Author Topic: Curds too soft?  (Read 4634 times)

Debra

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Curds too soft?
« on: July 04, 2009, 02:39:19 PM »
So far, I've made cheddar, Gouda, and Jack-  this is my first blue experience.   I used the recipe from Ricki Carroll's book but I forgot to rehydrate the mold in some milk-I just added it directly to the milk after the starter culture.  I also added a tsp of Flora Danica-are you supposed to rehydrate that as well before adding it? Everything else went exactly as the book suggests until the draining.  When I put the curds into the 2lb. mould, I had a bit that I couldn't fit.  I thought-I'll let it drain down and then I will be able to add it but, after an hour and a half, I wasn't able to get much more in.  I flipped it every 15-20 min for about 2 hours-then I let it drain overnight- about 11 hours.  In the morning it had only gone down about 1" from the top of the mould.  I'd love some opinions-  Is the curd too soft? Should it have drained down further before I took it out of the mould? Is the knit of the curds too open? Some pics to follow to illustrate:

Tea

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Re: Curds too soft?
« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2009, 03:18:08 PM »
Just wondering, as I can't tell from the photo's, but are there holes on the sides of the mold?

Debra

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Re: Curds too soft?
« Reply #2 on: July 04, 2009, 06:35:17 PM »
Just wondering, as I can't tell from the photo's, but are there holes on the sides of the mold?

Yep-it's the standard 2lb-er that you can buy at www.cheesemaking.com

Sorry about the resolution

FRANCOIS

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Re: Curds too soft?
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2009, 08:02:42 PM »
It looks perfect to me.  We make a cheese very similar in profile to that.  Openess is the same.  It didn't sag or fall over so I would say your curd is not too soft, but then again we make pretty high fat blues.  If you are going for more of the cheddary blue genre, you would have had to press it and add the culture diectly to the curd as you filled.

You'll be fine though, now you can salt and spike.  Good luck.

Debra

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Re: Curds too soft?
« Reply #4 on: July 31, 2009, 04:00:28 PM »
Thanks for your knowledge Francois! Here's my 30 day update:
Not as much mold as I've seen on other blues and Stiltons on the forum but I think I'm on the right track.  After week in a cradle in the aging fridge it was a bit too dry so I decided to put it in a "cave" (Tupperware with a dish of water) in the fridge.  In order to make it fit, I had to cut it in half.  It fell apart a little in this process but otherwise seems OK.  I tasted then and I tasted a piece yesterday and it has definitely developed well.  R.Carrol's book has me aging in the fridge in this same manner for another 2 months-her book has led me in the wrong direction many times though.  Any thoughts?  Should I continue this way?  Or wrap and put in the household fridge at a lower temperature?

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Curds too soft?
« Reply #5 on: August 01, 2009, 03:54:05 AM »
Looks good to me Debra. Give it some time it'll grow more.