How To Make Colby Cheese At Home

Learn how to make Colby cheese at home by following our simple but delicious recipe.

Colby cheese is a semi hard cheese, founded in the village of well….Colby, in Wisconsin. Colby is similar to Cheddar but does not go through the cheddaring process.

Instead the curds are washed with cold water which replaces the whey making the cheese softer. This reduces the acidity making for a milder cheese.

How To Make Colby Cheese At Home

Colby Cheese Ingredients

How To Make Colby Cheese

  1. Warm milk to 30c
  2. Add culture, stir thoroughly
  3. Leave to ripen for 1 hour
  4. Add diluted Rennet
  5. Leave to set for 45 minutes – 1 hour, until you have a clean break
  6. Carefully cut the curd into 1cm cubes
  7. Leave to rest for 10 minutes
  8. Very slowly heat the curds up to 39c over 30 minutes
    This should mean an increase of about 2 degrees every 5 minutes.
    Stir regularly to prevent the curds from matting and to scald them all
  9. Maintain the curds at 39c for another 30 minutes
    Again, stirring regularly to prevent matting
  10. Leave to for 10 minutes
  11. Pour out the whey, until it’s just at the level of your curd
  12. Begin slowly adding in cold water until your curd and water is down to 23-25c
    A lower temperature will give you a softer cheese
  13. Maintain the curds at this temperature for 15 minutes
    Stir gently so the curds pick up the cold water
  14. Pour the curd out into either a sterilised cheese cloth over a colander
  15. Allow to drain for 15 minutes
  16. Break the curd up into walnut size pieces
  17. Add the salt and mix thoroughly with the curd
  18. Press in a cheese press with cheese cloth lined mold at 10kg for 15 minutes
  19. Remove, flip and redress
  20. Press at 20kg for 20 minutes
  21. Remove, flip and redress
  22. Press at 25kg for 1 hour
  23. Remove, flip and redress
  24. Press at 30kg overnight, or for 12 hours
  25. Remove and un wrap cheese and air dry for 1-3 days
    Air dry at room temperature, turning twice a day
    Cheese should be dry to the touch after a few days


Storing Colby Cheese

Wax or vacuum pack and age for 1 month.

Aging Colby Cheese

Colby should not be left to age for too long or it can become too dry.

Do you have any questions or comments about how to make Colby cheese at home? Join the discussion over at the Curd Nerd Forum.

We would love to hear from you! We hope you enjoy this mild colby cheese recipe as much as we do.

 

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