So I've been making a lot of cheese recently along with soap and other things to give out as gifts this winter, so I have pictures to post!
This past weekend I made three wheels, a Monterey Jack, a Pepper Jack and a Leicester (which is still in the press). I thought I'd post up some pictures.
Here's Monterey in the brine solution. This was the first cheese that I used a brine for. I've normally just salted the curds. I hope it works out well. I have a couple other cheeses I hope to make this month which all call for brining, so I'm excited to become acquainted with this process.
Here's both of them on a drying mat.
While the Pepper Jack was in the mold for the first round, some of the peppery whey pooled at the bottom instead of draining out completely, this gave me a bit of marbling of the spices on the surface. This Pepper Jack is mostly for my Dad, it's his favourite cheese. Hopefully he doesn't mind too much of the marbling on the surface. I was a little worried at first because some of the peppers on the surfaces bulged out and fell out of the wheel while in the brine, but now that it's been drying for a couple of days, it doesn't seem like anything else will fall out.
Overall, this went over well and now I just need to wait for my third cheese to come out of the press. For these two though, I am planning on waxing them and aging them till Christmas.
