Cheese update

On Saturday morning, I made yogurt, as usual. But, I also started some colby; the process from start to the beginning of pressing took about 3.5 hours, maybe a bit more. My press is a home made one that cost about $5.00 to make, maybe a bit less. I'll try to remember to get a picture of it posted. Without a picture it is difficult to picture the problems I had, but I'll try...

You are supposed to press the cheese for 20 minutes at 20 pounds of pressure. If you have a fancy $250 + press, that is easy. My $5.00 one relies on me adding weight to the top. Well, I know that a gallon of water weighs about 7 pounds, so that means 3 gallons of water. I proceeded to balance 3 gallons of water on a 2 x 4 on top of a 10 x 12 frame on top of a 2 x 4 placed vertically. It worked! After that, you flip the cheese and increase the weight to 40 pounds. That was easy; I just put a 40 pound salt bag on top. Well, it didn't quite work out so nice; the bag tipped and one side of the cheese had more pressure than the other. After an hour, you flip again and add 50 pounds. That took some figuring, but I finally came up with a criss-cross of 2 x 4s that allowed me to put 7 gallons of water on it. But, it fell over after about an hour :( I finally put the 40 pound salt bag back on and just added 2 hours to the time. The cheese came out looking beautiful.

I put it on a mat to dry in my study. It needs to dry for a few days before waxing and then aging for about a month. About halfway through Sunday, my curiosity got the better of me so I cut it in half and sliced off a nice chunk to try. Hmmm, not bad. It tastes like colby, but milder. I think it might be OK after aging a bit.

On the mozzarella front, Jim and Shannon came over Saturday evening and we made another batch. Delicious, the best batch so far. I think mozzarella sticks are going to be a staple around here! So much fresher—and they even squeak as you eat them. That's the real test of freshness!