A New Technique For Pressing Cheddar

[Sailor Con Queso]

Cheddar can be very difficult for home cheesemakers to press properly. The cheddaring process and salting creates curds that require heavy pressure to meld well. Unless you have the pressing power of Wayne or Farmer, most of us end up with inferior cheddar that does not have a smooth, firm texture. So today I decided to try a new technique.

I call this "Pressing In The Pot".

After a normal make and cheddaring, the curds are loaded into the hoop. I used a 2k Kadova. The loaded hoop is put in the empty stock pot and the stock pot is put in a stoppered sink (no water yet). I heat my milk in the sink anyway. Stack flat weights to press down on the follower. I started with two 10 pound weights. The weights used MUST fit under the lid.

Now fill the sink with hot water and cover. Add more hot water as necessary to control the ambient pot temperature. As you can see, I easily achieved 84F.

[Sailor Con Queso]

I Pressed In The Pot for 30 minutes, flipped and then pressed with 30 pounds for another 30 minutes. This photo is after the second flipping. The curd knit was superb. By far the best I have ever had with a Cheddar. And this was after just one hour and only 30 pounds. The cheese was moved to my Dutch press where it is sitting overnight at 3 psi.

[padams]

Beautiful and wonderful idea!!!!  The extra heat is what is getting the curds to knit so well?  I am sure there is a chart for it somewhere on here, but what lbs would estimate your 3psi to be?

[Sailor Con Queso]

On this hoop, that's about 125 pounds. In the past, I have used 150 and it wasn't nearly enough to achieve a good knit. Many recipes call for 10 psi or more. I decided to drop down to 125 because it already looked so good. I believe I could have dropped it much more but didn't want to chance it first time.

It would be entirely possible to do the entire pressing "In The Pot" with MUCH less weight than normal. I believe even 40-50 pounds would work well. Another option would be to wrap the stock pot with a heating pad. I don't believe just bottom heating would work as well.

This technique will work well with other hard to press cheeses like - Cantal

[MarkShelton]

that beats what I was doing! I put mine on the shelf in the laundry room and ran the dryer. Its a small room, so it heats up well with my old, inefficient dryer. A few loads of laundry later the knit is pretty good. Plus, if I take up the sink all day and don't do any housework, I'M the one in hot water 

[Sailor Con Queso]

Mark,

That' the beauty of this technique - just do an hour or so Pressing In The Pot then transfer to your regular press. So you'll only be in hot water for an hour.

[padams]

Sailor, I am truly impressed!!  I admit that I am confused.  the few recipes I have seen for cheddar call for no more than 50 lbs of pressure.  I was under the mistaken impression I would be able to make cheddar or even cantal with my homemade top-pressure press.  I think that it could handle 150 lbs, but I am not sure.

[MrsKK]

I just love the ingenuity of the people on this forum!  Way to go Sailor - that cheddar looks really awesome!

[Sailor Con Queso]

First - the weight that you need depends on the size of your hoop. PSI is a constant. Weight is not.

Second - you definitely can make Cheddar or Cantal with a small press and lower weights, but they probably will not knit as well as desired. With some cheeses you can just press longer and get adequate results. That is not the case with Cheddar or other salted curd cheeses. Salting stalls acid production and creates an instant "skin" on the surface of the curds that resists knitting together. Cantal is an extreme example. The curds are pressed for 24 hours (with ongoing acidification) BEFORE milling and salting and then pressed for 2-3 days. Acidification, pre-pressing, and salting create milled curds that are hard as rocks (figuratively) and difficult to knit.

Third - Looks aren't everything. The cheese can still taste great.

Continuing the analogy, think of pressing a hoop full of rocks together. That's obviously not possible except with extreme pressure. However, if you add heat to soften the rocks (like early stage lava) then the rocks can can be easily pressed together, even with low pressure. That's what the extra warmth does when Pressing In The Pot. The fresh cheese softens (but doesn't melt) and pressing becomes really easy.

The result should be a much smoother texture with no holes. This is such an easy technique that I may start Pressing In The Pot with all of my hard cheeses. I see this as at least replacing my pressing under whey.

[padams]

You give me hope, Sailor!  i am very excited to get going.  I have my hoop, and this week I am going to make a queso fresco for my sil's from venezuela...they are excited to be my guinea pigs!   After that, following your new instructions, I think I may go for a cheddar...maybe    I really am very impressed by your hot pressing tech!

[Boofer]

Trying to revive this thread....

Sailor - I like this idea. It does seem like a variation on pressing under whey where the curds are heated and more malleable.

When considering whey removal, pressing times, and psi applied, I'm thinking the commercial cheesemakers don't dally around with excessive time in the press. It would seem like they apply pressure to expel the most whey in the shortest period of time. Correct?

With a higher psi, you would end up with the most whey removed, lower acidity, and a tighter knit.

-Boofer-

[DeejayDebi]

I think you may have just found out why I can press at lower weight and getting nice clean cheeses. I often press in a pot or a bucket to catch the whey and stop the drafts.

[wharris]

Have you cut into a wheel pressed in this fashion yet?
I am curious if the nature of the internal curd is markedly different compared to other pressing methods..

Is the curd:
>more closed
>somewhat open
>more open
>the same.


In the past, I have used various moulds for stirred curd cheddar (tome moulds, hoops (CM100), and kadova moulds).  While the kadova moulds provided the best looking wheels of cheese by far, the interior meat of the cheeses was not much different in each mould type.

So I was curious what the interior of your wheels looked like....

[DeejayDebi]

because the curds stay warmer longer they tend to press smoother internally and externally.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Cantal is really fast and easy to make. However it is MUCH tougher to press than a cheddar - 3 DAYS of pressing. After my first one I swore that I would never make one again. However, since "pressing in the pot" I have made two more Cantals. After just 30 minutes with 30 pounds of direct weight, the knit on the exterior was superb, actually beyond expectations. So, no I haven't actually cut one yet but the outsides are flawless and I have high confidence that the insides will be just as good. This technique has completely changed my approach to difficult cheeses.

Yes, Deb, I'm sure you are right about the way that you are pressing. The added warmth makes all the difference in the world. I shoot for 85F inside the pot. Much warmer than that and you will start losing butterfat.

Wayne, I've thought about you with this technique and realize that this might be really hard to do with 20 pound plus wheels. I am looking at making bigger batches myself and am probably going to construct a mini heated pressing enclosure. I'm thinking sheet Styrofoam walls enclosing the press with a simple heat lamp to warm things up.