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GENERAL CHEESE MAKING BOARDS (Specific Cheese Making in Boards above) => INGREDIENTS - Everything Else => Topic started by: WovenMeadows on May 14, 2012, 05:24:10 PM
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Hello all,
I've been curious about making a coffee-flavored cheese. I actually stumbled across one type, a hard Italian (made by BellaVitano from Wisconsin) whose rind is rubbed with ground espresso beans, but haven't tried it yet.
I had been thinking of trying a cheddar-type with coffee, by soaking the curds in coffee or espresso prior to pressing, a la the stout- or port-cheddar recipes from the Amrein-Boyes book. Another possibility would be making a washed natural rind, using coffee instead of water for the brine.
I'm wondering though if there are any chemical properties of the coffee that would ruin or adversely affect the cheese in these processes?
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I dont think its a good idea.
You could possibly make the cheese bitter.
Oxidized coffee is disgusting :)
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Don't do the port cheddar from 200 Easy. Your curds will NOT fuse. I strongly suspect that the recipe was not tested.
I don't know what coffee will do to the curds, but I suspect that the coffee flavor will not successfully survive through aging. If you want a coffee flavored cheese, consider aging a cheese out and then soaking in coffee/espresso for 24-48 hours, air drying, aging another week or two in vac pack, and then eating. JMO.
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I would stick with oil+grinds for rind treatment.
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Thanks for the advice!
I was actually making the Port cheddar yesterday when posting. Took it out of the press this morning...yes, did not fuse well. Surface was very smooth, but the curd chunks do pull right out (some were sticking to the cheesecloth). Hopefully they may bind together in the next few days of curing. If not, I'll wax it right away when dry.
Do you think the Stout/Guinness version would do the same?
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The port changed the pH of the surface of the curds and consequently severely retarded curd fusion. You can dry, wax, and hope for the best. My guess is though that you will have some blue mold development in the voids.
I tried the port cheddar make from 200 Easy a few months back. My curds popped apart when I took them out of the press, so I refrigerated them until the next day, remilled them, and combined with curds made following a stirred curd cheddar make. It made a large and good looking cheese. Alas, when I opened it a month or so ago, I found that the port flavor did not enhance the cheese. It is very dense and moist. It seemed to me that it might improve with more aging, so I vac packed it in large wedges, and will sample periodically.
Check out this thread for discussion on stout soaked cheddars. It also has some further links. http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,8780.0.html (http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,8780.0.html)
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I got the port and beer to work but not a lot of color.
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I would stick with oil+grinds for rind treatment.
I agree with Tomer--I made a tomme and mixed fine coffee grounds with cocoa and smeared it on with olive oil for several weeks. The rind was a bit much, but the coffee and cocoa permeated the cheese and the flavor was great--just the amount you would need.