Chive Cheddar

[aghIV]

I made this back in November. Amazon was running a special on 22 quart Oster 'Turkey Roasters ahead of Thanksgiving. Before I bought that, I only had a 2 gallon pot, so this was my first "big" (>2 gallon) make. I used the recipe out of Mary Karlin's book, scaled up to 4.25 gallons of raw milk. Recipe called for Meso II, but I used C101. I tossed the milled curds with the dried chives and salt and pressed overnight at 50lbs. Cheese came out of the press at about 4.9lbs and placed in my cave at 50-55F and 80-85% RH for three months. After aging the cheese weighed in at just under 4lbs. I helped the natural rind develop by dry brushing a few times a week and was quite happy with how it turned out. I cut it open at about 3 months (shown below). It was slightly crumbly, had a medium-sharp flavor, and was very popular. Definitely very pleased with this one

[River Bottom Farm]

Nice work. AC4U

[panamamike]

Really looks nice. Did you use something for your rind development or do you have that much flora in your cave?

[GortKlaatu]

Congrats...AC4U

[aghIV]

Really looks nice. Did you use something for your rind development or do you have that much flora in your cave?

No, I didn't add anything special for the rind. I'm not sure what it picked up for that to happen, and I haven't been able to replicate it since, even with some other cheeses in the same cave at the same time.

[feather]

very nice looking cheese. I bet it is good. A cheese for you. (I also use an electric roaster when I'm making cheeses.)

[Andrew Marshallsay]

Congratulations. That is a very nice looking natural rind.
A cheese from me too.

[thwaps]

I made the Karlin Farmhouse Cheddar recently but with Sage, and only a 2 gallon batch. Mine is very crubly after 7 weeks.

Nice rind, a cheese for you!