[Cheese] Cheese wax

[JOHN MURREN]

Dehaven James W <jiladeh at ameritech.net> wrote:    I am about to make my first cheese; large curd cottage cheese; Ricki Carroll says salt optional; when and how much is best?  Also how important is Calcium Chloride the first time?


James,
  I've made cheese about a dozen times now, and I'd still consider myself a novice - seems like every time I make cheese, there's a new challenge, even when you're making the same cheese for the 3rd or 4th time!  I tried cottage cheese once, and I used Ricki Carroll's recipe - without a doubt, it was the most difficult cheese I've tried yet!  What made it difficult was the fact that Carroll's recipe calls for two phases in the recipe where you are asked to raise the temp of the curd one degree a minute for a period of 15 minutes (something like that ...) and then hold it at the new temp for 15 minutes.  The reason for this is that apparently what makes cottage cheese unique from other curded cheeses is that this slow heating process hardens the outside of the curd while keeping the interior moist and soft. 
   
  There are no suggestions in the recipe as to how one goes about doing that (you DON'T do it on a stove top!).  I later learned that farm wives used to do it by having a ready supply of boiling water nearby, and then using a sink filled with hot water in which they immersed their pot of curds, and using a thermometer, they would slowly add boiling water while slowly raising the temp of the curds.  This is not a good exercise for a first timer, in fact, it's the kind of frustrating experience that can ruin cheesemaking forever for a newbie!  My cottage cheese came out harder and dryer than ideal, and frankly, it was almost identical to a farmer's cheese which I can tell you is a much easier cheese for a first timer anyway.  If I were you, I'd cut my teeth on a vinegar curded cheese (Paneer or Queso Blanco, I think I remember Carroll having one in her book), or there are many recipes on the net, and then move on to the cultured varieties.
   
  Salt is a must, and a matter of taste - Use Jack's suggestions and you'll soon know how much to add.  Calcium Chloride is only used to counter the negative effects of using pasturized commercial milk in cheesemaking, and is only used in a VERY WEAK solution.  If you use a food grade CC in granular form (available at health food stores or wine/beer making sources - don't try using the stuff used for melting ice!) you make up a solution such as described here on David Fankhauser's Cheese site  http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/Cheese.html:
   
  On 05 Dec 2005, David F. said: 
Christine!: Please note that the amount of CaCl2 to add to milk for cheese is 0.02%‚ not 0.2% I mentioned previously. Peter posted on 24 Apr 2005 that the amount to add to brine should be 0.2%. That is 10x what should be added to milk for cheese. For 5 gal pasteurized milk‚ 0.02% would be 3.6g CaCl2. I just measured that 3.6g crystals = 3/4 tsp. Thus 3/4 tsp crystals/5 gal = 0.02%. You should completely dissolve the CaCl2 in a little water before adding it to the milk‚ stir in well. Thanks Peter for clarifying this. 
   
  James, Fankhauser's cheese page is a good place for a first-timer to start, and in fact, he has a suggested set of cheesemaking projects for newbies (he's a professor of Biology at an Ohio college!).  You could do a lot worse than follow his suggestions.  Good luck in your cheesemaking.
  John

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