Yesterday I used four gallons of sweet, creamy raw milk from one of the three local creameries available to me. I was struck by the deep yellow color of the cream and again of the volume of that cream in the gallon jugs. It promised a rich and wonderful cheese.
Loosely following
Tammy's guidance, I wanted to make a Cheddar that was more moist and flexible than I had previously done. I also wanted to boost the horseradish character in this cheese compared to
my previous effort.
Cheese Number 82.
Initial pH: 6.65
Renneted at 6.58
Drained at 6.30
Milled at 5.96
4 gallons Cozy Vale Creamery whole raw milk
1/4 tsp MA4001
1/16 tsp LH100
1/16 tsp dry calf rennet in 1/4 cup cool distilled water
1/4 tsp annatto in 1/4 cup distilled water
4 TBS Morton's pickling salt
1/2 cup Fred's Horseradish (horseradish, vinegar, salt), clear water rinsed and pH-adjusted to 5.62
- I added the cultures and annatto to the cold milk and raised the milk temp to 90F.
- ripened at 90F
- floc'd in 15 minutes and I used a 4X factor
When I cut the curd there was a slight resistance to the sharp knife because of the firmness of the gelling. This is in contrast to the weak gelling I experienced recently with my
Saint Paulin #3.
- cooked and stirred at 102F for 30 minutes
- cheddared and then cut into cubes
- using my gloved hands, I mixed in the pH-adjusted horseradish and salt in four movements
- - I sampled some of the cubed curds and they were pleasantly squeaky against my teeth
- put curds to the mould with plastic cheesecloth
- pressed in the warm pot using 25 lbs for 15 minutes to knit the rind
- flipped, rewrapped, pressed in the warm pot using 25 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
- pH 5.49 -- out of the press, dried, weighed, into the minicave to airdry at room temperature
- - The cheese weighed in at 2376 grams which is 5.24 pounds, possibly making this cheese the heaviest cheese I have created for the volume of milk used.
The added annatto deepened the already rich yellow hue from the pasture-sourced cream in the milk. This should be a comfortably warm-colored Cheddar.
One of the the things that concerns me at this point is the horseradish that is apparent in the surface of the rind. I've had some experience with added components and their effect on the rind:
Herbes de Provence in
Esrom,
cumin seeds in
Leiden. Those additions didn't seem to cause any problems. Still, it's something I will be watching closely.
-Boofer-