QA8 – How Long Do I Have To Age My Raw Milk Cheeses Before I Can Sell Them?

How Long Do You Need To Age Raw Milk Cheeses?

Have you thought about selling your cheeses? Is it time to test your delicious creations out in the commercial market?

While most home cheese makers find making cheese for their family and friends enough of a thrill, some cheese making hobbyists decide to take things to the next level, and start thinking about selling their cheeses at markets or, if possible, in local stores.

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Easy To Create Cheese Ripening Box For Aging Cheese At Home

Easy To Create Cheese Ripening Box For Aging Cheese At Home

When I last wrote, I asked for your help in sharing with the Curd Nerd readers what other home cheese makers are using to ripen and age their cheeses.

There comes a time when most home cheese makers decide to move on from making fresh cheeses, to aged cheeses, but one thing that often holds them back is the seemingly difficult task of creating the right aging environment for their cheeses to mature in.

But a cheese ripening box really doesn’t have to be that hard, or too expensive. Read more

Vacuum Sealing Cheese | Cheese Preservation Techniques

Vacuum Sealing Cheese | Preserving Cheese Methods

Once upon a time there was only cling film, and sandwich bags. 

Then someone found a way to take the concept of those two items and invented a product which didn’t just cover your food in plastic, but it actually sucked out all the air first, creating a air-tight, vacuum sealed wrapper.

Welcome to the Vacuum Sealer!

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QA7 – How Do I Label My Waxed Cheeses?

How To label Cheese - Cheese Labels

So you’ve made a great looking round of cheese and now it’s time to wax it.

But once it’s waxed and stored away for aging, how do you ever remember which cheese is which, when it was made and when it will be ready?

Obviously the answer is to label the cheese, but how?

Don’t worry cheese labels are extremely simple. Read more

Age Does Matter – Aging Homemade Cheese

Aging Cheese - How To Age Homemade Cheese

This post is Part 8 of the continued basic home cheese making instructions. See the Curd Nerd Beginner Page for previous parts.

It’s not always true what they say, that age doesn’t matter.

For cheese, it most certainly does.

Aging cheese (also known as ripening or maturing) is an important part of developing the signature of the particular cheese you are making. It allows time for millions of microbes and enzymes to do their thing, breaking down the proteins and fats into a complex combination of acids that influences how texture, taste and aroma are expressed in your chosen cheese.

A longer aging time causes a firmer, more intense cheese, whereas short aging times result in a more mild taste and a softer ‘paste’. Read more

Preservation Of Cheese – Bandaging Cheese

Preservation Of Cheese - Cheese Preservation Techniques

If you feel so inclined to play with some older, traditional methods of preserving cheese, ‘bandaging’ is an interesting and fun technique to try out. 

It is also a more natural method that will appeal to those not wanting to preserve their cheese with colored waxes.

Bandaging involves wrapping your cheese in cheese cloth bandage and then sealing it with a fat based product like lard. And while it is still a slightly messy preserving technique much like waxing, it looks pretty neat when it’s done.

It also produces a better flavored cheese due to the molds that form around the bandage and contribute to the aging of the cheese. Bandaging also allows your cheese to breathe as compared to wax or vacuum sealing.

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Cheese Plastic Wrap – Is Cling Film Safe For Wrapping Cheese?

Cheese Plastic Wrap - Is Cling Film Safe For Wrapping Cheese

 

Aging, preserving and storing cheese can present a few challenges for home cheese makers, between battling with rinds, molds, brines, wraps and waxes and trying to control humidity and temperatures.

There are many tried and true methods and just as many personal recommendations for how to nurture and protect your cheese and it can all get a bit confusing about what works and what doesn’t, and for those wanting to be true to the art of cheese making, what’s wrong and what’s right. Read more