# Help!!



## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

I made cheddar cheese from the Goats Produce Too book on Oct. 27th. It is made out of raw goat's milk. It has been sitting under a piece of cheesecloth on my island drying since the 28th. I thought I would wax it and put it away to age. Decided to slice it up into wedges and that way I could share it with my kids and they could have individual wedges instead of a big wheel which would probably wind up being thrown out before they ate it all. Anyway, I sliced each one up into 6 wedges and it has holes in it and it is still pretty moist inside. I can smell something that almost smells like a homemade yeast bread dough smell. I cut a tiny sliver off of it and tasted it and it is sharp/tangy tasting. Is there something wrong with my cheese or is it suppose to look, smell and taste like this?


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Another picture of my cheddar cheese.


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## Ziggy (Nov 13, 2009)

You probably picked up some wild yeast that caused those holes.


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## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

Looks like yeast contamination. Age it out, anyway, might turn out fine in half a year.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Can I go ahead and dip it in the wax now or should I wait a day or 2?


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

I've been reading a bunch of stuff on the internet about certain contaminations that could get in your cheese. Do you think I should throw this cheese out? If it is a yeast contamination could that make us sick? I read on Fiasco Farm site where she was saying if the holes are irregular shaped it is probably o.k. to eat. This look irregular shaped to me. But then she said if it was spongy throw it out. I don't know if it is or not. I can push down on it with my finger and it comes back up. It doesn't smell bad, just that light yeasty dough odor. Man!!! I don't want to throw this out but now I don't know if I trust it or not.


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## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

Age it out for 6-9 months and taste it then. If it tastes OK, eat it.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Will do. Thanks Pav.


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## linuxboy (Oct 26, 2009)

Oh and re: waxing, wait until the cheese sets for a week or two, if possible. It will dry out a little and stabilize. What happens at times, especially for homemade cheese is that it will continue to release some whey for the first 7-10 days. It helps to let it stabilize first during this time.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Gotcha. Thanks.


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## Cotton Eyed Does (Oct 26, 2007)

Gonna try to make some more cheddar cheese today. I spent a good bit of the morning cleaning and santizing the kitchen, counters, pots, pans, cheesecloth, utensils, etc. We'll see how it turns out this time. I've got 3 gallons in the sink with rennet now.


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