Back in March, I ran an experimental series using Propionic Shermanii for the first time.
I also used the cheeses I made in this period to find out if I could age these cheeses at room temperature during Autumn and Winter in Tasmania.
None of the cheeses went quite as planned, and none showed and tendency to inflate, so I thought they were all failures.
They hit 3 months old (pretty much my minimum age for testing hard cheeses) so I thought I would split them and see if they were OK.
The first cheese is a traditional Swiss. Recipie from Ricki Carroll, using a Thermo culture. The cheese refused to knit adequately in the mould, and I thought it would be a complete loss. I stuffed it into a vac bag and just ignored it (at inside room temp, maximum it got on the logger was about 16 Celcius). It gassed up a bit, puffing up the bag, but didn't swell. I didn't expect eyes in this one as the paste really didn't hang together very well.
Out of the bag, nice nutty aroma, texture surprisingly was OK apart from a major internal crack, firm and held together nicely. Taste is excellent. Big, nutty flavour with a lot of richness, it tastes like a much longer aged cheese. The wife immediately asked for another piece and gave the order..... "You will be making more of these, tastes like a St Claire" (a really nice swiss style made by Lion in Tasmania, quite desirable and rather hard to get).
The second is a Jarlsberg knockoff from a "Norwegian Cheese" recipe on the internet. Made with a Mesophillic culture, this one went smoothly when made, but seemed quite soft in the vac bag as it aged. It deformed a bit and didn't swell visibly.
Out of the bag, it had thrown a little whey and smelled a bit funky. (Some of my cheeses that get damp in the vacuum bag develop a bit of a "Fishy" aroma. I have not figured out where this comes from yet, but it fades as the cheese dries out of the bag, and the wife can't smell it.) A very soft cheese, big eyes for a little cheese (600G).
Taste is very soft and smooth, lots of character, not as much nuttiness as No. 1 but definite Swiss character.
Number 3 just had everything thrown at it. I used my standard Gouda recipe as a basis, threw in PS and also Lipase, to try a Swiss/Dutch/Italian fusion cheese. It also aged at room temperature.
Great texture, a little whey in the bag, fine, even eyes, very attractive I thought.
The lipase was a bit too much though. It nearly swamped the PS flavour (not quite) and although I liked the flavour, it didn't quite work as intended.
Visually it's very satisfying, and I will age it a year and get some use out of it as a complex stinky cheese with a unique appearance later in it's life.
Of these, my first was the best, despite the knitting problems, this was the one we both went "Wow" about. I'll be making more of this and trying to iron out the kinks.