Urban Cheddar #1

03.04.09 | 2 Comments

So we live in a city and yes, we made our first Farmhouse Cheddaaaaaar! Here’s how it went…

1 – Heat up two gallons of whole milk to 90°F

1-pot-of-2-gallons-of-milk

2 – Add cultures and wait 45 minutes. Add Rennet and wait 45 minutes.

3 – The milk turns into something that looks very much like yogurt. It’s time to cut the curds!

2-cut-the-curds

4 – Cook the curds again in a bath of water (in the sink) and bring the temperature up to 100°F… no more than 2 degrees every 5 minutes, which is supposed to take about 30 minutes but really took us 45. We’re learning.

3-cook-the-curds-again

5 – Hang the curds.

5-hang-the-curds

6 – Line the mold with the cheese cloth and press it increasing the weight and turning the cheese periodically.
This process led us to put together a kick ass cheese press engineered and built by Justin. Tah-dah!!

cheese-press

7 – Take the cheese out of the mold and let it air dry for several days, turning it multiple times a day so moisture doesn’t collect at the bottom for too long.

6-cheddar-after-being-pressed

8 – Wax the cheese and age it for at least 1 month. Ideally you want to wait for more than 6 months. Patience!

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