Cheshire cheese

Milk, Cooking salt, Mesophilic culture, Calcium chloride

Heat on the stove: 20 min, Cool down: 20 min, Mix: 15 min, Let it stand: 1 h, Cooking: 1 h 20 min, Let it stand: 30 min, Let it stand: 3 h 30 min, Cooking: 20 min, Let it stand: 1 day 4 h, Let it stand: 1 day, Let it stand: 31 day

Annatto dye (optional) – 5 drops per 1 liter of milk

The best milk for this cheese is 30% ripeness.

This means that after milking and cooling the milk to 10-12 degrees, 4 hours have passed.

If your milk has already been in the refrigerator overnight (100% ripened), then it is recommended to add 70% fresh milk to it.

Pasteurize the milk.

Cool it to 30 degrees.

Add components

Add calcium chloride (1 g per 10 l of milk, dissolved in 30 ml of water) and mix thoroughly.

If using lipase, dissolve it in 50 grams of water.

If using dye, dissolve the annatto dye in a cup of milk – add the required number of drops (5 drops per 1 liter of milk) and mix well.

When the milk reaches 30 degrees, add the lipase and dye while mixing well.

If the milk is not pasteurized, add the protective culture and wait for 3 minutes.

Add the main culture and wait another 3 minutes.

Mix well. Close the lid and cover the milk with a blanket. Leave it like this for 60 minutes for the cultures to start working.

Add the rennet. Mix well, then stop. After that, check for a clean break in 10-15 minutes.

Cutting the curd

When the curd is ready, cut it vertically, lengthwise and crosswise with a step of 1.5 centimeters.

Cut horizontally either with a bent skewer or by moving a regular skewer diagonally, starting from one edge of the pot to the other, and then from the opposite edge.

Wait 5 minutes. Remove excess whey. Take a whisk and start stirring (first slowly, then speeding up) to make the curds even smaller. The smaller the curds, the drier and firmer the cheese will be.

When the curds are small enough (like large grains of rice), take a spatula and knead the curds in circular motions without stopping for an hour. At the same time, gradually raise the temperature to 32 degrees over the lowest heat. If any large curds are found, break them up.

At 32 degrees, let the cheese curds sit for another 30 minutes.

Separating the cheese curds

Separate the cheese curds from the whey through cheesecloth and wait 30 minutes for the whey to drain further.

After that, break the cheese mass into medium pieces and turn them over.

Then, every 30 minutes for 3 hours, turn the pieces of cheese mass over.

Shaping the cheese mass

Weigh the cheese mass to determine how much salt we need. Take salt at the rate of 25 grams per 1 kg of cheese.

Grate all pieces of cheese mass on a coarse grater or pass them through a meat grinder. This is necessary for the cheese to ripen faster.

Salt the grated cheese in 3 stages, mixing well at each stage. This ensures that the salt is evenly distributed. After this, the cheese mass will start to release more whey.

Transfer the mass into a container with holes and cheesecloth moistened in water or whey (moistened so that the cheese does not stick) so that the whey can drain.

While transferring, compact the cheese mass with your hands.

Pressing the cheese

Then cover the cheese with a piston without weight and leave it for 8 hours at a temperature of 32 degrees for self-pressing. It is advisable to turn the cheese every 2 hours.

To turn the cheese, moisten another piece of cheesecloth in water. Lift the cheese with the cheesecloth, place a new cheesecloth in its place, and then place the turned cheese without the old cheesecloth.

After 8 hours, turn the cheese and put it under a 10 kg weight for another 4 hours. That is, place a weight of 10 kg on top of the cheese for better pressing.

After another 4 hours, turn the cheese and put it under a 20 kg weight for the next 4 hours.

After another 4 hours, turn the cheese and put it under a 30 kg weight for the next 4 hours.

After another 4 hours, turn the cheese and put it under a 40 kg weight for the next 4 hours.

After 4 hours, turn the cheese and put it under a 65 kg weight for the next 8 hours.

Each time you turn the cheese, don’t forget to replace the drainage cloth (cheesecloth) with a new, moistened one.

Next, take out the cheese. It is already very hard. Cut off any irregularities on the sides of the cheese to prevent mold from forming on them.

Drying the cheese

Next, place it to dry for 1-2 days at a temperature of 18 degrees. To check if it is dry, simply touch it. If it is damp, wait longer.

Aging

After the cheese has dried, it needs to be placed for aging. For at least a month, at a temperature of 13-15 degrees.

For this, place it in a shrink wrap for cheese storage. The shrink wrap itself does not need to be done, just press the edge of the bag and store it like that.

Every day during aging, the cheese needs to be turned.

During the aging process, periodically check the cheese. If you notice that it is covered with mold, wash the mold off with water, using a brush to assist. After that, wipe the cheese with vinegar.