I got a little busier than usual during May and June, making my first Baby Swiss and my first and second Jarlsberg cheeses. I looked at the Jarlsberg recipe in 200 Cheeses but it seemed a variation of Emmentaler. Somewhere on this forum Debi posted her recipe for Jarlsberg, adapted from the genuine "Jarlsberg Cheese History and Development" document. I used both of those sources to craft my Jarlsbergs. I had trouble reading the translated version of the History & Development so I pushed it over to a Word format which was a lot easier to read.
Jarlsberg #1 developed a crack on day six in the cave so I pulled it out and tightly vac-bagged.
Working on Jarlsberg #2: when I removed the cheese from the mould for the first flip, it seemed to be a really tight knit. The individual curds were nonexistent and the whole cheese was amazingly soft but firm. It seemed like an epiphany moment for my cheesemaking efforts. Perhaps my early cheeses hadn't been cooked (scalded) long enough to change the curds into something different.
My pH meter didn't behave and give me the readings I was expecting so I proceeded on the recipe's schedule of time and temps. I trusted that the cultures would respond the way that they were expected to as stated in the recipe. Right now, Jarlsberg #1 is tightly vac-bagged and out at room temp which is 70F. Jarlsberg #2 came out of the brine at 2:00AM after a 6 hour soak and is now drying in the cave at 52.8F/86%RH. When it comes out of the cave I'll have to decide whether to vac-bag it too or do something else. Any suggestions?
Jarlsberg #2 is the third time I've used my new Dutch press and it worked great. Both Jarlsbergs were pressed at 182lbs (15lbs with 2 pulleys) for 8 hours. I initially had that at 72 lbs, but my calcs were off (Boy, were they!).
-Boofer-
Boof - Looks good. Are you not using cheesecloth??? Can't see any in the pics.
Yes, I am using cheesecloth. I tried removing it when I made my Baby Swiss (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,4044.msg31393.html#msg31393 (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,4044.msg31393.html#msg31393)), but the cheese nodules shoving out the mould holes disturbed me so much that I stayed with the cloth for both Jarlsbergs. Much better.
You can see the cheesecloth weave imprint on the wheel.
-Boofer-
No swelling yet on the baby or Jarlsberg #1. Today, after 6 days drying in the cave, I removed Jarlsberg #2 and tightly vac-bagged it. I will attempt to develop eyes at a little warmer temperature (72F @ 9:00AM). Where the baby and #1 are sitting downstairs at 67F today. Both temps will rise a little during the day, but we are still enjoying cool temps outside. Today it is raining and 55F outside. Wow, how long can this cool weather go on? Monday is the first day of summer. Washington is really trying to live up to its state motto "The Evergreen State". I'm not complaining. This is great for the cheeses that need to be out at room temperature.
At this point, after having read and reread the information about salt and sodium nitrate impeding the effectiveness of Propionibacteria, I am hoping that this series of experiments with it are successful and any residual fears I have are unfounded.
We shall see.
-Boofer-
Getting a little whey in the bag of each Jarlsberg, but the Baby Swiss is nice and dry.
I've probably asked this before: should I open the bag, dry the cheese, and reseal?
They sure look good at this point, but no swelling yet. I must be too anxious.
I am really pleased with the look and feel of all three of these wheels. Smooth surfaces with a soft, yet firm, feel.
-Boofer-
Hi hon looking good really there! I am impressed by your press.
If you find whey in the bag I would open it, dry it and reseal. The whey can sour and help grow unwanted bacteria in the bag - especially at warmer temperatures. Good luck!
Thanks, I did that yesterday. It looks like I'll need to take it out of the bag and dry it a little more in the cave.
-Boofer-
Well, Jarlsberg #1 had more whey collected in the bag, even after I had opened and dried it. This morning I removed it from the bag, dried it, lightly salted it, and put it into a cracked minicave to dry out. My concerns down the road are rind cracking and mold growth. Fingers crossed.... :)
I like the way the surface has been formed by the vacuum bagging with the little bit of whey. Nice and smooth. The temp is around 66-72F.
Jarlsberg #2 is still tightly bagged and showing a little moisture, but not so much that I'm in a panic yet. It's upstairs where the temperature is 75-80F. Just a little experiment to see how the propionibacterium shermanii behaves with different temperatures.
-Boofer-
The P. shermanii will actually love the warmer temps, but every other biological, chemical, enzymatic, process going on will hate it. Move it back downstairs or you will end up with a bitter tasting cheese.
Quote from: Sailor Con Queso on June 27, 2010, 03:17:56 AM
The P. shermanii will actually love the warmer temps, but every other biological, chemical, enzymatic, process going on will hate it. Move it back downstairs or you will end up with a bitter tasting cheese.
Wilco. 8)
There's that much difference, huh?
On Jarlsberg #1, EVOO helped to pull the cracks back together within one day. It's still weeping in the minicave at room temp (68.3F/79%RH). I moved Jarlsberg #2 downstairs. The upstairs temp was 73F @ 7:45 this morning. It has been warmer up there during the past week (79F).
I rather expected some swelling from one of the three by this time. The Baby Swiss is at 22 days in room temperature; J#1: 19 days; J#2: 9 days. Patience, I guess.
Perhaps I did have some swelling and that's why J#1 cracked. I will try to keep it in the minicave with its EVOO rind protector in place. It still needs to lose some of its moisture.
What's the maximum time that anyone has had a Jarlsberg, Swiss, etc. out to develop eyes?
I went back and looked at some of the earlier pics I posted on this thread and it does appear that J#1 had some slight swelling. Hoojah! It could be that the rind didn't hold and it blew. Eh, what are you going to do? Try, try, try again....
-Boofer-
This was a tightly vacuum-bagged wheel, but now the bag is puffed up with gas. Looks like all my eyes are floating around between the wheel and the bag. ;) :'(
-Boofer-
Looks like the cheese has more cracks somewhere.
Quote from: DeejayDebi on July 04, 2010, 03:26:05 AM
Looks like the cheese has more cracks somewhere.
The only cracks seem to be on the flat top and bottom.
I think I've had another epiphany moment today!!
The cheese is in the vacuum bag, hoping that the bag helps support the rind and prevent gas from escaping into the bag and instead redirecting it to the inner part of the cheese. Well, that doesn't totally work as advertised. The cheese develops a crack (for me, in the top and bottom) and the gas fills the bag as in the photo. Today, when I pushed the sides of the wheel towards the center, it closed the crack (I was pushing on the bag as well).
So it occurred to me that I need a belly belt to hold all that goodness in and close the crack. The band around the wheel does accomplish that...it closes the crack. Voila!
I'm sure since the crack is already there that gas will continue to escape. Just maybe not as great and perhaps I'll get some good eyes after all. Then again, if I plug it here, it'll probably open up somewhere else. We'll see.
-Boofer-
Boy that cheese just want to crack. Looks plenty moist but not much of a rind. Could be why it's cracking so easily. My cheeses generally sart to get a bit of a rubbery like rind after a few days or so drying on the counter. Although I have a very dry heat in the house in the winter and pretty warm in the summer.
Quote from: DeejayDebi on July 06, 2010, 03:11:56 AM
Boy that cheese just want to crack. Looks plenty moist but not much of a rind. Could be why it's cracking so easily. My cheeses generally sart to get a bit of a rubbery like rind after a few days or so drying on the counter. Although I have a very dry heat in the house in the winter and pretty warm in the summer.
Well, I gave them a week in the cave and they seemed like they had developed somewhat of a rind. I then oiled up #1. After bagging #1 a couple times and drying it between bagging cycles, I decided it needed a bit more drying time. I pulled it from its bag and gave it another several days in the cave to dry up some. Then I tightly vacuum-bagged it and the bag started to swell. It isn't losing whey in the bag any more. When it got to be close to popping, I took it out again, dried it off, and tightly bagged it again (couple days ago.)
-Boofer-
Don't let the rind dry up to much or it almost has to crack. Did you try polising the rind with the oil so it gets nice and flexible? That will help keep cracks from forming.
Debi - It actually didn't spend that much time drying out (1 week) so the rind didn't dry and crack.
It's a balancing act...you want to develop somewhat of a rind but not so much that the darn thing dries out. For these two puppies, the rind will be all edible. I've got a pretty good feeling about them overall. Time will tell of course.
#2 has begun to produce gas within the past three days. That would mark it at the 3 week point.
-Boofer-
Yes it is indeed a balancing act. Time, temperature and humidity all in balance. Had to tell by a picture sometimes. The light can change the whole pitcure. Looks like a nice texture good luck.
Well, Mother Nature finally kicked the temperature above normal over the past couple days. I have a photo of the thermometer sitting at 65 degrees F at noon on July 4th. The temp had not reached 75F since September 2009. That all changed this week.
I was forced to move the two Jarlsbergs and the Baby Swiss into the cooler reaches of the cave (~51F). The temperature inside the house had been getting above 80F (no AC). The Baby Swiss hadn't been showing any gas development and it has been out at room temp (~68F) for five weeks. The Jarlsbergs have been generating a lot of gas. Hopefully they will continue to do so in the cave.
Jarlsberg #2 had been giving off a bit more whey so I pulled it out of the vac-bag and put it into the mini-cave within the cave to dry out a little more. I don't expect it will be very long before I seal it up in a vac-bag again for long-term storage.
It was really a great window of time to make these cheeses. It had been unseasonably cool outside and nice and cool inside the house for as long as I needed. Just excellent! I'm glad I did them in rapid succession like I did.
-Boofer-
Gosh send me some of the cool weather we have been frying all week abnormally high 94 to 101 F degrees! That's just not normal! I've been shuffling cheeses between my mini caves all week. Even my basement is up to 78 F degrees. Had to put a few older cheese in the regular fridge just to keep everything cool.
Sounds like luck was with you temperature wise.
OMG, we're having a heat wave...a tropical heat wave...! 8)
It was like...80F today. I had to take my sweatshirt off. ;)
Seriously, except for several days after the 4th, it still is comfortably cool for this time of year. Watch, now that I've said that, I've no doubt jinxed myself. It'll probably swing the other way now.
The two Jarlsbergs are in the cave, still pumping out the gas and swelling their vacuum bags. Yeegads, I put 1/8 tsp of propionibacteria in each of them. Is the 1/8 tsp of sodium nitrate assisting in gas production here?
The wheels look good. I guess I mentioned that previously. Can't help it. This aging time is killing me with suspense.
-Boofer-
Why did you add sodium nitrate?
Quote from: Sailor Con Queso on July 24, 2010, 05:48:35 PM
Why did you add sodium nitrate?
Following the initial lead I took from Debi's recipe and then the study I attached on page one of this thread, here is an extract from
jarlsberg cheese technology.doc:
"The experimental design comprised the production of cheese without the addition of nitrate and with nitrate added at three levels. Addition of nitrate is a well-known technical aid in cheesemaking to avoid butyric acid fermentation. Butyric acid fermentation in cheese is due to the growth of spore-forming bacteria in the genus Clostridium, so-called butyric acid bacteria, and the species Clostridium tyrobutyricum is the most common in cheese. Growth of such bacteria in cheese can render it totally inedible, mainly because large amounts of butyric acid are formed. In addition, so much hydrogen is produced that the cheese structure is destroyed. Unlike CO2, hydrogen is not soluble in the cheese moisture and large holes and cracks are produced in the cheese. The effect of adding nitrate to the cheese milk was dependent on the presence of butyric acid bacteria in the milk and the potential for them to develop in the cheese."
-Boofer-
I understand what sodium nitrate is for. We you having a problem with late blooming?
No I haven't had a problem with late blooming, but then these were my first Jarlsbergs.
Here is another extract from that document:
"cheese to which nitrate was added obtained a better score for general quality and eye formation than cheese made without nitrate addition. The aroma and taste of the cheese were superior, with intermediate levels of nitrate addition and whey dilution. The conclusion was therefore that both too much and too little nitrate had a negative effect on the cheese quality."
That would indicate to me that some nitrate will improve the cheese.
At this point I don't have enough experience to know whether the addition is a good thing or a bad thing. Just going through the motions with these two Jarlsbergs has been an education for me. I've seen how long it can take to see gas production (3 weeks) and that I need to find a way to harden up the rind a little more...perhaps more long-term oiling and air-drying in the minicave. I had both of these crack and so panicked and vacuum-sealed them. The problem I saw was that they continued to produce gas and I changed vacuum bags several times.
-Boofer-
Swiss types should not take 3 weeks to show gas production. If they are at reasonable room temp around 70F you should see swelling within 10 days. If you don't see it by at least 14, IMHO something else is wrong - pH, salt balance, bacteria levels, etc. In particular, Propionic is very sensitive to excess salt. In fact, the Dansen fact sheets in the library call for a 1% brine instead of the saturated brine that we usually use. I have 2 babys swelling right now with a natural rind brined at 1% and dried in the cave for 10 days.
Less salt would not only be good for the Propionic, but that also means a more flexible rind (and less cracking). Ironically. the harder rind that you mentioned is more subject to cracking. As they say, it's the flexible trees that can withstand a hurricane. :o
I try to avoid unnecessary chemicals like nitrates as much as possible.
I was a little hesitant about the nitrate, but decided to go out on a limb for these two wheels to hedge my bets. In the near future I want to do another Jarlsberg without nitrate and use the calf rennet I bought recently. I'll get more data for my process and hopefully improve the final product.
Have you had success with decent eyes and limited rind-cracking? Seems like you had one that looked promising but it cracked slightly and deflated anyway? Do you oil any of your rinds? Do you make any Baby Swisses and not vacuum-bag?
-Boofer-
Yes, I make natural rind Babys (an other Swiss types) with good eye formation on a regular basis. This thread might help.
My Baby Is Swelling Up (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2200.0.html)
A few quick points.
- Full fat milk is more prone to cracking so add a little skim. (In general skim makes any cheese harder).
- Brine with 1-2% salt and added CaCl2. It's important that you don't pull calcium out of the rind.
- After brining, pat dry and immediately put into your cool cave.
- It is imperative that you keep the humidity up. I use a ripening box.
- Keep cool for at least 10 days. I usually go 14. The Danesco culture sheets call for 3-5 weeks for some varieties.
- Move to room temp for the swelling or eye formation phase. I just move the entire ripening box.
- I only vac bag if I feel there is a problem with the rind. Push gently with a fingertip. The rind should be pliable, not stiff. If the rind is too hard you probably should either go ahead and bag or start olive oil wipes.
Boofer -
Just to let you know ... When I tried the recipe from that report the first time I used the nitrates as they suggested. The second time I didn't and saw no difference in the cheese so I haven't used it since. I've notced several instructions for Nowegien cheeses include nitrates. Maybe it's something related to the feed in the area they are in that doesn't apply here?
Quote from: Sailor Con Queso on July 26, 2010, 02:49:50 AM
Yes, I make natural rind Babys (an other Swiss types) with good eye formation on a regular basis. This thread might help.
My Baby Is Swelling Up (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,2200.0.html)
A few quick points.
- Full fat milk is more prone to cracking so add a little skim. (In general skim makes any cheese harder).
- Brine with 1-2% salt and added CaCl2. It's important that you don't pull calcium out of the rind.
- After brining, pat dry and immediately put into your cool cave.
- It is imperative that you keep the humidity up. I use a ripening box.
- Keep cool for at least 10 days. I usually go 14. The Danesco culture sheets call for 3-5 weeks for some varieties.
- Move to room temp for the swelling or eye formation phase. I just move the entire ripening box.
- I only vac bag if I feel there is a problem with the rind. Push gently with a fingertip. The rind should be pliable, not stiff. If the rind is too hard you probably should either go ahead and bag or start olive oil wipes.
I've got 2, 3, 4, 6. My brine is the whey with salt added so that should have enough calcium already without the CACL2. On #5 I kept it in the cave for 7 days. I guess that needs to be longer. On #1 I used whole milk. Maybe I'll try 1% milk. I think the store skim milk has non-fat dry milk added so I'm not sure that's what I want. On #7, my rind is pliable, not stiff or hard. Overall the whole feel of the wheel appears very nice. I am anticipating a wonderful product. I hope I'm not setting myself up for disappointment.
Quote from: DeejayDebi on July 28, 2010, 02:42:42 AM
Boofer -
Just to let you know ... When I tried the recipe from that report the first time I used the nitrates as they suggested. The second time I didn't and saw no difference in the cheese so I haven't used it since. I've notced several instructions for Nowegien cheeses include nitrates. Maybe it's something related to the feed in the area they are in that doesn't apply here?
You're probably right. Perhaps they feed silage or some other stored feed that would require the nitrate to counteract.
At any rate, I've done those two Jarlsbergs with nitrate. I did the Baby Swiss at the same time without nitrate. I am looking forward to making one of those styles without the nitrate and with the newly-purchased calf rennet. That should hopefully give me a good sense of what the style can be. I'm a little concerned that my room temperature will be off the charts for eye production. As I said previously, that long cool period from September '09 to July '10 was phenomenal for letting the cheeses sit at room temp. Maybe I need to hold off until the cooler weather comes rolling in...but that's a long time.
-Boofer-
Boofer - Just to clarify an important point.
Most of us make a SATURATED brine solution using whey. The difference here is that Swiss types call for just a 1-2% salt concentration. A gallon is 128 ounces so the salt should just be 1.3-2.6 ounces per gallon of whey. I use 2 POUNDS per gallon for a saturated brine. That's a HUGE difference in the amount of salt used for a Swiss. That's what keeps the rind pliable.
Wow, that is a huge difference. For these cheeses I had cut my brine to 2 cups kosher salt in a gallon of whey. By your guidance, that's still WAY TOO MUCH! And yet my rind is nice and pliable....
1 or 2% is enough to get the job done? Wouldn't seem like it provided enough salt flavoring or protection at that dosage. If that's what works for you consistently, I'm willing to follow suit.
-Boofer-
Boofer - Pliable and elastic are not necessarily the same thing.
This is not my technique. Just following the specifications and advice of people who have been doing this a really long time. Francois - Any comments on brine concentration for Swiss types?
I misspoke in a previous post. I thought my spec sheets were from Danisco. They are from Hansen. I have attached a redacted short version, but the entire longer document is somewhere in the archives.
Note the brine concentrations in the table on page 1. Also notice the ripening schedule and temperatures on page 2. For practical purposes, I put Jarlsberg in the same category as Emmental. Baby Swiss is a Meso cheese so it's a little different, but I treat it the same way.
Um, Sailor, that's the final salt percentage in the finished cheese. The brine is just to contrast to the dry salting, because some are dry salted and some brine. it's not a 1% brine. Usually they just use saturated for ease, and sprinkle salt on top, too. It's because propionic is so salt sensitive... not a good idea to have above 2%, you get poor eye development.
Quote from: Sailor Con Queso on July 29, 2010, 04:27:30 AM
Boofer - Pliable and elastic are not necessarily the same thing.
For practical purposes, I put Jarlsberg in the same category as Emmental. Baby Swiss is a Meso cheese so it's a little different, but I treat it the same way.
Can you clarify the difference between pliable and elastic in the rind?
Going off the Norwegian study I attached earlier, I put Jarlsberg in the same class as Gouda. I used Aromatic B (a mesophilic) plus the propionibacterium for the two Jarlsbergs. This is actually the same as my Baby Swiss. Hmmm, could be about the same in taste and texture, except that the Baby got a small dose of Flora Danica when it wouldn't budge the pH meter. Should be interesting down the road.
Okay, so now I'm a little confused...again. Should I cut the amount of salt down from 2c/gal or go up to 4c/gal (2lbs/gal) for saturated brine?
I do sprinkle salt on top of the cheese when I place it in the whey-brine and when I flip it half way through.
-Boofer-
Quote from: linuxboy on July 29, 2010, 04:36:22 AM
Um, Sailor, that's the final salt percentage in the finished cheese. The brine is just to contrast to the dry salting, because some are dry salted and some brine. it's not a 1% brine.
ROTFLMAO :o Of course it's the final salt percentage! Duh... I just recently switched to the low salt brine and have 2 Babies swelling as we speak. They will probably taste undersalted. However on all of my previous Swiss types I did use saturated brine but cut the time in half to keep the rind elastic.
Boofer - my mistake. Stick with the saturated brine. I describe pliable as a basketball. You can certainly push in a little but overall there isn't that much give. Elastic is like a balloon and has much more give. So when a Swiss starts swelling, it's the elasticity that counts.
Hmm, wonder what the difference in eye development will be. And what would happen if you brined after taking them out of the warm room? Maybe you just invented a better cheese.
The traditional producers have it easier with their huge wheel sizes in terms of getting elasticity
Hey, wait a minute.
You mean, modify the process thus:
- make the cheese
- press the cheese
- dry the cheese in the cave for ~10 days or more
- move the cheese to warmer area
- grow the eyes for 3-4 weeks
- brine the cheese (saturated ;) )
- dry the cheese off
- move the cheese back to cave
- age the cheese for 2-18 months
- eat the cheese
Would that work? Seems like you're inviting nasties to come dine without some brine protection.
-Boofer-
Boofer, ordinarily that would be true. BUT, propionic acid kills bacteria. I mean, the final pH of emmethaler is something like 6.0, hardly acidic, and it keeps for a long time. Also, if there are strains of nisin-producing bacteria, then that acts as another preservative.
Emmenthaler usually has less rennet than other hard cheeses, so rennet-induced proteolysis and off flavors are reduced, and would go away after aging. Ordinarily, without salt, the rennet, even animal rennet, would cause off flavors. In theory, it actually could work. Might need some tweaking like adding bacteria adjuncts for bioprotection or perhaps using lysozyme.
LB - really intresting idea. The 2 babies I have swelling right now are obviously very elastic because of the light brining. So I like that aspect of it. My best eye development in the past was with saturated brine, but half the time called for and the finished cheeses have not been lacking in salt flavor. I have done this with Baby, Emmental, and Jarlsberg.
When the Babies are finished with eye formation in a couple of weeks, I will re-brine them in a saturated solution and see what happens. My only concern is that the rind will not be as permeable as a fresh pressed cheese and won't uptake the salt as well anyway. The really good news is that by then the Propionic have done their thing and won't be effected by the additional salt.
Great thread here--thanks for the info LB!
I started Jarlsberg #1 on June 2nd. Today I cut it to see how it's coming along. I was surprised.
The first thing I didn't see were the holes I was expecting. No holes. It sat out at 64-72F for three weeks. I had vacuum-bagged it early on when cracks started to show. The bag filled with gas and I changed out the bag several times and it filled with gas yet again. But no holes.
The texture was smooth and creamy...like Havarti. What's going on here? There was a slight bitterness. Salt level seemed okay, maybe a little lean.
The flavor was not really Jarlsberg. This cheese is still young. Let's see what a little more time does for it. I hope that Jarlsberg #2 fares better. I will resist the temptation to crack it until Christmas or New Years.
The weather is coming in cooler again so I feel like retrying this style. This time I'll forgo the nitrate and see how that goes. I'll also use dry calf rennet instead of the mucor tablets.
Anyone have an idea how the bag filled with gas and yet no holes were produced? Doesn't seem to show contamination.
-Boofer-
Oh dear! I've followed it's whole evolution with fascination, since as a new cheese maker, I have so much to learn. But my first simple attempt at jarlsberg (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,4090.msg37230.html#msg37230 (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,4090.msg37230.html#msg37230)) has produced pretty good holes!
I used the 200 recipes version, and took a bit of tweaking instruction courtesy of Sailor [thx!]. Saw only the slightest hint of swelling. But I basically didn't move it from my 50+ degree cave after I bagged it. Could moving and re-bagging, etc. have affected your cheese's development? Just a thought...like I said, I am not an experienced person, just going on instinct.
Boof - assuming everything else was OK, the crack(s) allowed the gas to escape. Therefore, no holes and no flavor. This is especially true if the cracks happen near the beginning of gas production.
BethGi - Swiss types must be aged at room temp for a while to encourage gas production. Did you do that or just leave it a 50F the whole time? Almost all cheeses need to be "moved" (turned) periodically during aging to equalize moisture and fat distribution.
No, after initial drying and its initial cooling off period of a week or so, I left it out for five weeks at room temp (which was low 70s with A/C). Sorry -- that wasn't clear from the earlier post.
But what I was wondering was whether lots of movement of a cheese could also contribute to offgassing -- just like us humans (?!). I understand the turning (though perhaps am not doing it often enough, which is probably why the differential moisture is visible on my Jarlsberg), but also thought that too much moving/jostling could hurt development.
Moving too much is overkill, but it isn't going to hurt anything unless the rind gets damaged.
Quote from: BethGi on September 27, 2010, 10:50:38 AM
But my first simple attempt at jarlsberg has produced pretty good holes!
Agreed. You did good, Beth.
I posted some documents on page one of this thread that steered me down a different cheese road. It treats the Jarlsberg as a Gouda with holes. That's how it was designed. I pulled the pertinent portion of the original document and reworked it to a Word document that I also posted there. The culture demanded in this case is a
mesophilic rather than a
thermophilic which is what the 200 Cheeses calls for.
I'm thinking my next effort should be a meso (I used Aroma B here) plus a little lactis helvetica. Sailor, you're saying the outgassing made the cheese lose its typical Jarlsberg flavor? If the gas was still captured in the bag it would seem like the flavor esters should have been absorbed. Outside or inside...should be good, no?
-Boofer-
Jarlsberg is more like a Gruyere not a Gouda. Jarlsberg and Gruyere are both thermo not meso cheeses. Baby Swiss is the only meso Swiss that I am aware of, but I'm sure there are more. Jarlsberg ripens in the cave for a couple of weeks and then is moved to 65-72F room temp for the classic swelling and eye formation. Gruyere on the other hand stays at 50F cave temp the whole time. It never goes thru the swelling phase so the Propionic bacteria are slowed way down. Gruyere does end up with small holes and takes longer to develop full flavor.
Jarlsberg is a washed curd cheese and only cooks to 108F (a bit high for meso bacteria). An Emmental is the classic Swiss that is not washed and cooks to 120F. So, which one is going to be more acidic? Which one will have more Propionic bacteria in the pressed cheese? Which one is more likely to produce more gas and better eye formation? Which one will have a stronger "Swiss" flavor? What is the purpose/effect of cooking the Emmental to a higher temp? >:D
I believe I'll stick with the direction in which I was headed, making slight adjustments to my course.
Here's part of that extract I referenced earlier:
"In the autumn of 1955, dairy science student Per Sakshaug (later Manager of Jæren Dairy and Headmaster of Jæren Dairy College), under the supervision of Professor Ystgaard, conducted cheesemaking experiments for his Masters Thesis, "Addition of propionibacteria culture to cheese milk", at the Agricultural University of Norway (32). Interesting results were obtained, and a good-quality cheese was produced using the Research Dairy's cheese vats. Interest was awakened to further the development of a Gouda with large eyes. From that point on, the development of a Gouda with large eyes resulting from propionibacteria metabolism was led by Professor Ystgaard, and it was this work that eventually led to today's Jarlsberg cheese. In addition to the effect on eye production, it was also expected that the addition of a pure culture of Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. Shermanii would add an interesting taste to the cheese.
As the work progressed, Professor Ystgaard felt it was important to retain the Gouda technology. This meant, for example, that only mixed cultures of so-called mesophilic lactic acid bacteria were used in addition to the propionibacteria. These lactic acid bacteria are called mesophilic because their optimal growth temperature is around 30°C. It was decided that the cheese cooking temperature, that is, the highest temperature to which the cheese mass and whey is heated in the vat, was to be the same as the relatively low temperature used for Gouda. This low temperature does not inhibit the mesophilic lactic culture and its metabolism of lactose and citric acid in the milk. In other words, the necessary good growth of the starter bacteria should be guaranteed by using these conditions."
I think if I cut smaller and wash more to dilute the whey, I will be able to more closely replicate the Jarlsberg taste and texture I am familiar with. Here's another extract from that document that speaks to rind cracks and the rubbery texture of Jarlsberg:
"Whey dilution significantly affected all of the sensory properties of the cheese, and the consistency was best when moderate dilution was used. Too little dilution gave a hard and crumbly cheese; too high a dilution gave a rubbery cheese. The effect of whey dilution on the score for taste and aroma in the cheese followed similar trends on the whole, and the tendency to form cracks was clearly reduced by increasing dilution levels."
-Boofer-