horseradish cheddar recipe?

[mchcllns]

A yard taken over by mint, hops, and horseradish IS my idea of a garden!

a man after my own heart

though djdeb has a point

[dthelmers]

OK, I've been catching up on my forum reading and eating my latest Caerphilly with a little wasabi spread on top, and this is a fantastic combo! Anybody make a cheese with wasabi? This tastes really good, the two products are bringing out flavors in each other that I don't taste in either one individually. The Caerphilly is taking a lot of the bite out the wasabi, and I'm getting a sweet and nutty flavor not present before. My Caerphilly recipe is from 200 Easy, and doesn't involve cheddaring, just letting the curds sink and sit. I might try just adding a tube of wasabi to the curd before pressing. The wasabi I'm using is S&B prepared wasabi, which I think is a mixture of horseradish and mustard with some coloring, rather than the true wasabi plant of Japan. It's plenty hot by itself, but is getting amazingly tamed by this cheese.

[DeejayDebi]

I am thinking maybe just before when you add the salt. Might look cool to that stuff is pretty bright. I wonder if it will prevent the curds from matting?

[Ptucker]

That sounds really good, I don't think matting the curds will be a problem, they should be come as one. I have a caerphilly that will be ready in a couple of weeks, I will have to try some wasabi with it.

[dthelmers]

I was afraid that it might effect matting, too, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. I'll give it a try this weekend.

[DeejayDebi]

Can't wait to see. It it does matt it should be really pretty like an easter egg!

[dthelmers]

Follow up on this make: I made my regular Caerphilly make and added two tubes of prepared wasabi (actually horseradish and mustard, not true Japanese wasabi) to the curds just before pressing. Opened it yesterday. Not really any noticeable coloring from the wasabi except a little on the rind here and there. The taste is perfect! I can't stop eating it. It has a beautiful flavor of horseradish, just under the threshold of hot. I can't see any improvements to make on this, it's going into my regular rotation. The wasabi had no effect on the matting of the curd; the texture is just like all my other Caerphillys. I brined for 12 hours, where the recipe I basically follow from 200 Easy calls for 20, and the saltiness is just right. OK, going to take just one more bite...

[H-K-J]

 dthelmers
Are you going to share the whole recipe and pics, this sounds MMMmmmgood

[dthelmers]

Pictures will have to wait until I get a working camera, but here's the make:

4 gallons of p/h whole milk
1/2 teaspoon of MM100 (aroma mesophilic - L. lactis, L. cremoris, L. diacetylactis)
3/4 teaspoon calcium chloride
3/4 teaspoon liquid calf rennet

The night before the make put 1/8 teaspoon of culture in each gallon, let sit for five minutes to rehydrate, put on lids and shake, then back in the fridge

Day of the make: heat milk to 90 fahrenheit. Since the culture is already in the milk, I'm getting a pH drop by this point and it smells buttery.
Dilute calcium chloride in 1/4 cup of cool water and stir in.
Dilute the rennet in 1/4 cup of cool filtered water and stir in.
Check for flocculation and use a multiplier of 3.5
Cut curd into 3/4"-1" cubes, let rest 10 minutes
Stir gently, just jiggling the curd while raising the heat to 95 over 30 minutes, stirring gently. Lift and turn the curd as it gets firmer, and cut any large chunks down with a knife.
Turn off heat and cover for 45 minutes
Line a big colander with cheesecloth, and start scooping out the whey with a big measuring cup, thoroughly wetting the cheesecloth (this helps prevent sticking later)
Scoop out the curds into the cheese cloth and move them around with your hands to get more whey out.
Gather up the corners of the cloth and twist it tight, then press with your hands expelling whey, tighten a little more and squeeze out more whey.
The curd should now have very little visible whey and should be matted into a big ball.
Add 2 tubes of prepared wasabi, and knead into the curd mass.
Place the curd in the cloth into the mold, press it down well, and fold one corner over the top, then place follower.
Press at .5 psi for one half hour, flip, redress, and press another half hour.
Flip, redress, press at 2 psi for six hours.
Remove from press and brine in 18% brine for 12 hours.
Dry at room temp until it is dry to touch, then into the cave for 3 weeks.

[H-K-J]

All right! after my swiss make I believe this will be my next cheese attempt 

[DeejayDebi]

Sounds delicious! I will have to try this one soon.

[Boofer]

I recently bought some horseradish Cheddar, which was really tasty, and I was looking for a recipe to make my own version. Dave's recipe intrigued me and I started shopping for S&B Wasabi. I ran across this post which made me back away from the paste. I'll either try to find a true wasabi product or use real horseradish.

-Boofer-

[bbracken677]

Yikes!  I was going to joke about the wasabi killing the cheese, but after reading that, it may actually be true!    haha

First time I tasted wasabi I had no idea as to the potency....whoa! 

[BobE102330]

Thank you for that post Boofer. Somewhere along the line I knew that most "wasabi" in the US is fake, but didn't know the hazards.

I've got a bunch of finely grated horseradish that will be dry for my next make.  Anyone have any ideas how much to add to a 2# cheese?  I like it hot, as my chilihead tagline indicates.

[staciestitches]

We freeze our horseradish after harvesting. It does lose a little of the "bite", but it lasts a long time in the freezer.