Floating curds

[herdg000]

Hi,

Attempted my first hard cheese last weekend and the curds floated.
I've read somewhere that the resulting cheese can be dangerous due to contamination, but am struggling to find any more information on the topic, suggesting either a) I'm a muppet and most people don't have this problem; or b) It's not all that dangerous and I shouldn'tworry.

Can any of you shed any light on this?

I currently have 2 blocks of hard cheese waiting to be waxed and one tub of ricotta in my refrigerator which I'm afraid to eat!!

Thanks,

George

[linuxboy]

Floating curds can be an indication of E Coli contamination. When E Coli metabolize (feed) foodstuffs, a byproduct is gas. Trapped in the curd matrix, the gas causes the curd to float.

However, it's very difficult to tell without a test. Is it pasteurized milk or raw? What type of cheese? What was your process? Any off smells? How thorough is your sanitation?

[Cheese Head]

Hello herdg000 amd welcome to the forum!

linuxboy has some good questions.

When I initially have a good curd set, my milk is just one big curd and thus nothing to sink in, after cutting, whey starts to be expelled but my top curds are still on surface as they can't sink as no room as curds beneath them are holding the top ones up. If I give them more time and temperature (depending on recipe), more whey is expelled and only then do the cut curds sink as now lots of whey and curds are denser and room to sink.

So, when you say the curds float, at what stage do you mean?

Hope helps.

[kai]

I've a floating curd once.
at that time I use a raw goat milk, my curd look very ugly like a sponge rubber 'cause has many hole of bubble.
I sent a sample to lab for find a pathogen such as E.coli.
But I didn't see it.
So I ate it w/o ripen , very bad as chewing a rubber.
But I don't know what'a happen yet.

[herdg000]

Thanks for your replies,

The milk was shop bought pasteurised, homogenised milk.  One carton was a few days old, the rest was purchased on the day.  We also added some full fat cream.

We sanitised by washing everything in soapy water then boiling for a few minutes.  We did forget to sanitise one pot but by then it was too late so we pressed ahead anyway.

The cheese was supposed to be a hard pressed cheddar type cheese (Milk, mesophilic starter, vegetarian rennet).  We warmed, added the starter, left for 1 hr, added rennet, clean break in 2 hrs, cut curd, cooked at 39'C for 40 mins, strained, pressed.

I cut into one of the blocks yesterday and there is no sign of any air bubbles, but it is still quite moist.  Perhaps we didn't cook for long enough as it seems there is still quite a bit of whey trapped.

Previously I had only made vinegar split cheese where the curd sank easily.

There are no bad smells and we ate a small amount yesterday with (so far) no apparrent ill effect!!

Cheers,

George

[Cheese Head]

George, good to hear that all is working out well .

[herdg000]

Very well!! ;-)

Well, still not dead and have waxed the hard cheese and put the ricotta in the freezer till I feel safe to eat it.

Read somewhere that as long as you leave for 2 months then it is fine - is that actually accurate?

I assume the ricotta is dodgy as well as the hard stuff?

Questions questions...

George

[linuxboy]

The 60-day rule was put in place by the US government in 1949 to try and protect consumers. The belief was that after 60 days, there would only be trace amount of listeria, E. Coli and salmonella. However, that's not a 100% accurate rule, more like an adequate safeguard. If your cheese moisture is too high(like with brie), or if the pH is too high, the cheese can support some pathogen life beyond 60 days.

The truth is that is only in very rare cases do pathogens survive beyond 60 days in cheese. To be on the safe side, practice safe milk handling and sanitation. I think in this case, you're fine. Might have gotten infected with some natural airborne yeast or p. shermanii or similar. E. coli infections from pasteurized milk are extremely rare. You'd need a cross-contamination scenario to exist where the cheese was infected from something in your environment.