Comments on: Project 5: Farmhouse Cheddar, The Reckoning

By: sue

sue — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:37:55 +0000

The problem is undersalting…which allowed your cheddar to become too acidic.
Sue in Vt

By: FUCheese » Hard Cheese Class at Kookoolan Farms

FUCheese » Hard Cheese Class at Kookoolan Farms — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:03:02 +0000

[...] has been making her own cheeses for over 30 years. The focus was on cheddar! You may recall in the Cheddar Incident of Aught Eight that our first go at a hard cheese didn’t turn out so well. We’ve all been talking [...]

By: Nicole

Nicole — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:12:51 +0000

I don’t recall how much salt was added, but I agree that there should have been a lot more. The cheese was fairly bland and while there was a certain amount of tang I wouldn’t say that it was a cohesive flavor. The tang kind of came after the blandness, and then the whole thing rounded out in my mouth with an over-powering sour flavor. (But that just might be because I didn’t cut away all of the mold or something – opps.)

It was nice to see that the cheese had a firm texture and that the general process seeemed to result in the desired effects. I’d like to try this again with a little more preparation on my part to figure out possible ways to get a richer flavor.

I suppose all our cheesemaking attempts can’t be rip roaring successes, but I wouldn’t say this was a complete bust. Echoing Amanda’s statement, I have even more appreciation for cheesemakers everywhere making delicious tasting cheeses. It’s also nice to have completed a hard cheese project so that we have an experience on which to base our questions and research for the next time.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 04:41:21 +0000

Sarah, do you recall how much salt was used?

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 03:53:26 +0000

I just tasted the cheese and agree with Amanda that it’s not like any cheddar I’ve had before. I’d say it’s probably closest in taste and texture to some goat cheddars I’ve had, but without the goat milk flavor. It is indeed quite tangy. I actually tasted several farmhouse cheddars recently (which were aged much longer), and some of them were surprisingly tangy — but I preferred the ones that were less so.

I think the other missing element in this cheese is salt, and wonder if more salt could have helped to balance out the tang. Maybe I just like salty food, but I think all of the recipes we’ve tried so far have called for too little salt.

I’d be up for trying this recipe again, or jumping to a more traditional cheddar aged several months to see how it compares.