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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => RENNET COAGULATED - Hard Cheddared (Normally Stacked & Milled) => Topic started by: Lennie on January 10, 2010, 11:39:50 PM
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I bought some annatto solution, diluted it in distilled water and added to a 2gal batch of farmhouse cheddar I made today. The bottle said to use 2 drops per gallon which is what I did. The cheese doesn't look yellow at this point, I made ricotta with the whey and the liquid left after that was quite yellow.
Did I do something wrong?
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I'm not sure what point "this point" is but you won't see it until after pressing. It also gets yellower with age. I think I use about 4 drops per gallon but you have to be careful or you'll get electric colored cheese!
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I'm pressing the curds as we speak.
Speaking of which, I couldn't fit all the curds in my small mold (M3) so I havd to make a small second cheese in the basket mold that came with my hard cheese kit. Now that pressing is making the cheese smaller, can I add the curds on top of the one larger cheese? I'm pressing at 20lb right now, that'll go overnight. If I can, do I need to break up the curds I suppose?
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By now the temperature difference is probably to great to add them and it often doesn't work well
BUT
This is cheddar is it not? You now have a handful of what is afffectionately called Cheddar Cheese Curds or "squeeky cheese" in Wisconsin and they sell like hot cakes! You can eat them or bread them and fry them. Wonderful stuff! Cheddar cheese curds are a highly prized and sought after product. Throw them in the fridge for an hour and when you eat them they will squeek.
I think you will find several posts here from people asking how to make cheddar cheese curds - Oh you lucky guy!
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I like a cheddar to be yellow to the point of almost being orange. It's what I've become accustomed to from commercial examples and in my mind's eye that how it's supposed to be.
Because of that I use an 1/8 tsp. in a 4 gallon batch and find that the color is just about right.
Of course this does not at all affect the color or the texture of the cheese. It is simply there for looks.
On one hand, this should probably not even be important to the home cheese maker. On the other hand I think we are products of our environment and expect our food to look like what we are used to.
Case in point is some green ketchup my wife once bought for the kids. They loved it, because they are weird. :)
I on the other hand could not eat it since it did not look like what ketchup is supposed to look like.
It might be a little strange but cheddar has to have that yellow orange color as far as I'm concerned.
JMHO..
Dave
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Oh shoot. I may have messed up then, because I broke up both cheeses again and repacked it all in the one mold. I hope the thing holds together. It all fit this time, I did eat a couple of the curds and they weren't squeaky but still quite tasty.
Is it important that the curds be warm when you pack the mold?
My curds weren't yellow at all either. I'm wondering if the storebought milk is messing me up. I used CaCl2 and a little extra heavy cream (maybe 1/2cup) plus I doubled the rennet to one tablet, I did the floating bowl test and let it sit somewhat longer than the 3x. I got what I think were good curds after a nice clean break.
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Well they should be no colder than 80°F I believe is the magic number. DId you keep the whey or toss it?
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I made a nice batch of ricotta. The one thing I seem to be able to make.
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Like Dave, I like a very yellow cheddar.
I use 10drops/gallon.
The resulting milk is eggnogg colored, and the curds are perfect.
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You seem to have just made a nice tastey cheddar too. If the curds are good now they will only improve with time. Do not loose heart. You may still have a tightly knit cheese. You could if you want try to reheat the curds by putting them in a pot of hot water in the mold. Do you have a zip lock big enough to hold the mold? You could try dipping that into hot water so you will not affect the acidity of the cheese?
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Ah I forgot to mention 4 drops per gallon of raw milk. It takes less for some reason. I do not have any data left from my store milk cheddar.
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I am going to go without heating the mold up. If it doesn't hold together I'll just eat the batch as curds.
I have the wanna-be-cheese under 40lb of free weights right now. I knew I was keeping those things for some good reason.
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If you milled them fine enough you may not even have a problem.
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Debi....
If I'm thinking correctly, this being a Farmhouse style of Cheddar cheese, there would have been no milling step involved. It's been a few years since I've attempted this type of cheese, but I don't remember a cheddaring or milling step involved.
Lennie....
No matter what happens with this cheese you have still made some sort of cheese that will, more likely than not, be edible. It might not turn out exactly as you had planned but that's all a part of the learning process.
I've made my fair share of less than desirable cheese (today was an example) but either myself, or someone in my family has eaten and in most cases enjoyed everything that I've turned out.
I'm sure that you will be happy with this cheese and I'm sure that you will also notice some things that can be improved upon. This is how we all learn to make better and better cheese.
Keep us informed on your final result and good luck with everything that you do in the future.
Dave
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Ah I just reread the begining of the thread sorry I was thinking a standard cheddar. Got my posts confused for a bit. Nope - no milling on a farmhouse cheddar.
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After cutting and cooking I put the curds in a bowl and broke them into "walnut-sized" pieces. Isn't this milling? And when I combined the two, I broke them back up and started over.
Is a walnut sized piece the size of a whole English walnut, or the size of a shelled nut half?
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Your on the right track but milling is more like make pieces like rice. Think of milling flour or milling grain.
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My milled cheddar was never rice sized. I simply cut them into .5in to .75in cubes
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Here's the pressed product just out from under 50lb of my free weights. Its 4" tall and has a slightly angled top since the weights shifted a bit during the night. I put the mold on the drain mat in a milk crate and put the weights on top, pushed newspapers in each side to hold it in place. I guess it might be just slightly yellow, but I intend to use more annatto next time. I'm drying it a couple of days and then waxing unless someone has a better suggestion. Now the hard part, waiting 2+ months.
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I do have a vacuum sealer if that is a better option.
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Wayne -
The big curd milling machines in the factory stores I've been to spit out curds that are smaller than bulk mozzarella shreds.
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That is a great point Deb. All of the recipes that I have seen call for 1/2" to 1" curd cubes. However you are right, it seems that all of the commercial guys mill much smaller. I've thought for quite a while that smaller cubes would meld easier and press better. It would take much longer to cut that small without a milling machine. (Sanitized sausage grinder perhaps???) That also means that the larger surface area of smaller curds would be exposed to more salt. That would cause more whey to be expelled and would slow down acid production even more than usual.
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Sailor, I tend to agree.
Deb, I am going to have to respectfully disagree. Not sure why, perhaps I just feel a bit "spicy" tonight. :)
But here is how I think it goes when deciding milled curd size:
There are specific and technical reasons that determine the final size of a milled curd. Basically we are cutting the loaves up just enough to achieve the right surface area and whey drainage.
What drives the final size of the milled curd is the need to convert the loaves to sizes that yield the correct mass/surface area(M/SA) ratio. The reason that ratio is important is that this ratio facilitates the rate and amount of salt absorption in the cheese curds. The M/SA ratio controls the rate of salt absorption and thusly, the acid production in the final cheese. Ultimately the size of a milled salted curd is determined by understanding the desired target salt-in-moisture level, and the acid development rates of the cheese.
So, the way I look at it is this:
• With very small milled curds the mass/surface area ratio is very small. This results in, a dryer cheese, that absorbs salt very fast and stops acid production relatively quickly
• With a larger milled curd, the mass/surface area ratio is larger. This results in less whey loss, (moister cheese), slower salt absorption and more acid production.
On average according to wiki, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Making_Cheddar_Cheese) this leaves curd sizes at about .51 inches.
(http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2005/11/06/2002608293.jpg)
(http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_4VWsaFEBIhQ/R7EWERrN84I/AAAAAAAAAAc/MckPTIIfkLU/s320/cheese%2Bcurd.jpg)
I think I have that right. Linuxboy? François?
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Well, the disk-type mills a lot of of mid-size factories use have spacing of about 1/2", and produce curds of that size... maybe 5/8" by 1-3". But there are other types of mills out there. I personally have not seen an operation where the curds come out the size of shredded cheese out of the mill. They all look about like the pic you posted, maybe a bit smaller in some cases.
(http://)
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Mine are always about finger width. In any event perhaps ricing wasn't a good example. Maybe rigatoni is better. I think I walnut is way to big unless they are shelled walnut halves.
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Those curds look too big to me and would be hard to press properly.
But.... I've had a moment of inspiration. Many of us use vertical and/or horizontal curd harps to cut our curds. So why not use the curd harp as a hand milling tool? Just put the cheddar block on a cutting board, hold the harp horizontally and gently push the wires thru the cheese. Turn 90 degrees and repeat. Would be much quicker and more consistent than cutting with a knife.
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Actually those curds are very small just a close up in small a saucer. They are only about 3/8 inch. The harp idea may work if it it stiff enogh to do it.
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I wish I had some way of milling the curd easier. It takes so long that the curds get cold and then you have pressing issues. My curds would not cut with a curd knife though I don't think. They are just too tough. I do shoot for .5 to 1 inch cubes at least on one side but they may run long on the other dimensions. Don't they make some kind of slicer for vegatables that looks like half of linuxboy's picture? Like a semicircle with multiple blades?
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I use my 12 inch french chefs knife it's really quick. Slice the layered pieces then chop chop chop and it's done. All the sliced ones go straight away into the mold with the follower to keep them warm.
I drain the whey back into the washed empty milk jugs and pour the still warm whey over the curds between layers to keep them warm. It helps to get a good press. The curds should be around 80°F when pressed.
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Farmer, what if you made this:
Just a stand soldered out of some bars and stainless steel thick wire, or better yet thin gauge strips. It would give you long pieces that you could then cut.
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Might I Suggest?:
(http://www.bestofasseenontv.com/SlapChop/SlapChop.gif)
(just kidding)
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Well, Wayne, I think that you should test drive it and make a video.
Oh, my! Can you just imagine how cheese curds would gum up that little contraption?
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Linux - great photo of the curd milling station. Where did you find that? Is that commercially available?
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I think I'll try that. Thanks linuxboy.
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Sailor, yep, but it's made in the UK as a custom fabrication, not mass produced. I think Jongia UK is a distributor: http://www.cheesemakingshop.com/ (http://www.cheesemakingshop.com/)
Farmer, if you don't want to fabricate it, here's another option:
Amazon and restaurant stores sell them.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004RDFH (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00004RDFH)
There are motorized french fry cutters out there for $200-$400 if you don't want to do the work, and there are also more heavy duty manual ones in the $50 range.
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The fry cutter reminds me of grandmas Veg-O-Matic. That must've been one of Ron Popeil's earlier gadgets and it worked really well.