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This is my second Edam/Gouda type cheese, this time following the recipe in Caldwell's book.  Three gallons, and I got a bit creative with the molding:



If only I dared throwing it through a darkening sky, surely a blurry photo would end up on some UFO sites, so I'm calling it my Unidentified Flying Cheesy Object.

After a week, it calmed down a bit:


I'm not really much of a fan of this type of cheese (so why did I make it?). I did have an amazing 18 month Gouda recently, but I'm not that patient, so it's getting a regular rub of:




After two weeks:


How long do you think I should wait before trying it?

Thanks,
-Lance

I like to give a Gouda at least 3 months to mature - for a young Gouda. Best of all is a 3-5 year old Gouda, but that does take a wee bit of patience ... !

Eight months later, I became impatient.

It got cheese mites, as did most of my other cheeses, and the rind became a bit pitted.  Ozone took care of that!







I was slightly worried about the small cracks, but I'm pretty sure those were caused by my cutting.

But, you ask, how did it taste?

I was very relieved . . . this was very, very good.  The first thing that hits your palate is the sweetness of the paste, but then there's more nuanced sweetness, with undertones of lactic sourness, and a pleasantly sour finish, so a complex "flavor journey."    I couldn't really taste anything of the rub in the cheese itself, but since the rind is soft, there was no reason not to eat it too! 



-L