Cracked Our First Parm at 6 Months.

[rsterne]

Last September 3 we made a Parmesan-style cheese, only our third cheese.... It was a 2 gallon make, resulting in a yield of about 1.5 lbs.... After an initial aging in the cheese cave for a couple of weeks, we got tired of chasing mold, so cleaned it and vacuum bagged it....



Today we cracked it, aged 6 months.... It exceeded all our expectations....  8) .... The rind was quite tough, but the paste was dry yet pliable, with only a tiny crack or two in the center.... It sliced beautifully, and was really tasty, definitely a Parm.... We will be using the first quarter mostly for grating, although it is actually a delightful table cheese right now.... slightly salty, delightfully nutty, with a bit of a bite on the tongue.... It is actually better than any store bought Parmesan we have ever had....  :o



The remaining three quarters are bagged and back in the cave, to be sampled at 12, 18 and 24 months.... I am surprised at how mature this Parm is at just 6 months, perhaps it will not make it all the way to 2 years?.... ::)

Bob

[paulabob]

What recipe did you follow?  Looks great!

[rsterne]

Thanks!.... We followed the recipe in Ricki Caldwell's book "Home Cheesemaking".... We used 7.5 litres of store bought skim milk plus 0.5 litres of 33% cream, for a total of 8 litres of 2% BF.... I'm sure using 2% P/H milk would work just fine....

Bob

[bansidhe]

Wow.. Your third cheese and it's a Parm AND a success.  Congratulations, that is truly awesome!  One day I'll try a longer aging cheese but I want to make sure I can consistently make shorter aged cheese.  But this sure is an inspiration.

[Lancer99]

Looks excellent, AC4U!

It will just get better (although I've never gotten past 18 months with a Parm/Romano!)

-L