# Questions about Christy's Farmhouse Cheddar



## Pinky (Feb 21, 2009)

Okay, the GPT cheddar is waxed and aging so now I want to try Christy's recipe in the sticky but I have some questions.

The ingredients say 1 teaspoon and the directions say 3/4 teaspoon of rennet. Which one should I use or does it not really matter? I wasn't sure if using too much rennet would be a problem. I'm using 3 gallons of milk.

I'm not using buttermilk but meso. culture instead. If others have made this, do you prefer the flavor better with the culture or buttermilk? I want to make it both ways for fun!

"Drain the curds into a colander (pre-warmed with very hot water). Reserve 1/3 of the whey and pour back into the cheese pot. Set colander of curds on the top of the cheese pot. This is called "cheddaring" which textures the cheese."

Because I'm so new to cheesemaking I want to make sure I understand this correctly. So when you're cheddaring, the whey is not mixed back in with the curds but rather the curds are sitting in a collander on top of the whey. :help <---- My 8 year old wanted me to use that smily. 

Thanks in advance for your help and thank you for posting all these fun recipes that I'm getting to try!!! dance:


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## Pinky (Feb 21, 2009)

I forgot to ask, what method is the best for slowly raising the temperature to 102 degrees? Last time when I made cheese, I put hot water in the sink with the pot in there and raised the temperature like that. I didn't know if the stovetop or anyway was better.


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2009)

That recipe was given to me by a friend when I first started. It was adapted from Margaret Morris' book The Cheesemaking manual.



> The ingredients say 1 teaspoon and the directions say 3/4 teaspoon of rennet. Which one should I use or does it not really matter? I wasn't sure if using too much rennet would be a problem. I'm using 3 gallons of milk.


I make it with 4gallons of milk and 1t rennet. If you use 3 gallons 3/4t rennet will be enough. This is for animal rennet. Check the recommended usage on the rennet you have.



> I'm not using buttermilk but meso. culture instead. If others have made this, do you prefer the flavor better with the culture or buttermilk? I want to make it both ways for fun!


When I first started I used buttermilk for culture it was good but now I always use the meso. Both ways are good 



> Because I'm so new to cheesemaking I want to make sure I understand this correctly. So when you're cheddaring, the whey is not mixed back in with the curds but rather the curds are sitting in a collander on top of the whey.


You are correct, the heat from the whey cheddars the curd in this recipe. There are other ways to cheddar the curd, this is just one cheddaring method.



> I forgot to ask, what method is the best for slowly raising the temperature to 102 degrees? Last time when I made cheese, I put hot water in the sink with the pot in there and raised the temperature like that. I didn't know if the stovetop or anyway was better.


I like to use a waterbath to raise the temp. It raises the temp much slower and more evenly.

Christy


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## Pinky (Feb 21, 2009)

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!!!!


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2009)

You arevery :welcome <---for your 8yr old 

Christy


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