I cut open my first Jarlsberg over the weekend. I made it early in September using the recipe in 200 Easy Homemade Cheeses.
I didn't get the rind dry enough initially so it was plagued by blue mould from about day 4, so I had to vacuum pack it early on.
It spent two weeks in the cheese cave (wine cooler) and then 4 weeks in the coldest room in the house to keep the temperature at around 18 degrees. It started swelling up around 2 weeks ago in the vac-bag. On Saturday all the trapped CO2 escaped so I thought it would be a good opportunity to cut it open.
It tasted like a very mild swiss cheese and the paste itself was similar to Havarti in texture (at least the stuff we get in the shops here in New Zealand).
I am quite pleased with it as I have never yet had this level of success with an aged cheese the first time around. I have made a second one already which is drying at home.
That looks much better than the one I tossed a week ago. AC4U!
That's a nice looking cheese, Jules.
Congratulations and a cheese for you from across the ditch.
Excellent effort. Have a cheese. :P
-Boofer-
I hope my Jarisberg turns out as nice as yours. I am in the process of making it this morning.
AC4U!
That looks great! I am early in the 65-degree stage with one I made about 4 weeks ago (also my first). I used the recipe on cheesemaking dot com along with one I found on here and also the little-green-cheese.. Sort of followed all three. I decided not to wax it because I didn't want to deal with the wax cracking.. but when I put it in the cooler for the initial couple of weeks, it picked up some spots. I scrubbed those off as much as I could and it now sits in my dining room. The rind is quite hard. I turn it daily and watch for the bulge to start.. I should have vac-sealed like you did for those first two weeks. Next time!
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for the cheese and comments everyone.
My second Jarlsberg dried much better than the first and is now vac-packed and in the cheese cave for the initial ripening. Fingers-crossed it works out too.
Stgagnon, I didn't plan on vac-packing it initially either, so it was more out of necessity not to create a blue Jarlsberg (I was also turning a blue daily when it was drying so ended up with a lot of blue invaders). I found mine didn't do much in the way of bulging for the first couple of weeks, then it just took off. All the best for your Jarlsberg.