Do You Keep Making Dry, Crumbly Cheese?

Do You Keep Making Dry, Crumbly Cheese?

Dry, pasty, crumbly cheese.

It’s the curse of any cheese that you hoped would turn out smooth and soft.

There are cheeses that we expect to have a slightly drier or crumblier texture, but when it isn’t planned, it’s a real disappointment, and the worst part is that you usually don’t know your cheese has gone that way until after you’ve waited weeks, or months, and then cut it open to find less than desirable results. 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

3 More Cheese Recipes, And A New Feature

There have been a few changes around the Curd-Nerd household lately. One of which has allowed me to spend a little more time on my home cheese making.

I recently left my full time job and have been spending the last few weeks settling into a new routine. I have to say it has been quite strange after 20 years in the corporate world, aiming for the top of the ladder but it’s also exciting to be following a shift in priorities. Read more

QA6 – Why Didn’t My Curd Knit Together?

Why Didn't My Curd Knit Together

If you’ve ever pressed a cheese and ended up with curd that has failed to knit together, you’ll know how disappointing this dilemma is. I certainly do!

The point of pressing your cheese is to not only expel the whey but it is also how the small curds are knitted together to form the smooth shape, texture and density of the cheese.

When the curds don’t knit properly you will get a range of results from creases, cracks and crevices throughout the cheese, or a complete catastrophe of curd that doesn’t form any kind of shape or mass and just falls apart.

So what causes a lack of knit with cheese curds? 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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