Author Topic: Annatto in Cheddar?  (Read 8268 times)

Offline Lennie

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Annatto in Cheddar?
« on: January 10, 2010, 11:39:50 PM »
I bought some annatto solution, diluted it in distilled water and added to a 2gal batch of farmhouse cheddar I made today.  The bottle said to use 2 drops per gallon which is what I did.  The cheese doesn't look yellow at this point, I made ricotta with the whey and the liquid left after that was quite yellow.

Did I do something wrong? 

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Annatto in Cheddar?
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2010, 12:06:07 AM »
I'm not sure what point "this point" is but you won't see it until after pressing. It also gets yellower with age. I think I use about 4 drops per gallon but you have to be careful or you'll get electric colored cheese!
« Last Edit: January 11, 2010, 12:45:30 AM by DeejayDebi »

Offline Lennie

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Re: Annatto in Cheddar?
« Reply #2 on: January 11, 2010, 12:17:02 AM »
I'm pressing the curds as we speak.

Speaking of which, I couldn't fit all the curds in my small mold (M3) so I havd to make a small second cheese in the basket mold that came with my hard cheese kit.  Now that pressing is making the cheese smaller, can I add the curds on top of the one larger cheese?  I'm pressing at 20lb right now, that'll go overnight.  If I can, do I need to break up the curds I suppose?

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Annatto in Cheddar?
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2010, 12:39:53 AM »
By now the temperature difference is probably to great to add them and it often doesn't work well

BUT

This is cheddar is it not? You now have a handful of what is afffectionately called Cheddar Cheese Curds or "squeeky cheese" in Wisconsin and they sell like hot cakes! You can eat them or bread them and fry them. Wonderful stuff! Cheddar cheese curds are a highly prized and sought after product. Throw them in the fridge for an hour and when you eat them they will squeek.

I think you will find several posts here from people asking how to make cheddar cheese curds - Oh you lucky guy!

Likesspace

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Re: Annatto in Cheddar?
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2010, 12:42:48 AM »
I like a cheddar to be yellow to the point of almost being orange. It's what I've become accustomed to from commercial examples and in my mind's eye that how it's supposed to be.
Because of that I use an 1/8 tsp. in a 4 gallon batch and find that the color is just about right.
Of course this does not at all affect the color or the texture of the cheese. It is simply there for looks.
On one hand, this should probably not even be important to the home cheese maker. On the other hand I think we are products of our environment and expect our food to look like what we are used to.
Case in point is some green ketchup my wife once bought for the kids. They loved it, because they are weird. :)
I on the other hand could not eat it since it did not look like what ketchup is supposed to look like.
It might be a little strange but cheddar has to have that yellow orange color as far as I'm concerned.
JMHO..

Dave

Offline Lennie

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Re: Annatto in Cheddar?
« Reply #5 on: January 11, 2010, 01:01:04 AM »
Oh shoot.  I may have messed up then, because I broke up both cheeses again and repacked it all in the one mold.  I hope the thing holds together.  It all fit this time, I did eat a couple of the curds and they weren't squeaky but still quite tasty.

Is it important that the curds be warm when you pack the mold?

My curds weren't yellow at all either.  I'm wondering if the storebought milk is messing me up.  I used CaCl2 and a little extra heavy cream (maybe 1/2cup) plus I doubled the rennet to one tablet, I did the floating bowl test and let it sit somewhat longer than the 3x.  I got what I think were good curds after a nice clean break.

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Annatto in Cheddar?
« Reply #6 on: January 11, 2010, 01:04:14 AM »
Well they should be no colder than 80°F I believe is the magic number. DId you keep the whey or toss it?

Offline Lennie

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Re: Annatto in Cheddar?
« Reply #7 on: January 11, 2010, 01:34:11 AM »
I made a nice batch of ricotta.  The one thing I seem to be able to make.

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Re: Annatto in Cheddar?
« Reply #8 on: January 11, 2010, 01:44:50 AM »
Like Dave, I like a very yellow cheddar.

I use 10drops/gallon.


The resulting milk is eggnogg colored, and the curds are perfect.

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Annatto in Cheddar?
« Reply #9 on: January 11, 2010, 01:47:31 AM »
You seem to have just made a nice tastey cheddar too. If the curds are good now they will only improve with time. Do not loose heart. You may still have a tightly knit cheese. You could if you want try to reheat the curds by putting them in a pot of hot water in the mold.  Do you have a zip lock big enough to hold the mold? You could try dipping that into hot water so you will not affect the acidity of the cheese?

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Annatto in Cheddar?
« Reply #10 on: January 11, 2010, 01:50:03 AM »
Ah I forgot to mention 4 drops per gallon of raw milk.  It takes less for some reason. I do not have any data  left from my store milk cheddar.

Offline Lennie

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Re: Annatto in Cheddar?
« Reply #11 on: January 11, 2010, 02:16:55 AM »
I am going to go without heating the mold up.  If it doesn't hold together I'll just eat the batch as curds.

I have the wanna-be-cheese under 40lb of free weights right now.  I knew I was keeping those things for some good reason.

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Annatto in Cheddar?
« Reply #12 on: January 11, 2010, 02:32:27 AM »
If you milled them fine enough you may not even have a problem.

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Re: Annatto in Cheddar?
« Reply #13 on: January 11, 2010, 02:41:15 AM »
Debi....
If I'm thinking correctly, this being a Farmhouse style of Cheddar cheese, there would have been no milling step involved. It's been a few years since I've attempted this type of cheese, but I don't remember a cheddaring or milling step involved.

Lennie....
No matter what happens with this cheese you have still made some sort of cheese that will, more likely than not, be edible. It might not turn out exactly as you had planned but that's all a part of the learning process.
I've made my fair share of less than desirable cheese (today was an example) but either myself, or someone in my family has eaten and in most cases enjoyed everything that I've turned out.
I'm sure that you will be happy with this cheese and I'm sure that you will also notice some things that can be improved upon. This is how we all learn to make better and better cheese.
Keep us informed on your final result and good luck with everything that you do in the future.

Dave

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Annatto in Cheddar?
« Reply #14 on: January 11, 2010, 02:43:10 AM »
Ah I just reread the begining of the thread sorry I was thinking a standard cheddar. Got my posts confused for a bit. Nope - no milling on a farmhouse cheddar.