American Style Muenster cheese

[DeejayDebi]

I got a message from mexicalidesi asking about an American Munster I made back in 2009. Wow has it been that long? I am still around although not doing a lot of cheese or sausage right now. Sometimes life gets in the way. Still doing the occasional Parmesan I use a LOT of that.

If you have any questions I would be happy to answer as best as I can just send me a message and I will get back to you. If you have a question I am sure others do as well and most of us old timers learned through trial, error, experimentation and extensive research. I am happy to save you the error if I can.

On this recipe I will warn the the Brevibacterium Linens are very expensive and smelly. I have made the cheese several time without it for that reason and it really does not affect the flavor of the cheese in a slice. I have noticed many new strains of cultures and some seem to have disappeared from my old suppliers don't be afraid to try. Yo may not always get the cheese you are trying for but it will always be an edible cheese!

Muenster cheese – adapted from multiple recipes


Ingredients:
4  gallon whole Cow Milk
1/4 teaspoon Probat 222 or Mesophile Aromatic Type B
Optional: Calcium Chloride if pasteurized milk.
Rennet, amount as per package directions
1/4 teaspoon of Brevibacterium Linens.
Salt for brine.

Procedure:
Warm to 90° F stirring gently. Turn off heat.
Mix using up and down strokes. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Mix the rennet in 1/4 cup pure water and stir into milk for 1 minute. Cover and set aside at same temperature for 45 minutes or until get good curd break.
Leave for 40 minutes covered maintaining 90°F or until a clean break is achieved.
Cut the curds into 1/2 inch pieces, cover, settle curds and maintain temperature for 30 minutes.
*Strain curds in cheesecloth lined colander for 10 minutes then carefully ladle curds into molds. The curds are very soft and delicate at this stage! **
Cover - avoid drafts and drain for 24 hours, gently flipping cheeses several times.
If curds are still to soft to handle after 24 hours wait another 5 or 6 hours
Remove from molds and sprinkle each side with 1/4 teaspoon of salt then place on mat in a ripening container at 55°F and 85% humidity.
Turn cheeses daily, remove whey for about 3 days or until no more whey is released.
Wash cheeses every other day with cloth dipped in brine mix of 1 cup water and 2 teaspoons of salt and a pinch of b. linens and geo 13.
After about 10 days an orange smear will appear. Continue to wash cheeses every other day for at least 2 weeks for small cheeses and 3 weeks for large cheeses.
Ripen for up to 3 months.


* After draining curds for 5 minutes try adding cooled boiled cumin seeds over the curds mixing in gently.

ENjoy!

[not_ally]

Debi, you are awesome.  Thanks so much for this, as I mentioned I looked pretty much everywhere and couldn't find a recipe for a basic mild American-style meunster.  I know you're not in the cheese collecting way anymore, but I'm adding one anyway

[DeejayDebi]

Rebuilding an old house right now but plan to add a coolbot walkin roo for my cheese and sausage this summer. Hope to see you all then!

[not_ally]

Debi, a couple of questions, about the first part of the recipe:

"Procedure:
Warm to 90° F stirring gently. Turn off heat.
Mix using up and down strokes. Let sit for 5 minutes."

I assume the culture gets added after the heat is turned down, then mixed in.  Is there only 5 minutes of ripening after the culture is added before the rennet is added?

I hope you are planning for a dedicated cheese and sausage making space in the renovated kitchen  

[jmason]

Pretty sure what she means is to
1. bring milk to 90F
2. Sprinkle culture on top and let sit for 5 min before stirring in with an up/down motion
3.she doesn't give a ripening time but, 45-60 minutes should do nicely
4. Add rennet as she describes

[not_ally]

Thanks for answering! I made the cheese shortly after I posted and ended up letting it ripen for 15 ms before renneting.  The short ripening seemed odd to me, too, but there was another recipe for munster (the regular kind with BL) in the articles section here which also only ripened for a short period, 15 minutes.  But since that was a bit longer I went with that.  Since Meunster (the American kind) is a pretty sweet/non-acidic cheese I'm hoping that it works out fine, but will find out soon enough, I guess. It's vac packed now, I'll probably open it up in a month/six weeks or so.  Will adjust next time if not ....