Butterkase #2

[DoctorCheese]

I made a three gallon variant of this recipe http://www.cheesemaking.com/Butterkase.html that Boofer recommended I try after I assume he read and was appalled by what I did the first time I made this cheese . Almost everything about the recipe was followed exactly other than, and this is probably a big oopsies, I did not have "buttermilk culture" so I just substituted mesophilic C101 and half a quart of cultured buttermilk. Something strange that I noticed was that when I tasted the curds right before pressing, which I have never done before with a washed curd cheese, they tasted very bland almost like firm tofu. Is that normal? Sorry the picture is upside down, it is not that way on my computer and I don't know what's wrong. The cheese weighs 3 lb 6 oz.

I also did not add Geotrichum

[Danbo]

It's normal for the curds to taste bland and not at all acid when it's a washed cheese. It's a good recipe and I hope that your cheese turns out great.

I make buttercheeses all the time and I have never been disappointed. It's very mild but still with a nice round taste. I usually age my buttercheeses 14-28 days. If aiming for 14 days (for a very mild version) the curds need to be very soft when pressing to ensure enough moisture for the bacteria. If aiming for 28 days they should be a bit firmer but still very soft.

Buttercheese is great for melting in sandwiches and for people not into strong cheesy flavors.

By the way - I find buttercheese to be a bit tricky when it comes to keeping the rind free from mold (it is not that acidic). I wax mine after a couple of days. Several times I had to peel off the wax because the rind was not sufficiently dry when waxed. I think that my biggest issue has been that I have placed the cheese in my cave at 85% rel. hum. right after brining. I think that it is best to let it dry at a much lower rel. hum. before placing it in the cave to allow the surface to dry some more and avoid mold problems.

I'm looking forward to hearing more about your buttercheese!

[DoctorCheese]

Small update but it made me very excited! This morning when I removed the cheese from its final molding it had the most amazing smell. It smelled like sweetened cream cheese, the type of smell you might get when mixing the ingredients to a cheese cake. I am so excited to taste it now, but I have to wait 1 month first.

[DoctorCheese]

Cut it open today. Creamy, little bit of tang, tasty. As you can see I seem to have lost the battle with some PR that is running loose in my cave, but the cheese has no blue flavor. The paste has not come together nicely all the way through though. What causes this?

[AnnDee]

Very nice, it looks very creamy. Maybe you need to press longer with more weight, I tend to keep the cheese warm while pressing so it knits better.