I've noticed my washed and boiled cheesecloth gathers a lot of lint... Most of it is large enough to pick off after washing and before boiling. I'd just as soon not have it embedded in my cheese although I doubt it would harm my digestive system.
Anyone else have these concerns?
I have the same problem with mine. I have had some issues with it being embedded in the cheese after pressing. I just remove it and smooth things over. After a few washes I have noticed that it goes away. I like to air dry mine on the line in the basement.
What kind of cheesecloth are you using? I use sheeting fabric and don't have much trouble with lint, but the dog and cat hairs still seem to find their way onto my cheese. I use a needle and tweezers to remove it.
I'm using some 'flour sacking' sold by Fantes.
I hate these darn things. They leave lint, and then you can't really wash them in the laundry because they pick traces of detergent and lint from other clothes, so you need to wash them by hand and boil which too often do not remove all the protein deposits, and I hate putting this kind of cheese cloth on a new cheese. I began buying them on a regular basis to use only once but it gets costly and annoying (not to mention that there is still lint on the new cheesecloths).
Then I came up with a reusable cheesecloth that does better job than any cheesecloth I've ever bought. Those plastic vegetable mesh bags you get potatoes, onions or lemons in. It's food grade plastic. I only keep the ones that are a bit more dense. I can wash them with a scrubber and detergent without worry. Everything washes off them easily and they don't leave any deposits or lint. I can dry them quickly and use a no-rinse sanitizer like San Star. Having them shaped like a bag makes them perfect for hanging or lining a colander. They are fantastic, reusable and ...free!
That is a great idea! I'm going to look for those. I also like Plyban. I got mine from Hoeggers. It is a sort of plastic cheesecloth. Nothing sticks to it. Easy cleanup. You can't boil it but I sanitize with Starsan.
Susan
Thanks for the replies and commiseration!
I'll take a look at plyban, Susan.
Mesh bags are unlikely for me to try as my veggies are organic and come from my own garden without bags! Sounds like a good idea though.
Buying 10 lbs of potatoes in the market one time is still cheaper than reusable cheesecloth. Not to mention you get free potatoes with it!
Here's a photo. I love the selection of different densities. Try doing that with a regular cheesecloth!
Hmmmmm, pretty AND tempting!
Try paint strainer bags from your local paint supply store.
What are they made off?
Looks like nylon or a nylon/poly hybrid. Probably not too much different than the potato bags. I have been using them for a long time. They come in 1 gallon and 5 gallon sizes. Way better than cheesecloth for simple draining tasks. In a pinch you can even use them to press cheese, but it leaves a wicked seam mark. Of course you can always remove the cheese from the drain bag and repress to remove the wrinkles.
Yoav, dont these open weave mesh bag leave imprints on the pressed cheese?
Or are you only using it for initial pressing and for final pressing go "bear naken"?
Sailor - thanks! Do you have any links to these? Below is the marks that these leave on my cheese. They are cute looking actually but the mesh is so thin that they mostly dissapear once the rind grow.
How's the creamery going by the way?
Tomer - Every cheesecloth leaves and imprint. That's part of pressed cheese. These plastic things leave a far nicer imprint than your regular cheesecloth though. I actually am right now in the middle of brining a 3.5 Lbs. raw milk Tomme that was pressed in this mesh. I lifted it from the brine for a second for this photo: (this is 2nd pressing so the cheesecloth is not folded over, therefore it "resolution" is low and the mesh is big). You can see the seam where one side of the mesh meets the other across the top of the cheese. Overall as you can see, I got a nice smooth texture and very shallow marks from the "cheesecloth" net.
Ha! cool its like gator skin.
I'l give it a try, I have a close window netting used for anti-insect window add-ons made out of nylon.
I haven't used 'nasty' cheesecloth for years. This is a link to Glengarry. Scroll down to
'cheese bandage'. Wonderful stuff and lasts a very long time.
http://www.glengarrycheesemaking.on.ca/accessories.htm (http://www.glengarrycheesemaking.on.ca/accessories.htm)
annie
Tomer - I suggest not to use window netting; not food safe, probably PVC. It's conbstruction grade material. Use veggie bags.
Annie - Thanks! I think I should purchase some. Which size do you find the most useful? I really only use them for large Tomme and to drain semi lcatics. All other cheese I do directly in the mold with no need for cheesecloth. (and I do 3 times as much bloomy, washed and small Tommes than large Tommes so I never bothered investing in this too much)
I only purchased a couple of sheets of 40x40. They are very durable and last for years.
annie
Do you cut them? Or, do they have seamed edges so that they won't fall apart?
Yes you cut them. And do you mean do they unravel? No, they're plasticky...(new word).
When wrapping a cheese for pressing, you just place the plyban around it as you would when
wrapping a bottle of wine.
annie
Wrinkles galore?
Although I haven't used as much 'regular' cheeseclcoth, I think plyban gives less wrinkles. It is more pliable. Attached is a picture right out of the press after wrapped in plyban. This was one of my first cheeses. I do even better now. After a month or two of aging these wrinkles are gone.
Susan
You're right Susan. If you fold them well, they have even less wrinkles and they do disappear after
a bit.
You should be careful of which side you place against the cheese. There is one side that is slightly
rougher than the other. I think the instructions mention this. If not, then I got the info from
Margaret Morris's Video on Cheddar.
annie
Nice! Looks like the Plyban is rather thin because you can still see all the holes in the Tomme mold. (is this about 3.5 Lbs wheel?)
I don't mind little wrinkles. I like a bit of texture too - it helps the rind start by trapping mold and moisture in those hairline scratches.
Yes, I think this was about a 3.5 lb wheel. It was 4 gallons milk. Interestingly, my 4 gallons wheels are now much smaller since switching from Jersey to Brown Swiss milk (both raw). But expect to have the Jersey milk again sometime in June. Yay!
Susan
Yes, I just used raw jersey for the first time on a Tomme last week. My 3 gallons have produced a 3.7Lbs cheese! I would have gotten about a third less should I have used the old pasteurized (non homogenized) Holstein milk I usually use. It's all that fat...
In the winter some dairy sent me 43 Lbs (5 Gal) of milk to test for cheesemaking. It was organic but homogenized and HTST pasteurized. Those 5 gallons yielded a cheese the size of these 3 raw Jersey gallons have.
Yoav, impressive heh?
Amazing Jos; thanks a million for that milk!!! That cheese is YELLOW. I brined it in the whey of the cheesemaking which had a perfect pH (slower curve thanks to cooling). Mid way through the brining I realized that butterfat in the whey was attracted to the body of the cheese ...almost giving me an oil-smeared rind :)
Aging it in a special untreated wood box now at 55F. Nothing much added to it. just mycodore, a tiny pinch of geo 15 and one secret bacteria that's going to rock this cheese later in the aging... this is going to be an amazing cheese. I can tell.
Hope I get to taste it.
Of course you would! I wouldn't dare not giving you some.
Frankly, if I knew that the yield would be so great I would have probably made two 1.85 Lbs Petit-Tomme wheels instead of a single full size.