I have made quite a few cheddars over the last few years and something happened yesterday that I though worth mentioning. It a small insight on 'traditional' cheese making where you always wonder how they do it with only the 5 basic human senses. Touch, Sight, sound, smell and taste all play a part. you have to watch what the curds are doing, touch for temperature and texture, sound when the timer goes off, smell when the curd starts exuding that vinegary smell as the pH drops and taste during the maturing phase.
The one that struck me yesterday was that of smell. Without even looking at the pH meter during the stirring phase it was evident that the pH had changed just from the smell. I wondered just how often that had happened in the past and never though about it. I went from the stirring stage and into the Cheddaring phase without worrying too much - just for interest sake measured the curds once I poured the curds into the colander - 6.34. I was happy with that. And again during the Cheddaring - not wanting to over acidify checked it after 1 hour and it was 5.37 - so not quite. But it was striking how definitely different the smell from start to finish was.
For those following my Cheddar makes - sorry, I had a battery failure after the first and didn't find the charger until well after the cheese went into the press.
-- Mal
Very interesting OzzieCheese. I have always been acutely aware of the aroma changes during the make. The smell of the warm milk and my favorite is during the ripening stage very sweet and buttery. Ya I know I'm weird.
I have one of your cheddars in the cave right now aging. I did use anatto coloring in mine though.
Awesome. I like annatto colouring, it just makes it look cheddarish. I have a 2 year one of Christmas... the last one :(
I hope you all have a wonderful festive season.
-- Mal
Just did an English Cheddar today Mal. Still in the press. ;D
Hi Mal,
I know this conversation may be over, but I'm learning and I just discovered your cheddar form.
I have a question. It looks like you take the culture and rehydrate it in warm milk ... my farmhouse cheddar recipe simply says to add it. Yet the package of the culture says to pour over the top, let sit 2 minutes, and then stir into the milk. But I like your idea better, it just seems to make more sense. Does it make a big difference? I currently have my 2nd cheddar in the press (I posted photos today) ... so have a lot to learn. And if I could do it your way, do you use from the milk you're working with, that's already warm, or do you use additional milk?
Maybe these are silly questions, thanks for bearing with me.
Amy.
I'm no expert, but most of the modern cultures are "Direct Vat Set Cultures". All of the techniques you ask about are fine. Some tablet cultures do have specific instructions that should be followed as per the label. Before direct vat set (invented by some innovative Danes), culturing and propagating was very tricky, it's probably the one thing that's made home cheese making accessible without having a farm.
Secondly, on the original topic. Smell is a good one that I'm going to pay attention to. Mindfulness is a wonderful thing. I've been paying attention to the visual changes that you see during the process. In my youth I worked as an engineer in a coal burning plant. Came in loaded up with thermocouples and water jacket cooled probes, and A/D converters to get boiler measurements. An old fellow walked up, opened a port glanced in and said she's burning around 2450F. Hours of fiddling later, I get my measurements and it's 2450F. After that humbling, I realized why experience and senses can tell us a lot if we pay attention.
Amy
I do it the way your package says. Just let it rehydrate on top of your warmed milk and stir in.
In current reading of "Reinventing the Wheel: Milk, Microbes, and the Fight for Real Cheese" by the Percivals', I ran across this apropos quote:
QuoteYou smell it, and you can touch it. I can actually touch, taste, smell [the milk, and it] will tell me that the pH meter can be wrong and that my senses are more acute.... The science is the tool. Scientific rigor is a myth, and people follow it because they are intellectually lazy. --Soyoung Scanlan
I'm sorry for leaving this thread open with no response. I've been away from the cheese making.
@Amy... I'm hoping you are still here. Just to add a little bit here. I find that adding to the top of the milk and then leaving it run the risk of not getting the culture evenly distributed or the opportunity to break up any clumps - Flora Danica for example is a bit clumpy and adding to a small bowl of the already warmed milk just allows me to break those clumps up.
Mal
Hi! I'm relatively new to the forum but have read a lot of your past posts. I hope to start making cheddars soon, but am first trying to gain experience with faster-aging cheeses for quicker feedback turnaround times.
Your original post here in this thread about smell is interesting to me. I have noticed the different smells, but have not yet associated the differences with the different timings/occurrences in the make. What I have noticed, when I start working with my raw Jersey milk, is every once in a while (not very often) during the initial heating phase it will smell "different" than usual. It's hard to describe just how it smells, not bad, just different. Anyway, during one such incidence it came to my attention that the cow was actually in "heat" (estrus) during that time. There seem to be so many subtle variations in the milk, due to many variables!
Anyway, welcome back! Looking forward to hearing more of your "cheddar talk".
Just in case there are people still looking at this thread, there will be more on Cheddars. I've returned to the forum and will be posting more. Sorry that I haven't replied. I have been unable to cheese for a while.
I'm definitely looking forward to more of your posts on the topic!
Thanks, I'll be doing a Cloth Banded Cheddar in the coming weeks I need to get access to our Kitchen - my wife is in the middle of a whole bunch of cake orders (paid so they come first).
Spoiler alert - here is an advance copy. Now I will offer up some cautionary notes here.
1. The recipe is geared to the particular brand of milk and fat content.
2. the measures I use are the fraction of teaspoon measures and Metric weights and measures - Tad = ¼ tsp // Dash = 1/8th tsp // Pinch = 1/16th tsp // Smidge = 1/32nd tsp // Drop 1/64th tsp
Have fun.
Your rennet amount confuses me: "1/4 tsp 3.0 ml (200 IMCU)" 1/4 tsp is 1.25 ml, so I can't quite understand what you mean. 3.0 ml of 200 IMCU/ml rennet would be 60 IMCU per liter of milk, which is about 50% more than normal. 1.25 ml of 200 IMCU/ml rennet would be 25 IMCU per liter which would be just over half the normal amount. I'm guessing 3 ml is correct given that you seemingly have a pretty large amount of fat (60 ml of extra cream per liter). Also, why so much fat?
Looks intriguing though. Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
You are so right - Cut and paste error. The rennet I have is rated at 200 IMCU and 3 ml. The extra fat is there - and it's a rough guess - to bring it up to the 5% fat content of Guernsey milk. I also found that the end product was tastier (subjective). I also increases the overall curd yield to produce bigger cheeses out of 10 Litres of milk. 1.1kg without compared to about 1.4 kg with.
I'm going to have to give that a try. It never occurred to me to do that with a cheddar. It would help me to get a taller cheese, too. I'm limited in that my paycheck doesn't extend past 4 liters of milk (I have to pay $4 per liter for good milk!). Oddly increasing yield by adding cream is *cheaper* than adding another liter of milk.
Wow ! That is expensive. I'll keep you in mind when buying my milk on how lucky I am here in Australia. That would be a challenge making smaller batches. Make sure the cream is just pure cream - don't use thickened or ultra pasteurized cream. The first does really weird thing to the curds - they don't form well at all and the the ultra pasteurized affects the overall curd setting and can add some funky tastes during aging (advice from my Cheese mentor).
Yeah, I'm lucky in that I can get good cream easily (which is weird because I can't get good milk easily). 200 ml of 47% cream (unadulterated pasteurised cream) is only $3.50. So that's 95 grams of fat if my math is correct. So it adds about an extra 2.3% fat to 4 liters of milk. My milk is also 3.8% fat, so this is well more than I need (my wife gets some cream pasta sauce :-) ). I've used it for a few makes and it works quite well.
Actually, the milk I use isn't even the most expensive I can buy. 900 ml of Jersey milk (4.5% fat) is a whopping $7. Gorgeous milk, though... I've made a few cheeses with it, but can't really justify its use...
Examining the use by dates on the bottles of milk I realise that the secret to this great cheese must be to age the milk for five years first, very cunning !! >:D
[then again, less exciting, maybe it is just the photos that are back dated] A)
Looking forward to your cheddar write up, after the cakes are baked, of course.
Haha that's funny.... It a pretty old thread I thought I'd rehydrate. :)