Cheesecloth - Cheese Sticking Problem

[judec]

Hi everyone,
I have been making cheese for family for about 3 years and have never had it stick to the cloth and pull big lumps off when removing cloth when cheese is finished pressing.  It has now happened twice in a row.  Any brilliant ideas as to why??

Thanks,
Jude.

[linuxboy]

The acidity/calcium level of the cloth may be different from cheese (soak cloth in whey beforehand), or the cloth is older and has too many protein particles attached to it (use a new cloth). Might also be the milk, in which case try to flip more often so the cloth isn't embedded in the cheese.

[iratherfly]

I used to have similar problem when I ripened semi-soft yogurt cheeses using a generic low thread count cheesecloth. The problem dissapeared when I upgraded to flour sack cloth and butter muslins.

Funny thing is, I saw your post not even 30 minutes after reading a blog post of a fantastic Brooklyn cheesemaker who talks about how he forget that cheesecloth regularly get stuck when he makes Alpine style cheeses. What type of cheese did you make? He blamed in on the cheesecloth quality too. Perhaps different cheeses deserve different cheese cloths.
http://heinennellie.blogspot.com/2009/05/cheesecloth-stuck.html

[Sailor Con Queso]

The problem is probably not the cheesecloth. It's the acidity &/or calcium levels in the cheese. See Linuxboy's post above.

[linuxboy]

Here's the detailed explanation:

As you take the curd mass and put it in contact with the edge of the cheesecloth, there are both dissolved ions and charged micelle particles that mechnanically become embedded in the threads of the cloth. The smaller the thread count, the larger the openings between threads, which is great for water drainage. It's also great for particles to attach themselves and stick all around the individual threads. And once they attach in the beginning of a cheesemake, they stay there. So back to the curd mass. Now you have a charged layer sticking to the cloth, and charged particles in the curd mass. Well, they will stick together when they come in contact, and stick more with time, heat, and pressure. End result is you have a fused curd to the cheesecloth.

The two mitigation steps here, maybe three are to use a high quality cloth with a high threadcount, but not so high as the water can't drain. Butter muslin is about right, or maybe something a little less intensive. This will make a difference because it presents oriented threads, and cotton of a high quality that works better. The second mitigation approach is to ionically "neutralize", that is, bring into a state of equilibrium so that the cheesecloth cannot fuse well to the curd. This is done by ensuring a low calcium content, and high acid content. The acid will help to degrade the micelles on the outer curd to the point where fusing is less likely. That is, soak in whey, which already has high acid and low calcium.

Alpine styles fuse more because the outer k-casein shell on the micelle has more phosphate available that has not yet been bound up by acid. It literally is ionically glued together.

So Sailor is right, although a high threadcount cloth does help, the acidity and calcium make a bigger difference.

Oh and the third approach is to use synthetic cloth, such as plyban.

[iratherfly]

Is that why many recipes call for preparing the cheesecloth-covered mold/colander first by pouring some heated-up whey onto them?

[linuxboy]

I would say yes, in the limited sense that cheesemakers discovered anecdotally that soaked cloth was better for preventing cloth sticking to curd. I doubt many considered the technical explanation I wrote because they were artisans first and scientists second .

[Sailor Con Queso]

With most cheeses, sticking is probably an indication of too high of a pH during pressing. However, I consider Edam to be a special case. My Edam recipe is not only washed curd, but it also "cooks" the cheese at 122F for 30 minutes after just 30 minutes in the press. Then it goes back in the press. I have had problems with my Edams sticking every time to both cheesecloth, butter muslin and to my Kadova mold, with a built in plastic liner. They have done fine with Plyban.

On a recent make, I went to flip the Edam in my Kadova mold for the final overnight pressing and darned if it wasn't already sticking even with just a light weight. So, it was a good time to try out a rescue technique. My working theory was that the 122F was killing off the Mesophilic surface bacteria and stopping the pH drop in the newly forming rind. So I sprayed the Kadova liner (not the cheese) with a very light coating of vinegar, put the Edam back in, increased the weight and pressed overnight. The next morning when I opened the Kadova, the Edam looked perfect with absolutely no sticking. I have made two more Edams since then with the same great results.

I would not do this with regular cheesecloth because it could absorb too much vinegar. However, you could add a LITTLE vinegar to a bowl full of whey and soak the cheesecloth that way.

[iratherfly]

Funny Sailor, I would think that a ball shaped cheese like Edam would be more forgiving on the cheese cloth. I really wanted to make Edam this past weekend but I do not have a ball shaped mold. I know this is off topic, but is that a necessity? Can I do Edam in a Tomme mold?

[Alex]

Most definitely - YES
I don't have bowled moulds at all, all my pressed cheeses are made in a mould made from a segment of water pipe.

Good luck!

[Sailor Con Queso]

I don't think the shape has anything to do with sticking. It's really a pH and chemistry issue. As Alex said, you can use any shape mold for any cheese. However, aspect ratios can be important if you are really trying to be true to the character and flavor of a particular cheese. For example, you wouldn't want to do a really tall, skinny Camembert. Same thing for Swiss. Francois recently posted something about shapes on both of these.

So, yes. Go 4 the Tomme mold.

[Alex]

Wheel sizes:
searching the net for a specific cheese, one of the characteristics described that can be found, is the "traditional" dimension of the cheese.

[iratherfly]

Thank you guys! I will give it a go.

Sailor, I agree with you; When trying a traditional recipe one should attempt to shape them as close as possible to their traditional shape!

[linuxboy]

Sailor, that's a good idea to acidify the cloth. If whey is not available, one can make up an acidic solution of pH not lower than 5.0 and soak the cloth in it. Can use vinegar or citric acid. Should work on even the stickiest cheeses like edam and alpines.

[Sailor Con Queso]

The vinegar mist really works like a charm on my Kadova. I was getting pretty frustrated with Edams sticking, even under light pressure.

So, you would describe Edam and Alpines as "sticky"? I understand the Edam, because of cooking at 122F or so and stalling acid formation on the surface. But why would you describe Alpines as sticky? From observation, I agree, but I don't know why. My Baby Swiss are a Meso, washed curd so that one makes a little more sense than a traditional Emmental.