Not my favorite cheese but this is the recipe I used.
Cantal (kahn TAHL) - France
This semi-hard cheese is aged for several months. The form is massive, the cheese has a soft interior. Its flavor, which is somewhat reminiscent of cheddar, is a strong, tangy butter taste and grows with age. A well ripened Cantal has a vigorous taste, while a young cheese has the sweetness of raw milk.
Cantal is proof that mild cheeses can be very good. It has a smooth texture with buttery and nutty flavors that linger on the palate. This straightforward cheese matches best with a no-nonsense red wine. Cantal has been made for thousands of years – isn’t it time to try some?
Ingredients:
4.5 gallons pasteurized milk
1/4 teaspoon MA11 culture
1/2 teaspoon double strength vegetable rennet
1/4 teaspoon calcium chloride dissolved in 1/4 cup of water (if store bought milk)
3 tablespoons cheese salt
Procedure:
Heat milk to 90°F
Add culture and ripen for 45 minutes.
Add calcium chloride if needed.
Add rennet mixed in 1/4 cup of pure water.
Cover and set for about 40 minutes or until a clean break is achieved.
Cut curds into 1/4 inch pieces, rest for 5 minutes then stir with whisk for about 20 minutes breaking up any larger curds.
Drain curds in cheesecloth lined colander for 20 minutes.
Put curds back into the pot and add salt mixing well.
Break up any large pieces then rest for 10 minutes maintaining 90°F.
Place curds in molds and press for 30 minutes using 20 pounds of weight.
Remove from mold but keep it wrapped in cheese cloth and let in sit for 8 hours.
the touch. This can be 2 to 5 days.
Mill the curds into 1/4 inch pieces.
Place curds in a mold and press for two hour with 40 pounds.
Place curds in a mold and press for two hour with 50 pounds for 24 hours.
Remove from mold and allow to air dry for several dries on a wooden board turning every four hours.
When the cheese is dry to the touch ripen at 55°F and 80 to 85% humidity.
Turn cheese over and wash daily with a mild salt solution of 2 tablespoon salt in 1-1/2 cups of water.
Age for 3 to 6 months.
If mold begins to develop wash in mild salt solution using a nylon bristle brush.
Cantal - France
The Cantal is a cheese with the cow's milk to pressed and not cooked paste. The crust is thin and of gray-white color at the beginning of refining then it thickens and one sees appearing buttoned gilded during refining. The paste is of color ivory and sinks slightly into growing old. L' dry extract is of 57% minimum and the dry fat/is of 45% minimum.
The mentions “Manufacture Farm”, “Farm” and different Cheese being able to imply at a farm origin of cheese, are reserved to the farm producers processing the milk produced on their exploitation. The paste is of color ivory and sinks slightly into growing old. L' dry extract is of 57% minimum and the dry fat/is of 45% minimum.
Preparation of curd - Emprésurage of milk with 32 °C, - Coagulation, - Décaillage and mixing of curd, - Evacuation of the serum and rassemblage of curd in a compact mass,
Manufacture of cheeses - The First pressing of curd to the press divides into volumes, - Maturation, - Crushing and salting in the mass, - Maturation of the tome cheese to salt, - Assembly of the part, - The Second pressing with reversals.
Refining of cheeses - 30 days minimum Refining. The Cantal is called “young person” as from 30 days of refining, “interval” for a refining from 2 to 6 months and “old man” beyond 6 months. - Assembly of the part, - The Second pressing with reversals.