A Cantal is looking like my next venture and I have been researching information. The main point of difference between recipes has been whether to salt the curd before the resting period or after.
In my search I found the following information in an article titled:
In depth dynamic characterisation of French
PDO Cantal cheese made from raw milk (De Freitas et al; Source:
http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/89/56/45/PDF/hal-00895645.pdf ) I thought that it may be of interest to other members of the Fellowship of the Cheese.
“2.1. Cheesemaking process and samples
The samples were obtained from three Cantal productions manufactured in the same industrial plant between May and July 2004 through a process using 12 000 L of bulk raw milk per vat with addition of proprietary commercial lactic starters (F-DVS DCC-260 and CHN19 of Chr. Hansen, Arpajon, France) in order to get an inoculum of 105 cfu•mL–1. Standardized milks (protein: fat = 0.94) were heated to 31 °C before addition of rennet (33 mL•100 L–1) resulting in coagulation after around 20 min. After another six min after, curd cutting took place until wheat-sized curd grains were obtained. The mixture of curd and whey was then transferred to a “pre-pressing” vat in which whey drainage and mechanic pressing (about 3500 kg•m2) took place for 20 min at room temperature. The “prepressed” curd was cut in 2 kg pieces and placed in 50 kg moulds in which curd was turned and pressed four to six times in pressure cycles of 15 min with an increase from 3200 kg•m2 to 3800 kg•m2. Then, the pressed curd was cut in 15 kg pieces and matured for 14 h at 19 °C in order to obtain the “tome”. This tome was milled, mixed with 2.0% dry salt at 17 °C, moulded and pressed for 48 h (pressure was increased from 8500 kg•m2 to 18 000 kg•m2). After removal from the moulds, cheeses were ripened at 10 °C, 95% relative humidity.”
I did some conversion on the pressures given and came up with the following:
3200 kg•m2 = 4.6 PSI
3500 kg•m2 = 5.0 PSI
3800 kg•m2 = 5.4 PSI
8500 kg•m2 = 12.1 PSI
18000 kg•m2 = 25.6 PSI
While this article resolved for me the question of when to salt, there were a couple of things which made me think:
1. There is no mention of ripening time. I would probably refer to other sources for that.
2. Some of the pressures mentioned are truly scary. I know that Cantal requires high pressures but …
That got me thinking. I had assumed that, although larger moulds need more force in the press, pressure would be the same no matter what size the mould. Perhaps not. Perhaps the large commercial moulds referred to here need higher pressures than the moulds used by a hobby cheesemaker like me. Interesting stuff and I don’t know the answer but I don’t think I’ll be trying for 25.6 PSI at home.