What should fresh Farmhouse Cheddar taste like?

BrooklynTrout · 07-14-2009, 01:26 AM

Hi All,

I'm new to the hobby and still trying to make a decent flavored cheese. I just took my third farmhouse cheddar out of the press.

The first cheese I made didn't set a clean break, but I was able to get curds anyway. It had a lot of moisture and produced a ton of brown and green mold under the wax, so it got tossed. It tasted sour and acidic.

The second cheese looked beautiful, but also took extra time to curdle. I wanted to taste it with only a little aging to make sure I was doing things correctly before moving on. It only aged a month in a cold refrigerator. While it had a nice, slightly crumbly texture, it also tasted bland with an acidic, spoiled milk aftertaste. It sort of tasted like really cheap cheese. This cheese also had required some extra time to set up.

For the third attempt, I tried to eliminate all possible causes of bad taste. I boiled everything in the entire kitchen. I purchased some really expensive slow pasteurized, non-homogenized milk. I used a double-boiler. I followed the instructions to the T. Even still, the milk took an extra 15 minutes to set. I got a bit of whey at the bottom of the bowl while milling and adding salt. I'm not sure if that is normal. The curds tasted bland, but not sour, so I was hopeful.

I pressed and now the cheese is drying. I cut a piece off to sample before waxing and ONCE AGAIN (dangit!) there is a sour after taste. So my question is why? Here are my ideas:

- The taste is normal and the cheese just needs to age
- Despite my cleanliness, I'm getting other bacteria in there.
- There is excess acid developing because the milk takes a long time to set
- I'm not cooking the curds until they are hard enough, trapping too much moisture
- Something else?

What should fresh, un-aged cheddar taste like anyways?

I'm really appreciative of any advice. I plan on making farmhouse cheddar again and again until it tastes good or my wife locks me up.

Sean

**Yooper** · 07-14-2009, 01:31 AM

An extra 15 minutes to form a clean break isn't a big deal at all. If it takes an extra day, then maybe you could be concerned.

The sour and acidic comes from the ph of the cheese. It's very acidic, and not really great tasting until it ages. Soft cheeses tend to have a higher ph and are ready to eat sooner.

It sounds like you'll be fine with this farmhouse cheddar. Just like with beer, it needs time to come around.

BrooklynTrout · 07-14-2009, 03:43 PM

Thanks for advice. I plan to wax it and store in in a Tupperware bin with some wet paper towels in the veggie drawer. I'll post again when I finally taste it.

brewmonger · 07-14-2009, 11:15 PM

Fresh cheddar should taste like cheese curds, because that is exactly what fresh cheese curds are.

The sour taste is probably happening because of too much acid development. There is probably too much moisture, and thus too much lactose, left in the curd. Once you reach your final cook temperature, you can keep stirring the curds (this is called "stirring out the curds") to continue drying them up before you drain off the whey and start cheddaring.

It is perfectly normal, and in fact necessary, to have whey continue draining out of the curds while cheddaring, as well as after milling and salting.

Another possible source of the sourness is not enough salt to interrupt the acid development, but I'm betting the problem is that you aren't stirring out the curds enough.

brewmonger · 07-14-2009, 11:18 PM

One final thing-

Don't be afraid of mold. External mold is perfectly ok, because it will form a rind and once you open the cheese you will cut off the rind anyways. I don't use wax at all, but a natural lard without any preservatives which is eventually colonized and consumed by native molds. This is how cheddar was made in the olden days -- wrapped in a cloth bandage, larded when it goes into the cellar, and allowed to form a natural mold crust.

BrooklynTrout · 07-15-2009, 02:05 PM

brewmonger,

RE: "Stirring out the curds" - Thanks for the tip. I have been stirring while heating up to 100 degrees, but then just letting it sit at that temperature.

RE: Mold - The first cheese had some green mold spots and also some large brown patches. I'm not sure if those were mold or rot. The green patches smelled like blues cheese, which of course makes sense. I cut it all off and tasted the cheese, but it was really sour.

RE: Whey draining during milling - That's good to know. It's really hard to know what is "normal" about a 3 hour food preparation process from a one page recipe.

I really appreciate your tips! I'm going to age the current cheese even though it is a bit tangy. I plan to make yet another farmhouse cheddar this week and stir the curds during the cooking. My curds tend to look like brains when poured into the colander, rather than a pile of rice like I've seen in some pictures.

Another question, that I guess could be another post, is there any difference between pure kosher salt and flake cheese salt?

Thanks!
Sean

PS While I don't brew beer, I do drink a few while making cheese, so I am grateful to the brew-meisters of this forum for both their art and for including a cheese making section.