We ate all of the semi-ok mozzarella. Nevertheless, I was hungry to make more relatively quick to eat cheese. So I ended up making Edam.
Making edam
I think my biggest mistake in making the mozzarella was the poor introduction of lactic acid bacteria. I don’t have any pH paper, so I couldn’t measure the acidity of the curd before I started to process it further. So I followed the instructions in my Making artesan cheese -book and created a mother culture. After a day sitting in room temperature, the full milk I inoculated with the lyophilised bacteria had turned to yogurt-like consistency. I checked on it in the morning, at around 12 hour mark and at that stage it was nowhere near the consistency it would be 12 hours later.
So I started the process like every time before. This time, I got a really nice cut upon adding the rennet. If you look at the picture below, you’ll see the milk curd being really solid and allowing for sharp, defined cuts to be done.
Another thing I realized this time, was the use of screw presses, instead of trying to stack objects on top of the cheese mold to achieve sufficient pressure. The only problem with the presses I have is the risk of applying to much force. I know this, because I think I did it. The cheese cloth was really difficult to remove from the block of cheese and especially difficult to clean later on.
Into the fridge they went. Edam is usually shaped into a ball, but since I don’t have a ball shaped mold, the same cylinder that the goudas were had to suffice. As soon as the surface of the cheese was dried, it was supposed to be waxed to prevent further drying. I don’t have any cheese wax (yet), so I just vacuumed them and placed them back in the fridge.
These two cheeses should be ready in beginning of April. It is significantly earlier than the goudas in November