Hi again,
I have just cut into my first Farmhouse Cheddar... its 4 weeks old tomorrow and was kept in various less than ideal temperatures from the fridge, bench, shelf in the laundry during its aging.
It was a cheapo P&H milk, using the recipe from my cheese kit. Apparently i was not very careful with the make, i didnt take notes either so i cant help with that now.
But, all that said... It tastes AMAZING! i honestly expected something very dangerous hapening under the wax, or expected some grand failure! And its not... It tastes like our shop bought 'Tasty' cheese. It has the texture too, holds teeth marks, which is my way of gauging... Its a little moist but still ok for me. It has a few gaps in it but its not too bad! Its very white though, and im not really sure what it should look like so if anyone has a pic of a similar id happily take a look! Oh, i cant really 'slice' it, but not sure if your meant to be able to or not... And IT MELTS! what a great thing to happen...
Now, on to the questions:
1. What should a 4 week old Farmhouse Cheddar look like? Should i be able to slice it?
2. My best guess on the holes/gaps is too cold when i pressed and not enough pressure. Any one agree/disagree?
3. What affect would the aging temp have on all this, as i dont yet have a cave, the cheese was in the fridge some days, on the bench overnight as its quite cold here at the moment, nights are down to 16c inside my house. Or if i wasnt running the dryer id put it on a shelf in the laundry during the day which im not sure of the temp, but lets say it was under 20 as the outside temp wasnt over that and its colder in my house than outside, damn double brick!
Any help or ideas appreciated here, but all told im rather impressed with myself. I had no idea what to expect!
Oh, side note: I made another farmhouse with chives two weeks ago, as its being eaten on christmas i really wanted to check that it was 'edible' so that if its not i could let her know that it would be good to buy some. And wow... its soooo good! Obviously its not as good as the first as its only two weeks old, but still... The chives have flavoured it really well, and was a bit crumbly, a perfect 'cracker' type cheese!
thanks
Crystal