Intermediate Cheesemaking: Beyond chevre

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Found these pictures hiding in my camera....this is the failed cheddar that ended up being so yummy as funny cheese curds. The specks you see are from the Redmond Real Salt (good sea salt) that I used to salt it.

Here are the same curds in a bowl with some of the raspberries I picked and made into a sauce with some stevia:

Super yummy! I still have a pint or so of the curds left. I tend to open the fridge looking for a snack to hold me until dinner and grab a handful of those curds from the jars....now only one jar left. Good mistake.

 

[Javamama]

It looks like large curd cottage cheese - did it taste similar? We can buy cheese curds at Whole Foods and they are yummy, but way too expensive so I only bought once.

 

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Nothing like cottage cheese. I never liked cottage cheese...but I love this! It is how I imagine cheese curds would taste. I've never had storebought cheese curds. These were a very, very mild cheese like a very tender cheddar.

 

[Javamama]

That sounds like what I had from Whole Foods - positively addicting! Not that I need help being any more addicted to cheese
Now - can you replicate it

 

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I'm sure I can't....it was a total surprise, as I thought I'd followed the recipe for cheddar! But I could just put some of the unpressed curds aside before filling the molds, and that would probably be very close to the same thing. If they knit together, they could be sliced for eating.

Homemade cheese curds would cost basically about a gallon of milk per pound. So even if you are buying milk, that wouldn't be too bad. How much does WF sell them for? They are most likely pasteurized....no, they ARE pasteurized, as it is illegal to sell raw cheese in the USA unless it is 60 days old or more.

 

[urban dreamer]

I waxed my cheese wheels yesterday! They formed a lovly yellow rind and are now aging for three months. Yay!

 

[RockyToggRanch]

Here in upstate NY we grew up having store bought cheese curds as a special treat. I learned to make them this summer. I took 9 pounds! to our family reunion where everyone went nuts for them.

I'd better bring twice that next yr...lol

 

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How did you make them? Was it a recipe for cheddar but not pressed, or something completely different?

 

[RockyToggRanch]

different...let me find the recipe....I'll post it.

http://www.cheesemaking.com//Recipe_CheeseCurds.html

Try this...although I cut mine instead of crumbling them. That's how they are at the cheese store

 

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Page 21, post #205 is where I posted about using 25% cow's milk in my goat cheddar recipe. I just opened it, early, because it had formed black and red mold under the wax. I figured it was a total loss, and started slicing into it for the pigs....but the center smelled good. So I tasted. I got dh to taste. It was quite good! It was mild, though, as it hadn't aged enough to develop any real sharpness.

The most important thing is....the texture was lovely! Very smooth and creamy, like store bought cow's milk cheddar....and it was still mostly made from raw goat's milk. I think I found my compromise.

And.....I have another wheel that I made later, using the same recipe and the same percentage of cow's milk, and there isn't a speck of mold lurking under the clear wax on that one. So it has a chance of aging into a very nice cheddar! Woohoo!!!!

Meanwhile, we will eat up this lovely mild, creamy cheddar. Yum!