here's an example of a close cousin made with creamline milk.

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Sailor Con Queso

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Re: Mesophillic Jarlsberg
« Reply #4 on: April 16, 2013, 04:07:26 PM »
Except for Baby Swiss I make all of my "Swiss" types with thermos, so I do believe that her recipe is correct. One of the differences between a Jarlsberg and an Emmental is the maximum cooking temperature. Jarlsberg only heats to 108F, which would start to kill off a lot of Mesos.

The pH drop will always be much slower when using thermos because the ripening temperature is well below their optimum. You will notice that many thermo recipes call for very little or even no ripening time. Again, that's because the ripening temperature does not encourage rapid growth or acid production. Flora Danica (or Aroma B) are also very slow acidifiers.

Spoons

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Re: Mesophillic Jarlsberg **Tasting Update**
« Reply #5 on: July 29, 2014, 03:28:21 PM »
Those are some nice eye formation!

The more I read about Jarlsberg, the more I'm convinced it's a mesophilic type cheese similar to a baby swiss. There seems to be a lot of confusion about the topic.

Thanks for this Scasnerkay! I needed a confirmation that a meso make did in fact taste like a Jarlsberg.

I'll try Margaret Morris' recipe and post it. Just need to buy some PS first.

A cheese for you for that wonderful looking cheese!

Offline OzzieCheese

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Re: Mesophillic Jarlsberg **Tasting Update**
« Reply #6 on: July 30, 2014, 03:56:15 AM »
Thought I'd add comment regarding the addition of Thermo Cultures to these types of cheeses.  Now, I am only going on a couple of things that I've read recently and my PDF's of the Acidity curves of my thermo culture MOT 092 Thermophilic by Sacco. The first is that at 102 the thermo is well and truely active at tthat temp and two, as you replace the whey with water you are removing their food source - Lactose - very quickly and when they die (as their supposed to) when the lactose is gone -  they give up their enzymes to go to the work on the protiens and fats in the curd.  So, you might be missing out on whatever complexity they might provide.  8).  These enzymes work to break down the proteins and fats to produce the amino acids, esters and other flavour points.  Not being a micro-biologist, the finer deatils I am yet still to learn but the more and more I dive into the making of cheese the more amazed I am of the hidden complexity behind the basically simple activity of heating, acidifying and coagulating milk. 

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Savu

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Re: Mesophillic Jarlsberg **Tasting Update**
« Reply #7 on: July 31, 2014, 09:51:35 AM »
You might be interested in this from Jim Wallace at New England Cheesemaking, he does a lot of experimentation so seems to know his stuff and he uses meso.
http://www.cheesemaking.com/Jarlsburg.html

Spoons

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Re: Mesophillic Jarlsberg **Tasting Update**
« Reply #8 on: November 19, 2014, 04:10:24 PM »
Suzan, How long did you end up ageing the other half of the cheese? Was there a big difference in flavour profile? I'm about to open a 13 week old jarlsberg-style, wondering if I should wait a bit.