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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => RENNET COAGULATED - Hard Cheddared (Normally Stacked & Milled) => Topic started by: Garlicbee on June 19, 2013, 10:42:23 PM

Title: wenslydale with cranberries
Post by: Garlicbee on June 19, 2013, 10:42:23 PM
Does anyone have a recipe for this.  My attempts at cheddar have been so so.  A little crumbly and tart.  So was thinking about trying this one out.  But the only recipe for wenslydale is plain in the book

how does one add in the cranberries. do they have to be sterilized somehow?

thanks

so glad to find this site, great info!
Title: Re: wenslydale with cranberries
Post by: Boofer on June 20, 2013, 07:19:34 PM
What book are you working from?

Why not attempt to fine-tune the Cheddar make until you understand how not to produce a possibly over-acidified cheese (dry & crumbly)? If you do this first before adding in other possible complications, you stand a better chance of creating a top notch cheese.

I think the go-to guy for Wensleydale is Jeff Hamm. Check this out. (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,10317.0.html)

-Boofer-
Title: Re: wenslydale with cranberries
Post by: Garlicbee on July 03, 2013, 10:45:34 PM
The glengarry cheese web site , have tried that one, also the farm house cheddar from the 100 and something cheeses at home.  Was hoping a wenslydale would be faster to age. 

Can you tell immediately, within a few weeks if the cheddar is going to be any good. Could keep trying farm house cheddar but have been waiting months to try them which makes making changes difficult if your notes aren't great

Thanks
Title: Re: wenslydale with cranberries
Post by: JeffHamm on July 04, 2013, 12:46:51 AM
Hi,

I've not made any cheeses that have had fruit added, so I can't add anything on that.  Boofer has ventured into this arena though with some blueberry cheeses.  As I recall, it will be important to balance the acidity of the fruit with that of the cheese.

Anyway, I know some people say that you can eat Wensleydale around two months, and maybe even one month.  I've not tried it that young, in part because I use caerphilly has my short aging cheese, and I tend to age mine out to 4 months or more.   I've only made it a few times, though, but my 3rd one was a great result.  I should make another some time soon. 

If you want a decent, fairly fast aging cheddar, then I would recommend caerphilly or lancashire.  There are a lot of people making caerphilly these days, so there's no shortage of experienced makers who can offer advice.  Lancashire, which is ready in 2 months, was quite popular a year or two ago, and there are a number of threads on it to get ideas from.  I've just got a small wedge of my last one left. :(

To improve, I really can't stress enough the importance of taking good notes.  Even caerphilly will take 3 weeks before you should cut into it.  You're not likely to remember if you went a bit over, or stirred a longer, or roughly, etc, 3 weeks later.  Write it down as it happens, write down things you notice and/or do as it ages (i.e. flipped it and noticed it was wet, wiped off with paper towel, and re-salted - or "wiped it down with 4% brine again this morning", etc).  These notes, and observations at the time, are a real help when you want to recreate a cheese later, or if you think you could improve something (i.e. too salty, not salty enough, too wet, too dried out, etc).  I went over my make notes for my 9th caerphilly, which turned out dry and flavourless, modifed my make for my 10th caerphilly, and that one has turned out fantastic.  Without details, I wouldn't be sure what it was that went wrong or what to do to fix it.

- Jeff