Author Topic: Drying and aging times (newbie being stupid)?  (Read 1703 times)

Zoey

  • Guest
Drying and aging times (newbie being stupid)?
« on: September 15, 2009, 07:38:58 AM »

Ok, so I think something just clicked in my head and I may have understood something really simple that all of you already know. Just checking if I got this right.

- Drying time is added to aging time, not substracted? Up to today I've thought if I want to make a young gouda aged for 4 weeks, I would calculate that I air dried it for one week and then *continued* to age it in cold after that. But maybe I just *started* aging it after drying?

- Having read quite a few recipes for gouda, it seems many air dry them in room temperature, and then again many air dry them for even up to 25 days. These are not the same ones that mention room temperature - could the cheese really be kept at room temperature for the whole 25 days? To me this sounds like something that would introduce spoilage, but what do I know...

- If I air dry for 25 days in room temperature (assuming it doesn't spoil), do I have a 3-week old gouda, or one that hasn't aged at all (since the following step is aging, after drying)?

I know it probably doesn't have much importance, since I can still choose freely on how long to age. Just checking that I'm talking about the same things as the rest of you...

wharris

  • Guest
Re: Drying and aging times (newbie being stupid)?
« Reply #1 on: September 15, 2009, 10:51:50 AM »
IMHO,  Aging starts the moment you finish pressing, ready or not.

You can do things to slow it down, or speed it up depending on temp, but its aging non the less.

Offline DeejayDebi

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Location: Connecticut
  • Posts: 5,820
  • Cheeses: 106
    • Deejays Smoke Pit and DSP Forums
Re: Drying and aging times (newbie being stupid)?
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2009, 12:27:23 AM »
I to count the time from the day I press. All the compounents are there working together to ripen as soon as they come together. I usually only air dry for a day or two with hard or semi hard cheeses. Maybe 3 in the summer when it's humid or 1 in the winter with my dry heat.