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GENERAL BOARDS => Introductions => Topic started by: DianneAder on January 18, 2013, 03:47:02 PM

Title: I'm from Washington State
Post by: DianneAder on January 18, 2013, 03:47:02 PM
Hello,
My name is Dianne Ader. I have a passion for making cheese. We own a small farm & have dairy cows & milk goats. I milk to make cheese, butter & drink cream  ;D
I have been making cheese for 12 years. I make cheese about once a week. For years I just made a fresh farmers cheese that is pressed & not aged. I joined the Cheesepalooza this early fall to improve my cheese making skills. I also took a cheese work shop this fall in town at a local goat dairy farm.
I have had trouble making cheese that was so dry, you could not cut it very well.
We live in a very DRY area. My cheese workshop I took the lady told us to cut the curds at 1 1/2 inches to 2 inch grid on top & make a couple swipes, instead of cutting 1/2 curds or 1/4 inch curds, to help with the dry atmosphere.

I am having trouble with my cheese cracking out of the press, while the cheese is skinning. I need help with that. I made FarmHouse Cheddar using Mary Karlin's book Artisan Cheese Making at Home. I have made that twice now...the second time I did not heat the curds to 102 deg...I heated them to 98 deg. I also on the second time did not stir for 20 min...I stirred once every 15 min. I put the press in a pot & covered it when I pressed it too. The second cheese I did not brine.

I really want to be able to make Cheddar Cheese.
Here is my cheese blog...you can see what I have done.

http://barovervranch.weebly.com/blog-about-cheese-challenge-with-cheesepalooza.html (http://barovervranch.weebly.com/blog-about-cheese-challenge-with-cheesepalooza.html)

Thank you for your help & knowledge.
Dianne
Title: Re: I'm from Washington State
Post by: H-K-J on January 18, 2013, 04:05:01 PM
I like your blog Dianne :D
Just glancing through it
you will find there is a lot of info on the forum that will help your cheese making.
search and ye shall find, good luck and have fun ;)
Title: Re: I'm from Washington State
Post by: Al Lewis on January 18, 2013, 09:02:20 PM
Welcome to the forum!!
Title: Re: I'm from Washington State
Post by: High Altitude on February 05, 2013, 09:17:19 PM
Hi Dianne!  I also live in a VERY dry climate (22% humidity in my kitchen), so can relate to your cracking cheese.  I air dried my first parmesan overnight on the counter and it had tiny cracks around the base by morning (yikes!).  So then I made Mary Karlin's farmhouse cheddar.  Bound and determined not to get cracks in that one, I set it to air dry in the microwave alongside a damp sponge to increase humidity.  Thankfully, after 5 days of air drying in that environment, not a single crack :-).  The cheddar actually "wept" for the first 2 days from the sides (just 3-4 tiny weeps really), but those dried up quickly when I left the cheese out on the counter for an hour or two at a time each day (never longer than that).  Today I wiped it down carefully with a vinegar/salt solution (because it had some dry white spotting - maybe light mold?) and waxed the cheese.  I am currently air drying my second parmesan in the same manner...day 2...and so far so good.  Hope that helps :-)!!
Title: Re: I'm from Washington State
Post by: MrsKK on February 06, 2013, 04:22:28 PM
Hey, Dianne!  I'm glad you came on over - nice to hang out with friends in several places.