Havarti With Dill and Onions

[Minamyna]

Do you cook the onion at all before you add it? What are the guidelines for adding fresh and or dried herbs in a cheese during the making and having them come out okay in the end? Without going "bad"?

[BigCheese]

So far the make is going well. my one concern is overpressing: I used 7.5lbs on each of my 1lb kadovas and considerably more on 3.5-4lb wheel. I just hate to have cheeses that are not knit well, at least on the outside. I was not concerned until now, 1.5 hours into the water bath, the water is not becoming milky at all. Otherwise I have hit all my PH marks so far and am feeling very good about this dill havarti.

[DeejayDebi]

Sorry I have been away on vacation. I use dehydrated herbs and veggies in all my cheese unless they are pickled/fermented in some form or will be eatten fresh. As I use raw milk I generally age most cheeses for 6 months. Havarti about 3 to 4 months.

[jkatz1]

What kind of wax did you use - was it clear paste wax? Would red gouda wax work?

[DeejayDebi]

Havarti is a fair fresh cheese I don't wax but I do vacuum seal.

BTW I just got around to cutting up this cheese the other day for a party and tried smoking some. It melted at room temperature which on Sunday was 96 degrees so smoking was very difficult and I gave it up as the sun on the smoker brught the temperature up to high. I had it sitting on the seat of my car as I drove to the party and it melted together from the sun! Talk about a low melting temperature!

[Brentsbox]

I have since revised the recipe slightly based on an experiment using a combination of recipes and techniques from sevral sources. This cheese turned out absolutely perfect in both flavor and texture.

Ingredients:
Pasturized milk at 86-88 °F,
Mesophile Aromatic Type B (starter )
MD-89 (This culture is used to enhance flavor (buttery) and produce some small eyes in cheese )
rennet mixed in 1/4 cup pure water
flaked, kosher or sea salt

you dont say how many gallons of milk your using here? 

[DeejayDebi]

Brent no I don't. I try to encourage people to use cultures based on the manufacturers recommendation rather than a recipe I used. I probably used 7 gallons of milk that is my norm unless I have excess for some reason.