This cheese was made mostly following Peter Dixons recipe ( http://static1.squarespace.com/static/552d4535e4b03d0c390b51a0/t/5563284be4b0de9ddd4ac259/1432561739254/dfc+tellegio.pdf (http://static1.squarespace.com/static/552d4535e4b03d0c390b51a0/t/5563284be4b0de9ddd4ac259/1432561739254/dfc+tellegio.pdf) ) but downsized to about 15 litres of Jersey milk not chilled with ripening commencing within 2 hours of milking. The dairy had been around 4.5% butterfat but this was the second milking of the day and probably would have been closer to 5%. No Calcium Chloride was used
The problem as you see from the pics is the rind splitting and the cheese oozing. The rind issue started about 10 days or so into the washing regime. The cheese was formed on the 10th December and is now more than 40 days in. My cave temperature has been maintained around 6 Celsius although more like 8 Celsius in the first week. Humidity has not been absolutely constant but mostly around 90% with fluctuations both higher and lower. It has been washed with a 6% brine with LR added for the first 2 weeks of washing. I am still washing with 6% brine every few days. I was forced to box the cheese up to some extent to prevent it pancaking. It seems stable now but still some ooze. It is aged on ex oak wine barrel header staves.
From the same milk I have made 6 rounds of Reblochon which have turned out to perfection.
The best solution I can come up with is next time to use Calcium Chloride for a firmer curd.
Anyone have any ideas? BTW I have been eating the ooze and the flavour is fabulous even at this stage.
If flocculation worked out fine and setting didn't take too long, CaCl won't make any difference. Add some for insurance, maybe, if you have problems, but that's not your problem.
You don't need to be washing at this point. Based on experience with stinkies and also the recipe, generally they're washed regularly for a few weeks then wrapped up and put in cold storage, 38 or so. wax paper and foil works if you don'[t have fancier
otherwise you're promoting much softer than necessary
I have never made a talagio , but from what I can see in the pictures I think that at least the outside of this cheese is ready to eat.
Have you tried tasting it yet?
OK thanks for the thoughts.
Yes I have been tasting what is oozing out and it's spectacular.
Looks to me like your taleggio is ready to eat. The inside is supposed to get creamy like that. Yours came out better than mine!
Quote from: Al Lewis on January 22, 2016, 03:18:53 PM
Yours came out better than mine!
Certainly not the rind. The taste we can only speculate about across the oceans
I cut mine a little early so it hadn't softened all the way through.
Looks like it should have been wrapped and placed in cooler storage. Yours looks overripened...that's why it's oozing just under the rind. I would venture a guess that the core is still pretty chalky.
Here's one example (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,14634.0.html) showing some techniques I use. They include draping a moist cloth over the cheese to help foster the linens growth which develops the paste.
-Boofer-
Boofer, I looked at the thread you pointed to and saw a spruce board in an aging box. Where did you get this?
Kern
It is ripe creamy and delicious right the way thru.
Oh, wow, that looks incredible. AC4U!
I've never had Taleggio; is it a "stinky" cheese, or ... ?
Quote from: awakephd on January 24, 2016, 03:11:17 PM
I've never had Taleggio; is it a "stinky" cheese, or ... ?
Taleggio is traditionally a "stinky" (washed rind) cheese, but more mild than many of them. I am personally not big on the stinkers, but can tolerate Taleggio.
Susan
Congratulations on a lovely looking cheese. Have a cheese from me for your efforts
After a bit of thought on this one I believe my higher temperatures early in the make combined with it being made during summer over, here plus with the incredible freshness of the raw milk. All of this has come together to push this cheese through it's maturation a couple of weeks ahead of what should have happened.
Looks great! AC4U ;D
Quote from: tarwin on January 26, 2016, 07:14:58 AM
After a bit of thought on this one I believe my higher temperatures early in the make combined with it being made during summer over, here plus with the incredible freshness of the raw milk. All of this has come together to push this cheese through it's maturation a couple of weeks ahead of what should have happened.
Okay, this may sound slightly harsh, but maybe next time follow the recipe? ;)
That is, as far as I can tell it just aged quicker than you might want because you didn't wrap it and put it in cold storage as early as the recipe said. The low temperature slows the ripening and would also result in more even ripening, and you wouldn't have to worry about the rind cracking.
"Turning and washing is done every 2-3 days for 2 weeks and"then every 3-4 days for 3 more weeks. Cheeses are wrapped in breathable wrappers made for washed rind cheeses "
That is along the lines of what I did. The rind spitting started at about 10 days to 2 weeks in.
When you say splitting, could this have been cracking due to low humidity or was there ooze coming out?
I must have misunderstood you, sorry. Even then, five weeks according to the recipe is thirty-five days, and you were still washing it regularly at 40 days?
I couldn't go past the picture of that slice without giving you a cheese! That looks wonderful.
Welcome back Jeff!!! ;D
Thanks Jeff.
This cheese despite not being perfect in appearance has had a rapturous reception from everyone I have given it to. Nobody has faulted the flavors. I attended a Natural Cheese making workshop with David Asher a week or so ago in Melbourne. David thought initially I may have not used enough salt which caused the rind issues. On tasting it however thought it was excellent and wouldn't have changed anything. I took it to this workshop as it was an example of a mainly naturally produced cheese with only LR linens used in the wash and nothing else.
I am currently making 2 more of these this time with no culture interventions lower temperatures from the beginning but with about a half dose of calcium chloride in deference to the dry autumn (fall) and lateness of the Jersey's cycle.