This was made using 7.5 liters pasteurized water buffalo milk, Danish yogurt and animal rennet powder. Over 20 hours air drying and 3 months and 12 days aged in a regular fridge vegetable drawer in vacuum pack. I don't use a pH meter so I based it on smell, taste and how the curd mass looks to determine when to stop cheddaring and start milling and salting. The curd was slightly sour and the good thing about the yogurt I use. It becomes ropy when it is acidic therefore the whey coming out of the curd mass was ropy. The curd mass also had a cooked chicken breast texture when I milled it. I don't have a real cheese press so I improvised using the stock pots I used in making this cheese. This was pressed with 8 kg (8 liters of water in the pot) on each side for an hour each and a final pressing of almost 50 lbs. for 1 hour and 30 minutes on one side and 1 hour on the other side. The cheese knitted way better than expected especially for its size (almost 1.5 kg) and the amount of time it was pressed.
I pressed it in a short amount of time because I fear the cheese will over acidify since the ambient temperature in my kitchen is over 85 f. This is where many home cheese makers make mistakes. They press too long or with too much weight trapping whey or both which results in over acidified crumbly sour cheese. The texture of this cheese is firm, elastic and melts really well which means pH is right on point. This cheese has that classic cheddar cheesy flavor with a hint of mango. As for the taste, it has the right amount of salt, slightly sour and sweet and no bitterness. It is also very creamy and has a nice white color thanks to the water buffalo milk.
