Rescuing an overbrined cheese:

[mightyjesse]

I forgot about my Asiago in the brine for an extra 36 hours. I am now attempting to desalinize my cheese by soaking it in several changes of fresh water. Has anyone successfully rescued a cheese with the second law of thermodynamics, or is this cheese not worth aging?

[beechercreature]

you'll likely be leeching out calcium too if you don't add some to the water.

[mightyjesse]

I live in Wisconsin with one of the highest saturations of Ca+ in the water in the COUNTRY. My laundry is a trainwreck, and I have to clean my coffee pot of crust once a month, but I don't have to add Ca+ to my pasteurized milk... I just dump in a bit of tap water with the rennet... >_<

[beechercreature]

I live in Wisconsin with one of the highest saturations of Ca+ in the water in the COUNTRY. My laundry is a trainwreck, and I have to clean my coffee pot of crust once a month, but I don't have to add Ca+ to my pasteurized milk... I just dump in a bit of tap water with the rennet... >_<

ha! me too. makes for some great stouts, but you should see the mess it leaves in my sink!

[WovenMeadows]

How large was the wheel of cheese, and how long total was it in the brine for? I'm thinking just age it out, it will be on the saltier side, maybe coming out more parma-like than asiago. If you do soak in water, add calcium and also some acid to try and just draw out salt, nothing else.

[Alpkäserei]

Yes I would say just age it out to be a grating cheese, where high salt is desirable. I am skeptical of how well you will be able to leach out the salt, without leaching out a lot of other wanted things as well.

[kdttocs]

I see the OP is old but I thought I would add my suggestion of soaking it in milk rather than water.

When making Feta the *recommended* brine concentration is too high for many people's preference. It's recommended to soak in milk to pull some of the salt out. It seems that would minimize the stripping of other things from the cheese.

[Tomer1]

You can make another batch ,mill the over salted cheese and mix it togther with the new cheese to form something new.
Press warm under whey to get a good knit.