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Hi,

I have a problem that is effecting all my cheeses that i really need help with. I have made a variety of hard cheese such as cheddar, leicester and MJ and they all have the same issue. Although the taste is good the texture is such that it really sticks to you gums. For example a recent Monterey Jack when opened still contained allot of moisture which gave the cheese a crumbly sharp taste which was very nice. The texture of the curd although still quite damp with whey was slightly pasty.

Another thing i have noticed with all my cheese is that they do not melt. I kind of think this is linked to the texture issue but i don't know how. When put on the top of hot food or under a grill it does not melt and run as you would expect. It kind of goes soft but retains its grated shape unless spread with a knife.

I hope some of you can help.

Regards
Tom

Hi Tom, sounds like your moisture retention is high and cheddaring/cooking steps are not done by the book.

You may want to try cutting the curd to smaller cubes and let the curd sit in heated whey longer to remove whey from it. Take a handfull of curd, squeze in your palm and see if they don't stick, they should also look glossy. This is the only test I do to check the acidification on cooked curd cheeses. Also the temp should increase slowly to let the thermophilic bacteria multiply and consume lactos and increase acidity.

For cheddaring the temp and time are the 2 factors that I've never done it properly. No matter what I did, I couldn't get them acidify enough to get the melting factor in a toast or grill, but above method gave me some nice cheddars that melts nicely on a toast with basil and garden fresh tomatoes... 

How long are you aging these cheeses?  Surprisingly enough, some texture and flavor issues just melt away with a few more months of maturity.

Someone who tasted my cheese told me that they had the same texture with store bought milk, but when they changed to raw milk that the texture changed. Raw milk is difficult to come by so that's really not an option.

It is not preferable with hard cheeses like cheddar but did you ever try to add some cream to your milk? Although it is not the same thing; this may increase the butter fat in your milk and you can get a different texture.

Also after cutting, during the stirring; if you bash/stir the curd too much, it will loose butter fat which may affect the texture in the end. So be gentle with it.

Hi,

The MJ was left for 2 months and previous hard cheese have been left for between3 - 9 months. I initially thought it was due to too much rennet but i am not sure. I have reduced the amount from about 40 drops down to about 32 and i am still getting a decent curd so hopefully these will show some improvement once ready for testing.

I do not think it is to do with the size of the curd. I generally cut the curd quite small already compared to other examples i have seen. As far as the store bought milk that could be a factor. I have recently set up a supply of raw milk from a local farm and hope to that this will give better results but unfortunately the wont be ready to test for 2 months.

As far as the acidification goes i don't know. From all that i have read it would seem the most likely reason but i record the PH at each stage and make sure i hit the correct markers so i would be surprised if that was the problem.

I have put my name down for a professional course in Sept and so hope that the practical tutoring will help.

T

The texture you're describing is the classic outcome that results from using poor quality milk, such as the bulk milk you buy at the store. Homogenization ruins it for most cheeses except fresh ones, blues, and some lactic types.

Thanks for the comment linuxboy. All the cheese i have turned out so far have been standard supermarket.

I also use supermarket milk and the pH is like 7.0. It is no good for cheesemaking but I have no other option till Jan, Feb next year. I usually keep the ripening step longer to get the pH targets before I add the rennet.

Also adding cream and CaCl2 helps. The curd is no where near good enough like when I am using fresh milk though.

Sounds to me like it could also be hardened curds. Many ways to get less than perfect cheese! Be very careful about SLOWLY raising the temperature when cooking the curds. If there is to fast a rise the curds can harden on the outside holding to much moisure and no amount of aging can fix this.

Good news. The results from the raw milk are so much better. The texture and taste are much better.

That's great to hear!