Havarti - How Is It Different?

[umgowa]

 I am very new to cheese-making.  In fact I'm still in the book reading phase.  In my reading I have noticed that the books I have read do not include my favorite cheese in their recipe lists . . . that cheese is Havarti.  Does anyone know why this might be?  Is Havarti difficult to make?  Also can anyone out there give me an overview of Havarti?  . . like "It's basically similar to  Gouda only it's cured longer"  Or  "it's similar to cheddar  only it's not pressed as hard" . . . Basically telling me what is unique about the making of Havarti that makes it Havarti.   Any kind of big picture perspective like that would be helpful.  Thanks.

[MrsKK]

I can't answer your questions, but sympathize because Havarti is one of my favorites, too, and I've never seen a recipe for making it, either!

[Cheese Head]

Havarti is a washed curd cheese similar to Gouda which means the whey is removed from the curds and hot water added. Whereas cheddar historically has it's curds stacked, drained and then milled, Washed curd "Continental" cheeses are also pressed less than cheddar cheeses. There is lots of info on them in the Washed Curd Board.

I compared several Havarti Recipes here and several Gouda Recipes here, my lastest batch's records here. Mine is far from the best Havarti but I do post lots of details and helpful pictures ;D.

Havarti is not difficult to make, but it is difficult to make well :). The good news is it has a short maturation so the cycle time on learning is reasonable.

Hope helps.

[DeejayDebi]

There are several great discussions on Havarti. Johns comparison is very helpful. I havebeen making Havarti for many years and was quite happy except for a slight textural firmness I got - it is one of my favorite cheeses and I make it every about 4th batch.

I have recently tried a parts of a recipe listed on Ricci Carrols website by Jim Wallace. This process this will be included in my regular make from now on. The water wash process keeps the cheese very soft and the texture and mouth feel are perfect.

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[padams]

it is a semi-hard cheese then?  I saw pictures of John's, which looked very hard, but the stuff at the store was more a swiss consistency.

[DeejayDebi]

This cheese should be kind of  rubbery? but not really it has a springy quality to it. Not hard like a cheddar but not really soft like a camembert. Somewhere in between. More bounce than a swiss. Closer to a ball of mozzarella in springiness but a little more firm.

I am so bad at describing things!

[padams]

Actually, Debi, that made perfect sense!  ;)  Thank you!

[DeejayDebi]

Thank God!  I ran out out ways to say it!  ;)

We need a list of cheese descriptions.  ;D