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It's an attempt at an Appenzeller, at six weeks.  Every day it gets rubbed down with a mixture of vodka infused with rosemary, sage, tarragon, cloves, juniper berries, chamomile, ginger, anise, and orange peel; mixed with the yeasty lees from my mulberry, ginger and turmeric sodas.   (from cheesemaking.com with some additions).



It's tumescent because it's young, and kept at 60-65 degrees while Propionibacterium freudenreichii subsp. shermanii rabbited away.

Now going into 52 degrees for at least four months, if I can wait!

-L

An interesting combination for the rub and looking very good at the moment.
A cheese for you.
I hope it continues to go so well.

Now it has been five months, almost every day wiped with "special sauce," so much so that I had to re-up/re-do the herb tincture/soda lees mix:





Looks pretty good, if I do say so myself!



It got an attack of cheese mites, of course not necessarily a bad thing:



After five months of loving care, I had more trepidation cutting in to this one than any previous cheese:



I wasn't expecting round holes, so that's fine, but EEK! some blue spores insinuated their way in:



. . . luckily, only in one place, at least from what I cut into.

The paste was nice, slightly springy.

But, you ask, how did it taste?

Pretty good. Mild ("sweet") as expected, and a nice balance with the slightly bitter herbs (no vodka taste!), and unsurprisingly more herby taste from the bits closer to the rind. I'm giving it a solid "B+."





It's the first "big" (four pound) cheese I've made, so there are leftovers.  One bit I'll enjoy, now, the rest waxed and will stay in the fridge for six mos. to a year:



Not my best wax job, but I had some big holes to fill:



A good argument for one of those vacuum thingys!

-L

nicely done!

AC4U

Trent

Very nice looking cheese. AC4U!

What are you using for a mold given that you have 4 Lb wheels?

Thanks!!

I misspoke, it was a four-gallon make, not four pounds (I didn't weigh it).

I'm using a "custom" 9" mold, part of a bucket in a former life 



The mix of the mild paste and herbs isn't a style I was familiar with, and I think put me off a bit, but I've been nibbling it for a few days, and now think it's darn good, so I'm "officially" upgrading it to an A-   

-L

Thanks for the info.

Four gallons makes about four pounds of most cheeses so that's about right. I've only done up to three gallons at a time and have molds that can take up to two pounds of cheese curds before pressing. I see the pics on here for the much larger wheels and I am always curious about how people go about getting those beautiful wheels made. Thanks for scratching that itch.

Once I manage to get my Tomme recipe under control, I will try to upsize it and then look at what you did for a large wheel and tweak it. For now, I will stick with the one or two gallon sizes I am working with.

Now at 13 months, the last eight in the fridge.



Luckily, the small bit of blue that insinuated its way in doesn't seem to have spread.



But, you ask, how does it taste now?

Despite the waxing, the paste is denser. Far from a grating cheese, though, so I suspect that's just the natural evolution, and it's still a cracker cheese. Surprised to find that it has become a bit gritty, I assume because of tyrosine crystals.

But wait, how does it taste?

Excellent. The herb mix seems to have penetrated and equalized throughout the cheese, so each bite is consistent with the next. Unsurprised that it's a bit less mild than earlier, and now seems to have a slightly sourer finish, but the herby-liciousness far outweighs that.



-L