Can overacidification be fixed?

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  • #5696 Reply
    Moromillas Radec
    Guest

    I’ve been trying to graduate into hard cheeses and today, is cheese day for my Caciotta.

    I cut into it, and… It’s a crumbly mess that tastes like vinegar and not cheese.

    I noticed that there’s an article on what caused this, and I’m pretty sure I did all three things there… I didn’t have any calcium chloride on hand at the time, you see, so the ripening time was a little bit longer then I wanted, and the curds were not as strong as I wanted. I think I was also lazy and didn’t measure out the cultures and probably used too much.

    But…

    Now that I have this block of defective cheese, is there a way to alleviate overacidification?

    It’s quite a large block. Surely I can do something other than bin it?

    #5697 Reply
    Tom Moran
    Guest

    MR, I have had many cheese’s that had similar outcomes for similar reasons. Personally, if the cheese tasted like cheese and just had a slight vinegar taste and smell I use it in cooked dishes like Mac and cheese or even bake it into a baked cheese cookies similar to what some higher end restaurants use to accompany a salad dish. But if it doesn’t taste or act like cheese I would just throw it away. I have done plenty of that and it burns the lesson deep into your mind and the hours you spent making it is really not a waste.

    #5698 Reply
    Moromillas Radec
    Guest

    Ok, what about… Giving it a milk bath? Could that possibly absorb some of the acidity from it?

    It does indeed act like cheese, crumbly but still cheese, though the vinegar taste is strong. Or it might even be a salt taste from using a bit of salt to dry it. Probably another mistake. I’ll definitely at least try to make a cheese sauce with it. Thanks.

    What are cheese cookies?

    #5699 Reply
    Moromillas Radec
    Guest

    Also, I cut into the cheese early, like take out a wedge, to see how the aging is going. Does that somehow affect the aging process for the wheel?

    #5700 Reply
    Moromillas Radec
    Guest

    If* I cut into the cheese early.

    #5701 Reply
    Tom Moran
    Guest

    MR, cheese cookies are simply handfuls of grated cheese baked in the oven until they are cooked into a great tasting cheese cookie. They are fantastic as a side dish or served with salad. Also, anytime you break into a wheel of cheese it changes the game. The rind protects and forms a barrier so the cheese can age. If I cut into one I will usually vacuum pack the remaining amount. Not the best way to age cheese but a good option.

    #5702 Reply
    Moromillas Radec
    Guest

    Hey, thanks for the advice.

    I thought as much. That’s why I didn’t test the cheese, to see how it had aged.

    Perhaps if I didn’t age it for so long this might not have happened?

    Perhaps the aging times on websites are just a starting point? And you’re supposed to test which aging times work best?

    I don’t know.

    I tried making a cheese sauce, and… As I added more ingredients (roux and milk) the nasty taste died down. Turns out, it wasn’t just overacidification, but also oversalting. Yeah, I used salt to help it along with the drying and rinding process, another mistake it looks like.

    There was also another strange taste to the cheese sauce, almost like a sour cream taste, or spoilt milk taste. That could be the overacidification?

    #5703 Reply
    Tom Moran
    Guest

    MR, it would just be a guess as to what happened, but it sounds like a combination of things and not just one issue. Best thing to do is keep trying.

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