Once you come back, it’s time to add the rennet. Cover the pot and allow the cultures to acidify the milk for the next hour. After that you thoroughly mix in the culture and annatto. You begin making cheddar cheese by warming a vat of milk to 88F. The active stirring time takes just about an hour.
The good news is this time is not all spent over the pot stirring the cheese. I start a batch around 9 AM after milking & breakfast then end up getting the cheese in the press around 4 PM. Making cheddar cheese will take up a good portion of your day, to be sure.
I choose not to because I always miss the sweet spot and boil all the liquid away and have to start again. It’s made from a seed and can even be made at home by simmering the seeds in water. There’s no need to to be concerned about adding a colorant to your cheese. You will end up with a wheel of cheese that would rival a bag of Cheetos. Whatever you do, don’t add more annatto to change the color in the pot. It won’t seem like it did the trick, but I promise it will. An eighth of a teaspoon is enough to change the color of a 4-gallon batch of cheese. I find that my children are so used to the orange cheddar color from the store that they are more likely to eat orange cheddar. If you’d like you can also give your cheddar cheese that quintessential orange color with the addition of a small bit of annatto seed extract. You can also try making cheddar cheese with MA11 or RA22 (24/26). I’ve tried this recipe with several mesophilic cultures and MA4001 or 4002 are my favorites. This means that the cheese will never rise above 102F so cool temperature cultures are appropriate. This cheddar cheese recipe is made with mesophilic culture. The flavor symbiosis between the two makes a perfect blend for sealing a cheese.Īll of the other supplies should already be in your arsenal if you’ve been working through the Homesteaders of America cheesemaking series. Besides, it seems like a beautiful pairing to cloth bound a cheddar and seal it with melted butter. I’ve never had consistent results with natural waxes and do not choose to use artificial waxes with food dyes. Vac sealing slows or stops flavor development & affects the final taste & texture of the cheese. I do not recommend vac sealing cheeses where you want flavors to develop during the aging process. You will need cotton cloth or cheese wax to seal this cheese while aging. We cut a hole into the side for the tube to pipe mist into the fridge. I use this humidifier fog machine outside my cheese fridge. Regardless of which cheese fridge you end up with, you will need a humidity controller with a way to add moisture to the environment. I was able to find a dinged up, yet new, beverage cooler online that has 2 adjustable zones that I can set to the perfect temperature for aging cheese. Your cheese fridge can a mini-fridge with a digital controller to override the preset temperature. You may adjust it up or down to your taste. 2.6% salt is the sweet spot for my palette. Salting your cheese by percentage of the curd mass will ensure uniform results from cheese to cheese. (Which means less work maintaining temperatures for you!) I also prefer welded handles over rivets because it is easier to clean and one less place for bacterial to lurk and ruin an otherwise good cheese.Ĭheddar cheese will also require you to have a digital scale and micro digital scale to weigh your curds & salt.
I also suggest finding a sturdy stainless steel pot with a lid from a restaurant supply company because it will be quality enough to retain heat. With 4 gallons of milk or more, your cheese will have enough mass that the paste will be creamier. Though most cheese recipes you’ll find online or in books are made with 2 gallons of milk, the yield on your final product will be significantly less because so much of the rind will dry out during aging and need to be removed. For more information about other cheesemaking equipment not discussed here, see the recipe for Butter Cheese.īecause cheddar cheese is aged for a month or more, I highly recommend making it with at least 4 gallons of milk. If you’re new to cheesemaking, cheddar cheese may require you to add some supplies to your tool kit that you may not have yet, including a cheese fridge. Supplies for Making Homemade Cheddar Cheese