Accidentally made Squeaky cheese!

[khenderson]

Hi all! anyone have experience making cheeses out of raw milk? I'll tell you what i did and i'm extremely excited it happened like this. I started trying to make yogurt. I warmed the milk to 110 degrees F and added a couple spoonfulls of whole, live culture yogurt, and put it in a hot mason jar and wrapped it in a big blanket for 25 hours. well it wasn't yogurt when i was done it looked a bit like cottage cheese and smelled like stinky cheese. since i was going to throw it out anyways, i dumped it through a cheese clothe to see what was left just for kicks. seemed pretty thick and smelled like cheese not like yeast. so i hung it up in the fridge and let the whey drip out of it more overnight... then the next day i read that salt, brine helps pull the extra whey out so i put it in hot brine and strained it again, and forgot about it in the fridge for a day and a half. well i pulled it out today and i'ts nice and hard, and smells amazing. and i tasted it and it's squeaky cheese! i couldn't be more excited. i have never tried making cheese but i have read a lot about the process because i want to. Question is, does anyone have experience with aging cheese? i'm wondering if i take half of it, and cover it in parafin wax and let it sit in my fridge would it age into cheddar? definitely going to try to replicate what i did!

 

[sumi]

I had a quick look at my cheese making book and they say to make cheddar you need to press the curds in a cheese cloth, 40 pounds of pressure for 12 hours, then flip the cheese and apply 40 pound of pressure for another 12 hours and then again, so the cheese gets pressed 3 times over 36 hours. After that you allow it to air dry for 3 days so it forms a natural rind. You melt some cheese wax and brush it onto the cheese, covering it completely to stop it turning into the wrong type of cheese and store it in your fridge at 55*F for 45 days.
Your preparation differs a bit from what the books suggests, but I can't see why you shouldn't give it a try.

 

[locke2121]

Another good way it to coat it with butter...real butter...and let it set for a day or two..wash it off, dry it, reapply...do this several times till the cheese gets a hard rind. Then you can wax it. The butter slows down the drying of the cheese..letting it age at a slower pace and making it a more complex animal!

 

[melwynnd]

Hi,

It's too late to press this batch, it needs to be done while the curds are still warm. However, you can salt them and eat them just as they are and they will keep in the refrigerator quite a while. They will lose their "squeak" as the proteins are changed by the actions of enzymes in the cheese.

Squeaky cheese is my husband's favorite!! I have a terrible time convincing him that I really do need to actually press some to make cheddar.

Making cheese is so much fun!! Each batch is an adventure.

Sherry

 

[AlienChick]

I *LOVE* squeaky cheese!
The only place I've found real squeaky cheese is in Canada.
Whenever I go visit relatives in Canada, I always stop by the grocery store and buy some squeaky cheese.
Wish I hadn't read this thread cuz now I want some!