Hi Everyone I started making cheese a month ago with great results.
The reason I joined this forum is to discuss the following puzzle. I made traditional Cheddar using Ricki Carroll's recipe. Used sheep milk which I pasteurised.
I did not press it as long or as hard, used half the salt and rennet in the recipe.
Air dried for 2 days at 20 Celsius degrees and then in the fridge for a day as I realised it was too warm. Culture used was a Gouda culture from Holland thinking it was a hard cheese culture and that with the Cheddaring process I would end up with a strong cheese. However this was not the case. I forgot to pre-culture the starter as per the instructions and used it direct set which you are not supposed to do. The cheese is plasticky and squeaky, with lots of irregular size holes, does not taste like Cheddar at all and is sweet with lots of different size and shape holes but very delicious. I did not use a Gouda shape mould, it was open ended both ends. I have waxed one of them.
I suppose even though I followed the Cheddaring process I would not get Cheddar because I used a Gouda culture ? But why the holes?
Two weeks ago I used the same culture but pre-cultured it in milk and made a Gouda using a Gouda recipe from Ricci'si book and a Gouda shaped mould. This cheese did not have the holes in it, it felt really solid.
I'm attacking a photo and would be most interested to hear your thoughts. The colour is strange as I added Annatto.
Welcome to the forum!
Some thoughts and questions. First, can you give us more details about how you made your cheddar? There are a number of different recipes, and variations on the recipes ... and variations introduced by mistakes that we make along the way! (Which, of course, we claim as intentional efforts to distinguish our artisanal cheese from the ordinary mob. :))
Second, "Gouda culture" is going to be a mesophilic blend of some sort. Though it might include not include exactly the proportions or adjuncts that someone might choose to use in a cheddar, it should be in the right ballpark, I would think.
There are three things that I know of that can lead to holes in the cheese:
1) Mechanical holes -- if you did not press the curds sufficiently, you can get mechanical holes; these will tend to be irregular in shape. They don't pose any particular problems, but if whey was left behind in the holes, you may get some sour spots.
2) Holes produced by "good" bacterial action -- if your "Gouda culture" included some Proprionic Shermanii bacteria--which I wouldn't expect, but maybe??--that might explain the holes. PS is the bacteria that produces the holes associated with "Swiss" cheese. Normally to get these holes you have to develop the rind in the cheese cave, then move the cheese to 65-75 degrees for a couple of weeks or even longer to encourage the PS to do its thing, before returning to the cheese cave to finish aging.
3) Holes produced by "bad" bacterial action -- now we're talking about "early blowing" or "late blowing," caused by coliform bacteria in the former case, and clostridium (?? if I'm remembering correctly) in the latter. This is not something you want. At all. According to what I've read here, though, it usually results in a rather nasty smell, not a sweet taste!
Based on your comment that you did not press as long or as hard, and the taste you describe, I'm guessing the problem may be #1 ... though I'm not sure I'm seeing the irregularity that should be associated with that in the picture.
Final thought/question: have you literally be making cheese only 1 month? If so, your cheddar is nowhere near old enough to tell what it will eventually taste like. Unless it is more like a Caerphilly or Lancashire, both of which ripen in a month or two, I'd recommend no less than 6 months. My most recent cheddar that I'm eating is now about 11 months old; I opened it at about 9 months. Some on this forum have the patience to wait more than a year!!
Hopefully others will chime in with thoughts, suggestions, prior experience, etc. In the meantime, keep on making cheese -- my first few were so-so, but with a bit of experience, I've been increasingly pleased with the results.
Looking to the shape of the most holes and the (as far as I can see) shiny texture in the holes and the distribution of the holes, I expect gasforming bacteria. Which culture did you use, have you ever made Emmentaler type cheese or used other cultures with Proprionic Shermanii? The sweet taste also suggests a contamination with this, alyhough I wouldn't mind to make such a beautiful Emmentaler ;-)
I'm going to rule out mechanical holes, they're shaped like gas-formed. From yuour description of the flavor i'd guess PS got into the cheese. It's a natural contaminant in milk, so don't worry. It's going to be okay, and shouldn't be dangerous to eat. How long did you age this?
My theory is that the pH did not get low enough. In Kinstedt's book, he talks about how calcium phosphate levels can influence this. Basically, the higher the calcium phosphate, the higher the pH. Calcium phosphate exits the cheese via way. So ordinarily, cheeses like Cheddar that go through the cheddaring process expel more whey than, say Swiss cheese, which goes from the pot into the hoop and then brine. Cheddars end up with a lower pH than Swiss, typically. So one time his students were making cheese, and put in too little salt. This meant that less whey was expelled during pressing, and therefore less calcium phosphate. This meant the final pH was higher. Within a few weeks, eyes started forming as a result of PS being in the milk. He said this is a danger with most any type of cheese. So my question to you is did you take make notes? How long did you age it?
Of note: never age any cheese, unless specifically stated in the recipe, for longer than 1 month. The exception is Caerphilly, and fast ripening cheddars, although I'd suggest waiting with those. The longer yyou let your Gouda age out, the better it will taste.
Quote from: Stinky on July 16, 2015, 11:39:04 PMOf note: never age any cheese, unless specifically stated in the recipe, for longer than 1 month. The exception is Caerphilly, and fast ripening cheddars, although I'd suggest waiting with those. The longer yyou let your Gouda age out, the better it will taste.
Stinky, did you mean to say, "never age any cheese ... for
less than 1 month"?
Quote from: awakephd on July 17, 2015, 12:48:31 AM
Quote from: Stinky on July 16, 2015, 11:39:04 PMOf note: never age any cheese, unless specifically stated in the recipe, for longer than 1 month. The exception is Caerphilly, and fast ripening cheddars, although I'd suggest waiting with those. The longer you let your Gouda age out, the better it will taste.
Stinky, did you mean to say, "never age any cheese ... for less than 1 month"?
Yes.
I don't get that good of eyes in the Swiss cheese I make ;)
Quote from: H-K-J on July 17, 2015, 06:46:42 PM
I don't get that good of eyes in the Swiss cheese I make ;)
I think you should try again, making sure the pH is very close and it's not oversalted.