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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => RENNET COAGULATED - Hard Cheddared (Normally Stacked & Milled) => Topic started by: kaaskop on December 19, 2009, 08:21:31 AM
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Hello,
Six days ago I made a Habanero Jack from 23 liters (6 us gallons) of pasteurized whole milk, 0,4 liters (0.1 us gallon) of heavy cream and rehydrated Habanero peppers.
I added 3 tablespoons of non iodized (fine grain table-) salt to the curds. The amount is according to the recipe in my book "Zelf kaas maken" by Tim Smith, a poor Dutch translation from the book "Making Artisan Cheese".
Comparing this amount with different cheese recipes I now realise that this is only a very little amount of salt. Would the amount be OK for a Jack cheese?
I made the cheese 6 days ago and it is still drying so I have not applied any coating yet. I could make it saltier by putting it in brine for a few hours. Should I do that?
I hope someone can help ???
Niels
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Here's a picture of the cheese, the underside has a much more open structure that remains very moisty.
The reason is that the recipe says to flip the cheese after 20 minutes of light pressing and then to press for 12 hours on one side without flipping. This makes one side of the chees smooth and solid and the other side more open textured I'm supposed a Jack is supposed to be like that?
(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2507/4197081558_b2527a2e14.jpg)
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Hello Niels and welcome
According to my experience with Habanero Jack, for a 10 liters batch I mix into the drained curds 40 gr of salt (about 2 Tb). So, I think there is not enough salt in your cheese, you should mix in about 100 gr of salt.
I press my cheese in a 150-160 mm in dia hoop, as follows:
2 kg for 20 min then flip
2.4 kg for 20 min then flip
4.2 kg for about 7 hrs then flip
4.8 kg for about 9 hrs
Now I wash it with brine and dry at room temperature for about 3 days, flipping twice a day, until the rind turns dry and yellowish. At this stage I wax and age in the cave.
The result is perfect, as you can see in the picture:
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Thank you for that useful information!
I'm starting to think my book is not very useful at all :-[
I will put the cheese in brine for about 4 hours to increase the salt content.
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I agree, probably not enough salt. I would probably have use 10-12 tbs.
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Agreed I use Peter Dixons basic recipe and he calls for 2.75-3.4 lb. per every 100 lb. curd. Which seems to work out perfectly for me.
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Thank you for your help,
I brined the cheese for four hours and after a month I will know if it has an acceptable salt content. The brining did give the cheese a more solid rind, I am pleased with that.
I will use more salt in my next Jack. I want to master the Jack cheese before proceeding to making other cheese types.
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Kaaskop that's a good tact to take. Find out what makes the process work, and what makes for poor results. When you start jumping all over the board trying to make different products it makes it more difficult to hone in on the errors. I know that you are chomping at the bit to give another cheese a try(we all do),but a little patience in the beginning goes a long way toward you enjoyment of the process and that is what it is all about for us anyway. ;D