I was wondering when recipes say to let the curds set at 72 degrees for 12 hours, how much leeway do you have on the temperature? I realize that it would be preferred that the temperature be at 72 degrees, however there will always be some variation. Would +/- 2 degrees, or 4 degrees or what? Don't have a problem now but would like to know.
Thanks,
Charles
For those temps, you're trying to encourage the growth of heterofermentive bacteria and slow acid development. 72-75 is a good range for that. When you get to the high 70s, the balance flips over to faster acid development, and you lose flavor nuances and have faster acid buildup.
This is for a cottage cheese or chevre, or similar, right? For those fresh cheeses, the heterofermentive bacteria give body and flavor.
LinuxBoy's more refined answer aside, I have made fromage blanc in wildly varying temps, from the 60s to the 90s. I know it is not ideal, but what can be done? It always tastes good still.
Before our cheese kitchen was air conditioned, I had little hop of hitting those low temps for extended periods of time when making chevre during the summer. I feel like it was hit or miss if I got a "good" chevre (no sour flavor, nice spread-ability). But it routinely got to 95F!
For cottage cheese, I never got the right 'set' if the temp went higher than 80F.
The polysaccharide linking in the heterofermentive bacteria like Leuconostoc is _crucial_ to getting the right texture with fresh cheeses like cottage curd and chevre. If you go very much above ~78, the balance moved toward Lactococci that crank up acid production and outcompete for food. End result is a lot faster acid production and the wrong body. Body is crucial for chevre, because if you take two chevres with the same pH and one is fuller in body, the acidity will not be as apparent to the tongue and mind. The acid development also has to coincide with the time to set. Ideally, this should be 8-12 hours. It's a fairly narrow window. That's why good chevre requires exact temp control and exact starter amounts and exact hang time to drain. Taking identical milk, that makes the difference between a first place winner and just "goat cheese".
linuxboy, yes it's for a fresh cheese. As a matter of fact it is for fromage blanc. I want to try it next. Nitai, its good to know that I have some leeway here. From what you and linuxboy says the temperature that the curds set at could have some effect on the taste and texture of the cheese. Would that hold true for other cheese as well? Could get into some very subtle differences here that could prove interesting.
Thanks for all the help,
Charles
Quote from: cdonaghe on July 27, 2010, 09:14:51 PM
the curds set at could have some effect on the taste and texture of the cheese. Would that hold true for other cheese as well? Could get into some very subtle differences here that could prove interesting.
Absolutely, but it depends on the culture. With cheddar for example, you're working with normal lactic bacteria and then it's just about timing your acid development to coincide with the amount of moisture the curds release before the whey is drained. Thermo cultures are similar, and you have to also work with the specific tendencies of the culture mix because ST and LH/LB are symbiotic.
So yes, temp absolutely makes a difference.