I haven't been happy with my last two Havarti makes....oh the cheese was a good cheese....just not really Havarti.
The first time I used Mary Karlin's recipe--straight from the book. (Many recipes in that beautiful book are hit or miss--the Havarti was closer to a miss.)
Second time I used NEC's recipe...better but still not right--maybe due to my use of goat milk instead of cow.
Today I'm using Peter Dixon's recipe as the base idea, but I tweaked a bit--still using my raw goat milk, but I upped the butterfat content with a pint of cow whole cream. I am using MM100 as he suggests, but I did add just a hint of MD88 and LM57.
It's in the press now. Keep your fingers crossed.
Good luck Gort! Hope it turns out the way you want it.
I cracked this open today and oh my goodness---I have found my recipe!
I get exacting notes and then ratings and tasting notes on my cheeses and once one gets to the 5 star status, I don't monkey with the recipe further.
Third attempt, but I've finally gotten it exactly the way I want it. It is the best Havarti I've ever had. (Even if I say so myself.)
That is some good looking cheese. Would you share your recepie? AC4U
Thanks RBF.
Of course I will. I'll do it a little later. No time to dig it out and type it up just now. As soon as I finish my coffee (High mountain, organic Costa Rican Java--Roasted before me very eyes and ground immediately before I use it!) I'm off to buy some construction materials.
I am REALLY happy with this recipe. I hope it works as well for you.
I am also interested in the recipe (not that I am big on actually following recipes).
OK guys--here's my recipe.
Remember I use raw goat milk. So for cow milk you should probably raise all the temps by about 3 degrees. And for pasteurized milk you should probably double the amounts of culture and rennet.
Havarti
4 gallon + 1 pint of cream
Heat to 87 F
Add 1/8 tsp MM100 + 1/8 tsp MD88 + 1/16 LM57
Ripen for 30 min
Add 1.25 ml rennet
Goal for Floc time is 12-15 min with a Floc Factor of 3x. (Mine was 42 min total)
Cut curds to 1/2 inch. Wait 5 min (Whey pH at this point should be close to 6.5
Stir for 15 min (till curds are "bouncy")
Remove 2 gal of whey
2 gal of Wash water temp 135F --Add enough to raise temp to 93F and then wait 5 min
Add rest of wash water. Should reach 97 F. (If not heat externally to get to 97)
Add 30 gm of salt
Stir for 15- 30 min holding at 97 F Hoop when whey is at 6.45
For a 7.5 inch mold I pressed as follows--turning and redress each time
5# x 30 min
5# x 30 min again
5# x 30 min once again
5# x 1 hour or until whey pH is 5.4 (Mine was actually at 5.25)
Saturated Brine at 3 hours/pound
Then I dry in the cave x 24 hours --flipping 3 times
Then vac. and store at 54 degrees
Turn daily x 2 weeks. The every other day for 2 weeks
Ready in 30-45 days from the make date.
(I opened this one at 30 days and was very pleased.)
Good luck if you use it.
Good luck if you don't.
Either way, keep me posted how yours turn out.
Thank you Mike! Think I'll try it this weekend
Good luck, and let me know how it goes.
Tried this out today. Went quite well as far as I can tell but the cheese is still in the mold right now. I didn't have the two non acidifying mesos in you recepie so had to get creative there. I used raw cow milk and had a little trouble hitting your renneting pH (started at 6.73 and renneted at 45 min at 6.62) the drain pH was good though. This is fairly normal for the milk I use because it seems to buffer pH for quite a while and then drop quickly. Thank you for sharing your recepie Mike. I'll let you know how it ages
I'm excited to hear how it works for you. Please keep us posted.
And pics! :)
Very happy with this cheese! It's quite flexible, and nice flavor (even though I didnt have your flavour adjuncts).The extra cream comes thru nicely in mouth feel too, I was worried initially that the cream wasn't captured properly in the curd but I am happily wrong.
Thank you again for the recepie Mike!
RBF
That is so great to hear. It looks great, and I'm very happy to hear you like the taste and texture, too,.
Thanks for the feedback!