My first Cantal

[anutcanfly]

 Hi Debi ;D French Roast for a French Cheddar... makes sense right now before I've had my coffee...  ;)

Hi Jeff, Yes I have already made it again, immediately after the first one.  But the results were the same and likely will be the same again.  I didn't make mistakes, there is something wrong with the recipe or maybe that's how it should come out?

[JeffHamm]

It may be that the recipe needs tweaking given the differences between your cultures, milk, aging environment, etc.  I've not had cantel before, so I can't comment.  I'm sure there will be a few different makes around though, which may suggest some additional steps. 

- Jeff

[anutcanfly]

I have a hunch that the culture that should be used, stops acidifying sooner than mine.  This cheese sits in the press for 24 hours before it's milled and salted and pressed again for 48 hours.

If anyone out there has any ideas, please speak up!!!

Thankfully, it does melt well and tastes really good that way.  I have plenty of cheeses the can be eaten out of hand, so a few good cooking cheeses are fine.  Melted a slice on my brown/wild rice last night and it was very satisfying!  :P

[JeffHamm]

Ahhh, so the culture is the culprit!  And indeed, by the sounds of it, I suspect your suspect is the correct answer.

- Jeff

[anutcanfly]

 ;D

[DeejayDebi]

Not my favorite cheese but this is the recipe I used.

Cantal (kahn TAHL) - France
This semi-hard cheese is aged for several months. The form is massive, the cheese has a soft interior. Its flavor, which is somewhat reminiscent of cheddar, is a strong, tangy butter taste and grows with age. A well ripened Cantal has a vigorous taste, while a young cheese has the sweetness of raw milk.
Cantal is proof that mild cheeses can be very good.  It has a smooth texture with buttery and nutty flavors that linger on the palate.  This straightforward cheese matches best with a no-nonsense red wine.  Cantal has been made for thousands of years – isn't it time to try some?

Ingredients:
4.5 gallons  pasteurized milk
1/4 teaspoon MA11 culture
1/2 teaspoon double strength vegetable rennet
1/4 teaspoon calcium chloride dissolved in 1/4 cup of water (if store bought milk)
3 tablespoons cheese salt

Procedure:
Heat milk to 90°F
Add culture and ripen for 45 minutes.
Add calcium chloride if needed.
Add rennet mixed in 1/4 cup of pure water.
Cover and set for about 40 minutes or until a clean break is achieved.
Cut curds into 1/4 inch pieces, rest for 5 minutes then stir with whisk for about 20 minutes breaking up any larger curds.
Drain curds in cheesecloth lined colander for 20 minutes.
Put curds back into the pot and add salt mixing well.
Break up any large pieces then rest for  10 minutes maintaining 90°F.

Place curds in molds and press for 30 minutes using 20 pounds of weight.
Remove from mold but keep it wrapped in cheese cloth and let in sit for 8 hours.
the touch. This can be 2 to 5 days.
Mill the curds into 1/4 inch pieces.
Place curds in a mold and press for two hour with 40 pounds.
Place curds in a mold and press for two hour with 50 pounds for 24 hours.
Remove from mold and allow to air dry for  several dries on a wooden board turning every four hours.
When the cheese is dry to the touch ripen at 55°F and 80 to 85% humidity.
Turn cheese over and wash daily with a mild salt solution of 2 tablespoon salt in 1-1/2 cups of water.
Age for 3 to 6 months.

If mold begins to develop wash in mild salt solution using a nylon bristle brush.



Cantal - France

The Cantal is a cheese with the cow's milk to pressed and not cooked paste. The crust is thin and of gray-white color at the beginning of refining then it thickens and one sees appearing buttoned gilded during refining. The paste is of color ivory and sinks slightly into growing old. L' dry extract is of 57% minimum and the dry fat/is of 45% minimum.

The mentions "Manufacture Farm", "Farm" and different Cheese being able to imply at a farm origin of cheese, are reserved to the farm producers processing the milk produced on their exploitation. The paste is of color ivory and sinks slightly into growing old. L' dry extract is of 57% minimum and the dry fat/is of 45% minimum.

Preparation of curd - Emprésurage of milk with 32 °C, - Coagulation, - Décaillage and mixing of curd, - Evacuation of the serum and rassemblage of curd in a compact mass,

Manufacture of cheeses - The First pressing of curd to the press divides into volumes, - Maturation, - Crushing and salting in the mass, - Maturation of the tome cheese to salt, - Assembly of the part, - The Second pressing with reversals.

Refining of cheeses - 30 days minimum Refining. The Cantal is called "young person" as from 30 days of refining, "interval" for a refining from 2 to 6 months and "old man" beyond 6 months. - Assembly of the part, - The Second pressing with reversals.

[dthelmers]

Ahhh, so the culture is the culprit!  And indeed, by the sounds of it, I suspect your suspect is the correct answer.

- Jeff

Also, remember that this was made with colostrum, and the starting pH was 6.4. I think that it just went too far to the acid side for a table cheese. I've had similar results in a cheddar when I ripened the milk too much. The cheese was dry but well-flavored, and we used a good bit of it in making cheese bratwurst, where the dryness was an advantage.

[Boofer]

Perhaps because of the size this cheese would take a little longer to come into its own.

I could see a grilled cheese from that...double yum!!  :P

-Boofer-

[anutcanfly]

The second run on this cheese the starting pH was 6.5 and I reduced the culture to 1/4 tsp tsp MA11 for 4 gallons.  Even with only 1/2 the normal amount of culture it bottomed out after 12 hours in the press??

Thanks for the recipe Debi.  I noticed that your recipe calls for salt before the long press time begins.  That would make a huge difference in the final pH.

I can run this recipe again with 6.7 pH cows milk, but I don't think that's going to stop if from bottoming out after sitting in the press, unsalted, for 12-24 hours.

My Sweety really loved this cheese, so I will run it again, but I would like to have it be a little less dry and chalky.  I can't believe how nicely it melts.  The texture implied a low pH and normally these cheeses don't melt well, but the first cheese had a very high yield (high total solids).  The second cheese I made a week later had a normal yeild (pH 6.5), so I will be very curious to see how it behaves.  I'm going to cut into it, as well as some others in the next day or two.  I'll post the outcome.

[anutcanfly]

I just sliced into my 2nd Cantal and it is the same as the first.  Salty, crumbly and dry.  It melts and tasted very good melted, but definitely a cooking cheese, not a cracker cheese.

I'm running a 3rd Cantal and as far as I can tell it will be the same as the first two.  The pH after the first 24 hours was 4.9.  The starting pH doesn't change the outcome.  Using less culture also doesn't change the outcome.  I used 1/4 tsp culture for 4 gallons of milk.  I wouldn't have run this make again, but my Sweety really loved it, and it does have a really good sharp cheddar flavor.

[anutcanfly]

3rd Cantal #59

4 gallons raw milk
¼ tsp MA11
¼ tsp Rennet
3 Tablespoons salt

Floc: 3.5
Yeild: 4 pounds 2 ounces
pH: started at 6.75 and drained at pH 6.75

Warmed milk to 86 degrees.  Let sit 5 minutes, added culture and let ripen 15 minutes.

Added rennet diluted in ¼ water.  Floc at 8 minutes.  8(3.5)= 28 minutes to set up.  Cut curd into pea sized pieces with a whisk & skimmer. Let it rest 5 minutes, then drained for a while. 

Put mould in draining pan and filled it with curds.  Let it set with 15 pounds on top and kept adding curds until they all fitted in—this took about 20 minutes.

Pressed cheese for 24 hours with 20 pounds and redressing after 12 hours. pH was 4.9. 

Milled curds into ¾ to1 inch pieces and placed over hot water to warm them.  Also placed mould and press cloth in hot water.  Tossed the curds with salt and filled the mould, this time pressing with 204 pounds for 48 hours.  Redressed several times.

[anutcanfly]

Hi out there.  Just following up on an old make.  After 18 months aging my second Cantal is actually sorting itself out!  The cheese is still crumbly, but the dry chalkiness is gone.  It has a nice sharp flavor and melts well.  I like the flavor of this cheddar better than the other variants I've tried (Not that I don't enjoy them also).  This cheese is worth making again.  :P

[JeffHamm]

Ahhh, so it just takes time!  Who would've thunk it?  LOL.  Glad to hear the long delay update.  These are the things that are really useful, since knowing that after 1 or 2 years the cheese comes right can give hope.  Thanks.

- Jeff

[Boofer]

Wow, 18 months!! :o

Amazing. Good to hear it was worth the wait, anut. We've missed you. :'(

Here's a cheese for waiting it out.

-Boofer-

[anutcanfly]

Nice to hear your voice Jeff.  Thank you Boofer.  It's nice to be missed.  The cheese you sent me was delicious! ^-^  I'm a little surprised that I was able to forget about a cheese for 18 months! I really have been swamped! 

Now that I have so many cheeses are aging out, I'm really wishing we could get together, taste each others cheeses and compare notes.  There are so many questions about the many flavors that arise from differences in process, culture, moisture etc.  There is no real way to share online.  :(

See ya soon...come winter?

:)