I believe I'll stick with the direction in which I was headed, making slight adjustments to my course.
Here's part of that extract I referenced earlier:
"In the autumn of 1955, dairy science student Per Sakshaug (later Manager of Jæren Dairy and Headmaster of Jæren Dairy College), under the supervision of Professor Ystgaard, conducted cheesemaking experiments for his Masters Thesis, “Addition of propionibacteria culture to cheese milk”, at the Agricultural University of Norway (32). Interesting results were obtained, and a good-quality cheese was produced using the Research Dairy’s cheese vats. Interest was awakened to further the development of a Gouda with large eyes. From that point on, the development of a Gouda with large eyes resulting from propionibacteria metabolism was led by Professor Ystgaard, and it was this work that eventually led to today’s Jarlsberg cheese. In addition to the effect on eye production, it was also expected that the addition of a pure culture of Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. Shermanii would add an interesting taste to the cheese.
As the work progressed, Professor Ystgaard felt it was important to retain the Gouda technology. This meant, for example, that only mixed cultures of so-called mesophilic lactic acid bacteria were used in addition to the propionibacteria. These lactic acid bacteria are called mesophilic because their optimal growth temperature is around 30°C. It was decided that the cheese cooking temperature, that is, the highest temperature to which the cheese mass and whey is heated in the vat, was to be the same as the relatively low temperature used for Gouda. This low temperature does not inhibit the mesophilic lactic culture and its metabolism of lactose and citric acid in the milk. In other words, the necessary good growth of the starter bacteria should be guaranteed by using these conditions."
I think if I cut smaller and wash more to dilute the whey, I will be able to more closely replicate the Jarlsberg taste and texture I am familiar with. Here's another extract from that document that speaks to rind cracks and the rubbery texture of Jarlsberg:
"Whey dilution significantly affected all of the sensory properties of the cheese, and the consistency was best when moderate dilution was used. Too little dilution gave a hard and crumbly cheese; too high a dilution gave a rubbery cheese. The effect of whey dilution on the score for taste and aroma in the cheese followed similar trends on the whole, and the tendency to form cracks was clearly reduced by increasing dilution levels."
-Boofer-
