My wife and I made our first Cantal in Dec 2016. This was a 4 gallon make. We are debating if we break it open now at the 6 month (Entre-Deux) stage or wait til 8 months (Veiux). I hope you enjoy the pics. I am going to post more pics tonight to show you what it looks like now. If we do break it open I will also take pics and post them.
Pics 1 and 2 - Taken at draining time 12/17/2016 (sooo much curd had to use to big plastic storage bins to drain)
Pic 3 - Pressing in my homemade compound cheese press - plans received from AwakePHD, thanks again Andy
Pic 4 - Close up of Pressing time (final stage) - 18 PSI - 14 x MA (700 lbs of force on the cheese)
Pics 5 and 6 - One month of aging
Pics 6+ - See Below (opened on 5/26/17, 6 months aging)
Please ask any questions you like.
Chris
Love the pictures! AC4U on nice looking Cantal.
Even though it is not very easy to press when I made it, I have made several Cantals now because they taste so good. We like it when it is 7 months old onwards, it is slightly sharp but in a good way.
Looking good and a cheese for the "1/3 ton pressing" :) Assuming that is a 6" form that is almost 25 psi hydraulic pressure :o. Great looking press. Is that AwakePHD's design?
You got a beautiful knit on that - well done, and AC4U! With the Cantals I have made, I generally wait at least 8 months. It is interesting to compare a slice of Cantal next to a slice of a traditional cheddar - if you just tasted the Cantal by itself, you would think "it's a cheddar," but when you put them side by side you can see, or rather taste, the unique subtleties of the Cantal.
John, guilty as charged - my design, but Chris did a nice execution/adaptation of it.
Quote from: awakephd on May 26, 2017, 04:05:07 PM
You got a beautiful knit on that - well done, and AC4U! With the Cantals I have made, I generally wait at least 8 months. It is interesting to compare a slice of Cantal next to a slice of a traditional cheddar - if you just tasted the Cantal by itself, you would think "it's a cheddar," but when you put them side by side you can see, or rather taste, the unique subtleties of the Cantal.
John, guilty as charged - my design, but Chris did a nice execution/adaptation of it.
I think the Cheddars are a bit sweeter and the Cantal has a slightly firmer texture IMO
Quote from: John@PC on May 26, 2017, 01:25:04 PM
Looking good and a cheese for the "1/3 ton pressing" :) Assuming that is a 6" form that is almost 25 psi hydraulic pressure :o. Great looking press. Is that AwakePHD's design?
it's a 7 inch form and yes that's Andy's (awakephd) all wood design.
We broke into it and low and behold the beauty before my eyes. It was great this is my first and certainly not my last Cantal. As i mentioned earlier this has a firmer texture than I was expecting and it was pretty sharp in taste. So far it's been great! Please give me some feedback on the texture in the pics below. I'm not sure if I hit it right...Thanks for the kind words thus far.
Looks really nice!
Quote from: cbenner33 on May 30, 2017, 03:38:44 PM
We broke into it and low and behold the beauty before my eyes. It was great this is my first and certainly not my last Cantal. As i mentioned earlier this has a firmer texture than I was expecting and it was pretty sharp in taste. So far it's been great! Please give me some feedback on the texture in the pics below. I'm not sure if I hit it right...Thanks for the kind words thus far.
Looks delicious! AC4U!
Looks great! It is a crumbly cheese in my experience - hard to imagine how it wouldn't be, given the make procedure. Yes, a sharp cheddar taste, but again a subtle difference from a true cheddar.