Farmhouse Cheddar Tasting and Making Camemberts

Hi Cheese-Lovers! :)

I opened the Farmhouse Cheddar that I made at the end of October. Farmhouse Cheddar is basically a short-aged Cheddar. It aged for just one month and it's supposed to be more moist and creamier than a regular Cheddar.

I didn't post a recipe because I wanted to see how it turned out first. There are good points and bad points.

Farmhouse Cheddar to the left - 3-month aged Cheddar to the Right

It looks right! It has the right texture! It smells awesome. We re-sealed half of the 3-month Cheddar that we opened in October - you can see how the 3-month Cheddar is very firm, no holes. This is because an aged Cheddar goes through what's called the Cheddaring process. A Farmhouse Cheddar doesn't. The Cheddaring process removes more whey from the curd to make a firmer cheese. So as you can see, both cheeses look right.

Despite good looks, once again, there is a little tang to it. And it didn't melt. I even tried a different bacterial culture this time so I'm guessing it's the milk or the acidity level during ripening.

No matter how much research I do, I CANNOT find any information about acidity of cheese during cheese making in LAYMAN's terms that talks about tang and melt. I don't have a chemistry degree!  None of the books I own on cheese making address this. Plus, I simply don't have the time or attention span right now to learn about all of the chemical/technical aspects of cheese making...but I'm going to try my darndest to figure all of this out so that I can have a nice mild Cheddar! I wrote to the owner of the cheese making store where I buy my supplies, I hope she can help me!

It's still good, don't get me wrong! We nearly finished it! :) But it's just a snacking cheese.

Another little experiment I'm doing is a new recipe for Camembert. I have a very good recipe for the authentic French gooey, runny strong flavoured Cam. The photo above is one of the Cams I made last Christmas. You can see how the cheese is firm on the outside and runny on the inside. The rind was beautifully developed as well - it was a great cheese! But this year I wanted to try one that was a little more mild and a lot more firm.

So I tried a new recipe for a firmer Cam. I made them two days ago and they are air drying. They are quite holey...and the white bloom has already started to show up in places! These will be ready to taste in mid-January so I'll let you guys now how they turn out!

Cheesy Tidbits

Hi Everyone :)

With the success of my last Cheddar, I made some more! But this time I tried a different bacterial culture. Check out the difference in colour! Isn't that amazing? The cheeses that I made in July are still quite pale compared to the one I made last weekend! 

I used this culture: MA4002. It's a new one for me. It's a blend of mesophilic and thermophilic cultures. Simply put, a mesophilic culture is used for cheeses that don't require any cooking time above 102 F or so; the mesophilic culture ripens at its best at lower temperatures. 

Thermophilic cultures can withstand higher heat and ripen better at higher heat. A mix of the two is supposed to stabilize a softer cheese and slow down the ripening process. The ripening process gives the cheese its taste and texture. I read that the ripening process also affects acidity and the final result of the cheese's flavour - so we'll see if using this culture leads to a milder Cheddar. There is already a visual difference, I can't wait to see if there is a taste difference!

I also made a Farmhouse Cheddar cheese. It's made similarly to the aged Cheddar, but the method after draining the curds is different to give it a more moist texture. NONE of my photos turned out during the process of making this because the shutter on my phone's camera had some kind of crud on it - for lack of a better word! Lesson: wipe your phone and camera shutter before taking photos!!! This is supposed to be ready to eat after one month of aging, so if it turns out well, I'll make it again and do a photo tutorial to post with the recipe!