Farmhouse Cheddar Pictorial
 

SWMBO & I took our first stab at this cheesemaking thing. With a farmhouse cheddar.

Ingredients / Supplies:

2 gallons whole milk, we used the stuff that is processed right at the farm about 10 miles away. It is pasteurized and homogenized, but it's not the ultra pastureized stuff like they have at most grocery stores.
1/4 tsp calcium chloride
1/2 tsp liquid animal rennet
1 packet mesophilic starter

Sanitize kettle and all utinsils.
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Add milk to SS kettle, fill sink with hot water. Then add 1/4 tsp calcium chloride to 1/4 cup cool water, stir and add to milk, stir again.
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Let milk warm to 90º
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Add mesophilic culture, stir in gently then cover and let sit for 45 minutes. Maintaining 90º temperature.
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Add 1/2 tsp liquid animal rennet to 1/4 cup cool water, mix well, then drizzle evenly into milk. Stir in gently for one minute. Cover and let set for 45 minutes again maintaining 90º temperature.

After 45 minutes check for clean break (borrowed picture our picture didn't turn out)
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If it is fairly firm and looks like the picture above cut it vertically about 1/4" apart, then repeat horizontally.
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Take a ladle or slotted spoon, and slice the curds about 1/2" deep layers all the way down to the bottom of the kettle. stir very gently.
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Increase your water bath so the curd/whey temperature increases by 2º every 5 minutes. You want it to be at 100º after 1/2 hour. Stirr gently every few minutes.

After you reach 100º cover and let sit 5 minutes.
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Pour off most of the whey and dump into cheese cloth lined colander.
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Tie 4 corners of the cheesecloth and hang it in a non drafty area. We just covered it with a towel & hung it over the kitchen sink.
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After 1 hour of hanging remove it from the cheesecloth.
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Break it into walnut sizes pieces. Add one tablespoon of cheese salt & mix it in well.
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Rinse your cheesecloth and line your mold with it. Add the salted curds.
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Add 8 pounds of weight to your mold. (we had to get a little creative) let sit 15 minutes
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Remove cheese from mold and flip it over.
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Place it back in the lined mold and add 20 pounds of weight for 12 hours.
Had to get a little creative again.
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This is what it looked like at 12 hours when I pulled it out and flipped it over.
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After 24 hours in the mold (12 on each side) we placed cheese on some chopsticks so air could circulate, flipped it over 3 or 4 times a day for 3 full days, until a nice rind formed and there was no longer moisture on the bottom when flipping it.
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Melted cheese wax in a double boiler, briefly dipped 1/2 of the cheese into the was and let it dry for 30 seconds, then repeated several times until the was was nice and thick and you could no longer see the cheese through it.
Then flipped it over and repeated the process.
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The cheese is now waxed and ready for aging.
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Aging is best done at 46º - 60º and 75-95% humidity. They recommend 4 weeks for the farmhouse cheddar.

See you when it's time to cut the cheese :D

Cool

Cant wait for you to finish pictorial.

Is that i Zwilling knife i spot ? - if so its good taste and a great tool !

Cheers
Jakob

Sure is, I hated to use it for cheese making, but it was the best choice I had available.
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Thanks for all the great pictures- I'd like to get into cheese making and I love seeing the process you're going through.

That is very nice. I think that I might have got a kit from the same place you got yours. Did you use special salt? Best I could tell any iodine free slat would work. Same with you?