Making a small 1kg wheel of farmhouse cheddar tomorow morning.
Any suggestion on treating the dry fruit?
Rehydrating in boiling water doesnt seem like a good idea since it will encapsulated moisture inside the cheese causing pottential spoilage.
I was thinking of giving them a dry run in the microwave to sterilize, then chopping and adding to the milled curds.
Any thoughts?
Dehydrated cranberries will work just fine as is in cheddar because it is a salted curd cheese. The salt keeps unwanted organisms from taking hold. You can also blanch quickly in really hot water or briefly soak in a potassium sorbate solution. But they will be fine as is.
I think i've set a record in longest cheddar make ever!
almost 24hr from begining to end!
For some reason I decided to add only 0.5% bulk messo (I shouldnt be making cheese or doing basic math when not getting enough sleep).
After 3 hours of ripening time with no significant nudge in ph I decided i'l just just add the damn rennet.
I followed stirring\temp rise,drained at about 6.5!
cheddared for an about 6 hours and milled without salting thinking I'l try to acidiy in the press.
8 hours in the press and Ph is 5.8.
16 hours in the press and Im almost approaching 5.3, yeah!
Im gone brine it which means having to wake up in the middle of the night to take it out of the brine. :O
All for a lousy 8L batch and I decided not to add the dried fruit.
I froze them and will be making some more cheddar next week.
Conclusion:
Dont make cheese when your not focused
Think about switching to DVI
Tomer1 I know the pain and the hard won wisdom! I too have found that making cheese starting at 10pm is not my best time to think and certainly not my "A"game! Praises that the cheese still survived though they are aging and I wont know the exact damage for another few months. Will you post make notes on your cranberry cheddar? I've been planning on making a few 1lb Goudas and farmhouses with dried fruit for the holidays and would like to hear from someone else who is going that route.
Thanks in advance
Sure,
I'l be getting some raw milk this weekend and docoment the make.
I think this cheese wont be a complete failure, however the curds soaked up a huge amount of moisture
from the extended contact with whey Despite pressing at 120lbs\4inch mould and brining,
it was very sponge like.
I think it will take a few weeks before I can wax.