Creating a new cheese, by accident

[tnbquilt]

I was going to make (2) 4 gallon batches of Monterey Jack today. I was going to pepper one and not the other. I was out of culture, so I went to the store to buy some. They had one package of the 3 packs of culture from Mad Millie left, it said Mesophilic on the outside.

I came home and put my 4 gallons of milk and 1 quart of heavy cream in each of my electric roasters. When it's time to add the culture I opened up the package and it says that is thermophilic culture.

So now I am making a Gruyere type cheese with heavy cream added to it. I am not going to add the propionic to it.

This may have to be moved to the FAILURES I HAVE KNOWN post at a later date.

[hoeklijn]

Will be interesting to follow this make....

[Boofer]

This may have to be moved to the FAILURES I HAVE KNOWN post at a later date.

Let's not be hasty, Tammy. No cheese before its time....  ;)

Optimism is the order of the day.  :)

-Boofer-

[tnbquilt]

I read somewhere that Beecher's Flagship cheddar is a mixture between a Gruyere and a cheddar. That stuff is wonderful! I know that the quart of heavy cream still doesn't go, but I am now cheddaring 8 gallons of Gruyere. It smells great!

[steffb503]

One of the joys of cheese making.....experiments!

[tnbquilt]

I have two electric roasters and I put 4 gallons of milk and 1 quart of heavy cream in each. One cheese weighs a pound more than the other. I had the same thing happen last weekend, and it's the same roaster that came out less. It seems to heat faster than the other one but I thought I had it figured out.

I press in two different presses of course, but the press didn't remain the same, as in last week my old press had the smaller cheese in it and this week it had the larger cheese in it.

The cheeses are pretty and they smelled great and tasted good before I pressed them.

[tnbquilt]

Today I tasted the mystery cheese, named Alberta. I named it Alberta because when I was a teenager I worked at Wendy's and we had a black guy that ran the grill. He called all of the white girls Alberta, because he said we all looked alike.  :) I thought it was hilarious and I still do.

So Alberta to me is a generic name for anything.

So the cheese was way to wet in the vacuum seal bag, which means I bagged it too early. I should have let it dry out more. It smelled terrible because of the moisture in the bag. It did not taste like it smelled though. It was creamy because of the additional cream that I added, soft, smooth, and had a very nice knit. The flavor was earthy, like dirt. It is way far away from being ready. The cheese that I had decided to imitate ages for 18 months, and this has been 4 months on mine.

The texture is almost exactly what I was hoping for, and this will also change with aging. I put it in a plastic box on some cheese boards and set it back in the cave with the lid propped on it so that it can air out for a few days.

I am still hopeful that it will come out great.

[MrsKK]

Thanks for the update on Alberta - what a great story!

When I was in high school, I knew a guy with seven sisters...he had a terrible time remembering names, so he called all the girls "Beautiful" or "Gorgeous".  He wasn't being flirty, just had learned at an early age that a woman likes to be appreciated.

[Boofer]

When I was in high school, I knew a guy with seven sisters...he had a terrible time remembering names, so he called all the girls "Beautiful" or "Gorgeous".  He wasn't being flirty, just had learned at an early age that a woman likes to be appreciated.

Ah, the good ol' days....

Now, unfortunately, that same person might be charged with sexual harassment.

-Boofer-

[BobE102330]

called all the girls "Beautiful" or "Gorgeous".

I've used that method with dates since college after I called a girl by the wrong name at an inopportune time...   :-[

[tnbquilt]

That's better than Baby, or Sugar.

[Tiarella]

called all the girls "Beautiful" or "Gorgeous".

I've used that method with dates since college after I called a girl by the wrong name at an inopportune time...   :-[

there's a very funny song of the female version of that story by a singer/songwriter named Christine Lavin.  (not sure if I'm spelling her name correctly because it was a long time ago that I watched her perform this.)  The chorus was a long list of names she called her sweeties during those inopportune moments when the wrong name would just be so bad.  I wish I could remember the chorus....  Something like "Honey Pie, Sugar Lips, Motor Hips, etc.