I am new to making hard cheeses and just tried two cheeses that I made about three months ago. One is a manchego (cows milk) and the other is a cheddar. Both are pretty bland. The manchego looks great ...oiled very day...nice ...except boring tasting! The cheddar almost tastes like a dried mozzarella....hard, but with a mozzarella flavor.
Do any of you experienced cheese makers have any advice or thoughts as to what may have happened?
The Manchego:[/size]
- Used low temp pasteurized local milk 2 gallons
- used 1/2 packets each of mesophillic and thermophillic starter at the appropriate times in the process
- I feel that I was careful with all the temps at the appropriate stages
- pressed at 15 lbs three times for 15 min each and the pressed at 30lbs for 6 hrs
- brined it for six hours
- the oiled and turned it over every day for three months...wiped mold off etc as needed
( I wonder if I messed up the amounts of the starter?)
Stirred Curd Cheddar
- two gallons of low temp pasteurized local milk
- one packet of mesophillic starter
- I believe I stayed true to the various temp settings
- drained whey,stirred per directions, added salt, etc
- pressed at various weights per directions until last one which was 50lbs for 24 hrs
- air dried for 4 days and then waxed it.
- aged for three months.... Tasted like bland, dried mozzarella
Hope someone can suggest what I might work on to improve...thanks
Never made Manchego , but have made a few Cheddars , in my opinion , Cheddars will be bland at anything lees than 6 months , no matter what they tell you in the book.
Perhaps you're just not letting them age long enough , and I stick with traditional Cheddar now , they always seem to have way more flavor than Farmhouse Cheddar or any other shortcuts.
That's been my experience anyway.
Hi Paul, welcome to the forum. Would you be so kind as to update your profile for your location? Thanks.
I didn't see any mention of lipase. This is a fundamental addition to Manchego (sheep milk), Hispanico (cow milk), and Iberico (cow, goat, sheep milk) which gives the cheese its piquant (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/piquant) character.
Can you tell us what recipes you were following?
Here's an example (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,11343.msg87528.html#msg87528) that worked for me. And another (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,11730.msg91683.html#msg91683).
-Boofer-
Thanks for the feedback....I did use Lipase and it was a recipe in Ricki Carroll's book. I will take a look at your recipes....thank you for the link!
Also, @jwalker...thanks for the direction on the cheddar.....I'll wait it out!
What was the salt concentration of your brine?
-Boofer-