The Pressing Issue About Cheese

Cheese Making - Do You Need A Professional Cheese Press

When I first started making hard cheeses I fashioned a cheese press out of all sorts of items. Filled stock pots of water, cans of food, rocks, anything that would give me enough weight to press the curds in the mold.

Eventually I got frustrated with the balancing acts (and the anxiety caused everytime said balancing acts didn’t work) and went looking for a proper press to upgrade my cheese making process.

I bought a press made by a local engineering student whose father is a cheesemaker.

The press works well but I found the mold that comes built into it is too wide in diameter, resulting in a larger flat cheese rather than a short stout one. The problem with larger flat cheeses is you end up with a lot more rind than paste as the drying area is bigger. Read more