My first attempt with trying out John's recipe of havarti (
http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2130.0.html) ended with the cheese going bad after 3 weeks.
For the second attempt.
I used a homemade mesophilic buttermilk starter. That was all I had along with the rennet. The milk used was less than an hour old. Followed all the steps including the weights at the specific times, except that the quantity of milk used was just 2 litres, which is all I can currently handle.
To start, I would not get a rind, even after a week in the refrigerator. The cheese didn’t completely dry out either so I’m hoping something good may happen. The odour is strong, kinda on the verge of going bad, but it didn’t taste too bad (nibbled an edge). I observed small localized patches of white powdery substance, keeping an eye out for the blue/black spots. After 3 weeks now, I observed some spots of blue mould. To remove these, I used a cloth dipped in brine and gently rubbed the entire cheese. I air dried this for about 12 hours after this.
Post this, the cheese has started ‘sweatnig’, if that’s what I can call it. Some oily stuff is seeping out which I pat dried with a paper towel. I’m returning this to the fridge in its perforated container to see what may happen.
I’m not too disappointed that this hasn’t worked as per the recipe coz I know there are a lot of things that could have gone wrong. But I’d still like to get some advice on what I may be doing wrong from you folk out there.
I do take care to sterilize my containers so am wondering whether its my storing mechanism that needs improvement.
Advice is greatly appreciated.
raol