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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => RENNET COAGULATED - Hard Cheddared (Normally Stacked & Milled) => Topic started by: debdp on August 03, 2013, 04:35:00 AM

Title: Clothbound Cheddar / cut and wax?
Post by: debdp on August 03, 2013, 04:35:00 AM
This cheddar is my first hard cheese and is only at 70 days.  It was made with four gallons of raw goat milk.  It's clothbound with homemade lard.  The smell is overwhelming strong cheddar when I open the container to turn it and remove excess moisture...it's wonderful!   It's not completely covered in molds, mostly on the top and bottom, maybe 50% on the sides.   Since it's my first cheese and awfully large, I was wondering if after removing the cloth, can it be cut in half and wax the other half to continue aging?  I'm torn between leaving it to age and tasting it to see how I did for my first cheddar.  Thanks.
Title: Re: Clothbound Cheddar / cut and wax?
Post by: JeffHamm on August 03, 2013, 07:11:09 PM
It sounds like it is aging well, so I wouldn't cut it.  If you want to taste it, use an apple / vegetable peeler to core out a piece, and put the rind end back in as a plug.  You can buy a special tool for doing this, called a "trier", but people here have used peelers to do the same thing.  This allows you to sample how your cheese is progressing without doing anything too drastic.  Mind you, if you over do it, you end up with a cheese that resembles a plucked porcupine.  :)

Also, post a photo of your cheese.  It sounds great.

- Jeff
Title: Re: Clothbound Cheddar / cut and wax?
Post by: debdp on August 03, 2013, 08:05:02 PM
It was wrapped on June 1st.  Here are three progressive pictures from 6/16, 6/24 and 7/15.