Well , I haven't been at the cheese making thing too long now , and was getting a little anxious to try something older , my blues and bries have all been very good at about six weeks , but I've been dying to try something older.
So I opened the very first cheese that I ever made , a Farmhouse Cheddar using the recipe from Ricki Carrolls book:
1 Gallon P/H milk
heat milk to 90 degrees
add mm100
ripen 45 minutes
add diluted rennet
let set at 90 for 45 min.
cut into 1/2 inch curds
heat to 100 over 30 minutes stirring gently
set for 5 minutes
pour curds into cheese cloth
hang and drain for 1 hr.
break curds into pieces and add 1 tbsp salt
put in press @ 10 lbs for 10 min.
redress and 20 lbs for 10 min.
redress and 50 lbs overnight
dry at room temp 4 days
Wax and put in cave and WAIT !
I made four of these in a few days , two had problems with mold under the wax , so I dewaxed and re waxed them , one was so bad I eventually trashed it , the other I cut off a piece and it was terrible at 3 months , very crumbly and acidic , I trashed it too.
This one the wax seemed to adhere very well and no real problem with mold , so I thought at 4 1/4 months , it should be fairly edible , as the Farmhouse Cheddars are supposed to mature faster tha the traditional Cheddar , according to Ricki.
The wax came off very easily , the texture was that of probably any good store bought Cheddar I have tried , the aroma was distinctly Cheddar , the curds broke apart like any good aged cheddar and the flavour is second to none , as good and better than most of the store bought aged cheddars we usually buy.
I melted some on a bowl of chili , it melted great , we ate half of the wheel with bread , and again great.
I still have one more wheel of Farmhouse Cheddar that I am going to try to age for at least six months , and i am Making a proper traditional Cheddar today , a Four gallon make.
This cheese is my best yet , it's great , and it's finally good to try something with a little age to it other than the mold ripened cheeses , this gives me a lot more confidence now and I want to get more in the cave for the future.
A definite success !