Aging Gouda

[iratherfly]

Good luck with the next batch! Keep this thread posted!

[tananaBrian]

Just as a matter of interest, I had the same problem with all the Goudas I'd made from the Carroll book.  A month ago, though, I checked the NE Cheesemaking website again, and the recipe up there is rather radically different in almost every respect from the one in the book.  So I made a couple of Goudas using that recipe, and have been aging (waxed) at 59-60 degrees in the basement.  (I only air-dried until I couldn't feel damp any more when I flipped them - probably took maybe 3 days in the 50-55-degree zilch humidity dining room.)

Cracked one of them open earlier this week - was about 3-1/2 weeks old at that point.  It definitely needs more aging, doesn't really taste like Gouda at the moment, but it's good - AND it's nice and moist.   First time I've actually be able to pull that off!  Although it was a bit wet under the wax, not sure how that's going to pan out later.  I'm going to vac bag the leftover piece of the first one and let it age some more.

So maybe try the website recipe and see if that works better for you too?

An important note about Ricki's recipes and book versus the web site:  They've been updating recipes and posting them online, and the online versions are the ones that you really should follow.  I know at least for some of them, that they've made adjustments that will help when using today's milks that have been pasteurized at higher temperatures (up to 170-ish that is) while the original recipes were developed for vat-pasteurized milk using 145 F.  I know this is true for the mozzarella recipe, and it's probably true for the others.  I'll bet that if you write to them, that they'll respond with some good information for you.  They've been very very helpful with me when I've written.

Brian

[george]

Yes, they've always said that when in doubt, use the recipe on the website.  I was simply more surprised by how MUCH the site recipe differed from the original - most others had less differences, in aggregate, than that one did.  I've pretty much stopped doing Gouda anyway - I was only doing those for lack, at the time, of a Havarti recipe.   

On the other hand, that Gouda I posted about above is now 6 weeks and tastes worse than it did at 3-1/2 weeks.  I'm wondering whether to just give it away now or see if it gets any better in a few more weeks.

[Sailor Con Queso]

Gouda needs 90 days or more.

[Boofer]

On the other hand, that Gouda I posted about above is now 6 weeks and tastes worse than it did at 3-1/2 weeks.  I'm wondering whether to just give it away now or see if it gets any better in a few more weeks.

Interesting. I was just wondering what lucky soul would get your cheese that you think tastes so bad. 

Similar candidates of mine join the compost heap. "No cheese before its time".

-Boofer-

[linuxboy]

That's very normal for Gouda - to have some bitterness when young. Young goudas will be bitter unless you really lower the moisture content to the point when it's not really a gouda any more.

Age it out, it'll be better with time. But not a few weeks, needs to be 90 days +, like Sailor said.