HOME MADE CHEDDAR CHEESE

Self Sufficient Living

This is much easier to make than you think, it is always a little daunting and exciting when you read an alien recipe for the first time and really have no concept of the method as you have not cooked this way before, but take a deep breath believe in yourself and go for it, have some fun, after all its just another culinary experience and odds are you will succeed and have a truckle of cheese to present to your family and friends as a moment of culinary triumphant...or not...and who knows where that is going to lead to...

There is no need for fancy equipment, I did splash out on a cheddar cheese truckle mould but a large margarine tub with a few drain holes punctured in it would equally suffice.  I do recommend purchasing 2 new cheese muslin's and the cheese wax, the rest you probably have in your kitchen.

The jury is still out on the taste and flavour on my first home made cheddar truckle as it is tucked away and maturing it's flavour, I will update at Christmas time when we un-vail the awaited truckle...

THE CHEDDAR TRUCKLE

Itinerary

Make a starter

Separate curds and whey

Drain whey leaving curds

Pressing curds

Air drying

Waxing your truckle

CHEESE MAKING EQUIPMENT

Large saucepan, glass jug, thermometer, ladle, 40-50kg of weight (paving slab or weights) a plastic container with holes for draining, 2 cheese muslin's and a colander, 100g cheese wax, 4 drops vegetarian renet and a double boiler.

STARTER CULTURE

1 sachet freeze dried cheese starter, 1 litre milk, thermometer, glass jug 1.5 ltr, saucepan, cling film and 2 ice cube trays.

HANDS ON COOKING TIME

10 minutes hands on time several times over 48 hours.

Waxing Time:  20 minutes on day three.

STARTER CULTURE

This is your first and a once only job and will give you approx 20 batches of starter that can be kept in the freezer until needed by filling two ice cube trays and then sealing the frozen cubes in a zip lock food bag.

Ingredients

1 ltr un homogenised milk

1 pack freeze dried cheese starter

MAKING THE STARTER CULTURE

Bring the litre of milk up to 85 C, just under boiling and hold at this temperature for 10 minutes, remove from the heat and cool rapidly by standing the saucepan in cold running water in the sink until the temperature is down to 20 C, sprinkle the freeze dried cheese culture into the milk and whisk vigorously, this is important and is to ensure that the powder is thoroughly mixed into the warm milk.

Sterilise a glass jug in the oven at 180 C for 5 minutes and then leave to cool, pour in the starter culture and cover with cling film, leave in a warm area 20 C - 22 C for 24 hours to incubate, your starter is ready when it smell wonderfully sharp and clean.  Pour in to ice cube trays and freeze, then store the ice cubes in zip lock food bags in the freezer.  Two ice cubes are enough culture for 1 gallon / 4.5 ltr of milk.

HERE WE GO...MAKING THE CHEDDAR TRUCKLE

Ingredients

(makes 450g truckle)

4.5 ltr un homogenised milk

4 drops vegetarian rennet

30ml / 2 ice cubes culture starter (how to make below)

Sea salt

To Start 1st 24hrs

Place the milk in a deep saucepan and bring slowly up to  32 C / 90 F using your thermometer, then fill your sink with cold water and place your saucepan in the sink to help cool the milk down to room temperature 22-24 C / 72-75 F.  Once cooled add your 30 ml of starter and 4 drops of rennet, cover the saucepan with a cheese muslin and leave for 24hrs somewhere it can maintain its temperature at 22 C/ 72 F.  That is stage one done.

Stage Two

Soft Cream Cheese Option

Now at this point you can separate the curds from the whey and you will have a gorgeous soft cream cheese that is great seasoned with some sea salt and chives this will keep in the fridge for a few weeks.

Cheddar Cheese Truckle

To make your hard cheddar place a larger pan than used for the milk on the stove and fill one third of the way up with water, bring to a gentle bubbling simmer turn down to a low simmer and place your milk culture saucepan in to the simmering pan and slowly (a couple of degrees every five minutes or so) bring the temperature up to 100 F / 38 C.  Once your culture reaches 100 F / 38 C cover and let sit for five minutes off the heat.

Next line a colander with a fresh cheesecloth and ladle out the curds and whey you want to drain the whey from the curds through the muslin and the easiest way is to tie the cheese cloth up round a wooden spoon or skewer and hang the muslin so that the muslin is off the base of the colander allowing the whey to drip through until you are left with just the curds, this takes 20-24hrs.

Stage Three

Remove the curds from the cheese cloth and crumble with your fingers to small pieces, sprinkle with sea salt, line your plastic cheese mould with a clean muslin and place all the curds in the mould, pop the lid on and place back in the colander in the sink ready to start the pressing.

The Pressing Of the Cheese

You will need 40-50 kg of weight to successfully press the curds in to a solid block of cheese, this can be achieved with bricks wrapped in tin foil, gym weights or as I have done with a very large solid stone pestle and mortar and the head of a 20 kg sledge hammer!

Leave the cheese under the weights for 20-24hrs until you have a solid block of cheddar, the last of the liquid will have been pressed, remove you young cheddar from the mould and place on a wooden board somewhere safe at room temperature for 2-4 days to dry and form a skin, the time will depend on if its summer or winter, the cooler the temperature the longer the drying, turn the cheese over a few times a day to allow the whole cheese to get a equal airing.  

The Waxing

This was much easier than I thought it was going to be, in a double boiler I melted approx 30g of cheese wax, I then held the cheese in the wax and removed allowed to dry for 30 seconds and dipped again, I repeated this four times and then placed the cheese on a board to dry thoroughly for a few minutes and then repeated with the other half.  You can alternatively brush the wax on the cheese.

Maturing

I am leaving my cheddar truckle to mature for 30-60 days in my fridge and am looking forward to the family unveiling, I am going to try to hold out for Christmas which is 60 days, but the truckle can be ready at 30 days.

Will update with the eating in December...2016

December 2016 Here is my Cheese...

So please with the texture and flavour of this young cheddar cheese.  I will  leave the next cheese to mature for around one year as this cheddar was very fresh and young giving a mild cheddar flavour.  I am looking forward to trying the matured cheddar in a years time, something to admire each time I pass the truckle in the kitchen...