Some starting out questions

[estricklin]

Ok, so I made my first cheese, queso fresco, and I just have a few general questions.

First of all, the queso fresco is pretty bland, I've bought queso fresco before, and never remember it being this bland. Now that it is a week old, it tastes much better, and when I eat it with salty crackers it actually tastes really good. I have over a pound of it left. What will happen if I age it for a few weeks? Will it spoil or??? I have handled it a couple times with my bare hands. Can I melt it into some sort of dip?

I plan to make mozzarella this weekend, using no citric acid, but instead thermophillic B per the recipe I've found. Do I really need neoprene gloves? I've watched some videos of people stretching the curd, and gloves seem kind of extreme?

What kind of containers will I need to place my cheese in for aging? Should I worry about unwanted mold?

I have the book "Artisan Cheesemaking at Home by Mary Karlin", is it worth buying another, such as "Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking"?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Staestc]

Ok, so I made my first cheese, queso fresco, and I just have a few general questions.

First of all, the queso fresco is pretty bland, I've bought queso fresco before, and never remember it being this bland. Now that it is a week old, it tastes much better, and when I eat it with salty crackers it actually tastes really good. I have over a pound of it left. What will happen if I age it for a few weeks? Will it spoil or??? I have handled it a couple times with my bare hands. Can I melt it into some sort of dip?

I plan to make mozzarella this weekend, using no citric acid, but instead thermophillic B per the recipe I've found. Do I really need neoprene gloves? I've watched some videos of people stretching the curd, and gloves seem kind of extreme?

What kind of containers will I need to place my cheese in for aging? Should I worry about unwanted mold?

I have the book "Artisan Cheesemaking at Home by Mary Karlin", is it worth buying another, such as "Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking"?

Thanks in advance!

View attachment 607747

Awesome first cheese!! Well done!

According the the NEC recipe (https://cheesemaking.com/products/queso-fresco-cheese-making-recipe) fresh cheeses like queso fresco should not be aged and should be consumed within a week. A lot of folks add chilies or herbs and stuff to them to get past the blandness.

I have not made mozzarella yet, but I am going to get gloves when I do. You can do it without, but it's really hot at the pulling stage. Gloves are cheap and it seems like it would be easier to pull if I'm not having to keep putting it down because it's too hot.

For aging I have tupperware and similar in various sizes that I can put cheese into and then put those into my wine fridge cave. I bought a 2' x 4' sheet of light diffuser from Lowes, and I cut pieces of that out to fit the bottom of the tupperware containers. On top of that I put fairly plastic mesh that I got from JoAnn's that I think is meant for some type of needle point, then cheese on top of that.

The main reason for containers inside of the cave is to keep the humidity up for cheeses that need it, and to prevent your mold ripened cheeses and washed rind cheeses from contaminating other cheeses that should not have mold.

I'm new at this, so take my opinions for what they are worth. Others are much more experienced than I, so wait till Andrew or Shelly weigh in!

 

[shelly_belly]

The higher the moisture content of your cheese and the higher the humidity, the greater the chance of mold. You can prevent mold from forming by washing the cheese surface frequently or you can wait until you see mold and then wash it off. However mold seems to grow exponentially so get at it quickly and it will be easy to wash off. I've had some I had to attack with a toothbrush to get it out of the crevices. Eventually the rind will form and mold growth will dwindle down. I probably washed a romano and a parmesan 1-2 times a week for 4 or 5 weeks before mold growth ceased. Oil may be applied and seems to help prevent mold from getting a foothold. Or wax or vacuum bagging for cheeses without rinds.

Here's what's left of my first cheese which was also a queso fresco. I too felt it was bland and I dried out my curds too much by aggressively stirring them. I vacuum bagged it and tossed it in the fridge to be tried later. Well later happens to be 1 year and now what I have is more like a sharp white cheddar. It had a little whey in it I guess from the cultures still working. It doesn't slice well, it crumbles but I think that's because of the too dry curds. But the taste is fantastic. And it melts well.

 

[Gravity]

Queso fresco,as the name says is “fresh cheese” - in other words don’t even think about aging it

I’m not sure what your recipe or process is, however add salt -it will take you a couple of tries to get to where you want to be in terms of “flavor” and not bland

Salt is a super common addition when making queso fresco even the store bought ones need a dash of salt-so don’t be afraid to add it

 

[passedpawn]

Ok, so I made my first cheese, queso fresco, and I just have a few general questions.

First of all, the queso fresco is pretty bland, I've bought queso fresco before, and never remember it being this bland. Now that it is a week old, it tastes much better, and when I eat it with salty crackers it actually tastes really good. I have over a pound of it left. What will happen if I age it for a few weeks? Will it spoil or??? I have handled it a couple times with my bare hands. Can I melt it into some sort of dip?

I plan to make mozzarella this weekend, using no citric acid, but instead thermophillic B per the recipe I've found. Do I really need neoprene gloves? I've watched some videos of people stretching the curd, and gloves seem kind of extreme?

What kind of containers will I need to place my cheese in for aging? Should I worry about unwanted mold?

I have the book "Artisan Cheesemaking at Home by Mary Karlin", is it worth buying another, such as "Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking"?

Thanks in advance!

View attachment 607747

You'll want gloves. i used silicone grill gloves and they were too clunky, so I bought the blue fleece-lined ones one cheesemaking.com. They work great. Good luck btw, biologically-acidified mozz can be frustrating. It's child's play with citric acid, but not as flavorful.

 

[estricklin]

An update. After another few days the Queso Fresco tasted MUCH better, although I would add much more salt next time, 2 tablespoons instead of the 1-2 teaspoons the recipe called for.

The mozzarella was kind of a bust. I didn't know it was going to take that long for the pH to drop, and when it hit 5.3 I tried to stretch it, and without gloves I could not keep the cheese hot enough. I think it wasn't quite ready to stretch either. So, I graded it and made some pizza crust, the cheese actually tasted very good, lots of flavor to it, I was very surprised.

This weekend will be taking a crack at Irish Cheddar.

 

[cmybeer]

There are two ways to get your Motz to stretching temp that I know of. The first I tried was the traditional, heat the whey, dunk the curds in cheese cloth, squeeze it out and repeat until around 145*. The second that I've had much more success with is the microwave method. Seperate curds and whey, microwave curds for a minute, remove, kneed to distribute temp, microwave again for 35 seconds, salt, kneed, repeat as needed. Again, gloves help as when it gets to temp it is pretty hot to the touch.