CheeseForum.org » Forum

I made a cheddar yesterday with the recipe from this site, it was getting late and I forgot to salt the curds. Its in the press now.... should I soak in brine? or is it done?

Thanks,

Jeff

I hope others chime in on this.  I vote for going with brine but this will add some moisture back to your cheese.  It may not be quite the Cheddar anymore but should be edible.  Perhaps there's a different cheese it will better resemble. 
Can others comment as to if it could be milled again, salted, and re-pressed?  I imagine it wouldn't quite knit together properly, but I haven't had this issue. 
At least with brine you know the cheese is in one piece and salted. A safer bet if others can't post in time.

I'm with smiling, I'd go with brining which generally will dehydrate the surface of the cheese starting a rind.

Also see this similar thread.

I just found this site. I had this issue last year. We made Cheddar and forgot to salt! We followed the rest of the directions, no brine.  We waxed and waited. It turned out fine... we needed to add salt when we eat it on crackers but it was still really good. We ended up adding ours to a wine and cheese sausage recipe and it was OUT OF THIS WORLD good... i wouldn't give up on your cheese just yet ours turned out.. yours might 2! I'm sorry this post is so late, but I hope it helps!

I did something similar a few years ago (too little salt).  Though this won't help you for this time, I got up in the middle of the night and broke up the curd up as others have suggested, added more salt, and put it back in the press.  What I'd do differently now is add much more weight to that last pressing.  The cheese turned out really good but the sides looked like cobblestones. 

I remember lying there in the dark wondering if it was worth the bother.  But it was raw milk, which I can't get often, salt helps in the preservation, and it really needed to last 60 days. 

Hey Jeff,
  How's this cheese working out? I thought I remember that you ended up brining, but I don't see that in the post.  What did you do? How soon till you cut it to find out the results?

Your cheddar will probably be edible. But since one purpose the salt serves is to stop the production of
Lactic Acid, you may get a very low pH cheese (~pH4.1). Cheddar is a medium pH cheese. (pH 5.0 - pH5.4)

That will cause your cheese to be somewhat bitter and crumbly.

Additionally, cheese, without salt, will be subject to biological instability.  That is, the salt acts as a preservative, keeping the cheese resistant to spoilage pathogens.

Sorry I missed all the new posts,
I ended up brining for 24 hours , air drying for 4 days, and vac bagging for almost one month ( cracked into it yesterday). The cheese was good, a little salty, had a lot of voids and the center had a big crack/void almost like gas build up? I rebagged but will try to get some pics tomorrow

Thanks,

Jeff