Well last weekend I used it in my first batch of Emmantal cheese. Emmantal is a unique type of swiss cheese that has large holes or “eyes” as they are known distributed throughout the cheese.
I didn’t take any pictures during the making session, but be assured the procedure is not that dissimilar from other hard cheeses I have made. The only real difference is that you add the Propioni Shermanii to the milk at the same time as the Thermophillic culture and let it ripen for the specified time. Add Rennet, cut the curd, stir for a long time, then press.
Once pressed, you have to leave it in the cheese cave for a week, turning it daily, then remove and keep it at room temperature (21°-24°C) for two to three weeks. This is to let the eyes develop and the cheese swells at the top, bottom and the sides begin to bulge. This is unlike any other cheese I have made. You also have to turn and wipe with a brine solution
daily to help the rind form. It even smells like Swiss cheese now after a week. Here is a photo of the week old cheese. Note the swelling sides.
After the eye formation is complete it gets returned back to the cheese cave for another three months for final ripening and is turned three times a week and wiped in the brine solution at the same time. I am looking forward to the day that I crack open this cheese.
Oh, that looks yummy! Emmantal is one of my favourite cheeses – but the old white cheddar I currently have int he fridge is a close runner-up (not made by me, obviously, but still yummy!)
That looks great! What a beautiful rind. What do you use for a cheese cave?
That looks awesome! Please post photos of the (holey) inside when you cut it open, so we can see 🙂
Is Emmental the traditional cartoon mouse-type cheese? You know, the one they always show on Looney Tunes cartoons, with the big holes? I think it is, but am not sure.
You need to open a shop to sell all these to your lucky neighbours!
I love swiss cheese.
Dahaja is right, you should open a shop and sell to your neighbours
how impressive. and excellent blog. thank you so much for sharing! best wishes, kate
Emmenthal is my very very favourite cheese. Maybe you could start doing mail order cheese? Or maybe it’s about time I learnt how to do it myself 🙂
If you do decide to do mail prder, please sign me up. 🙂
@ K. I have never tasted real Emmantal, only the crappy store bought generic swiss cheese. It still smells divine.
@Aimee. I use an wine fridge. I have it set on 13C, and have a little container of water on the floor of the fridge to keep the humidity at about 80-90%
@daharja. Yes it is the type they show in cartoons with mice. I will post a photo when it is ripe in a few months time. I don’t know about a shop, but I know what some people are getting for Christmas presents!
@nevyn. Shame that the cheese course in your area was so expensive. Maybe next time.
@lyrebird. Thanks for dropping by, keep on greening.
@ Deb. Mail order in summer sounds stinky. Maybe I could sell the cheese on ‘The Cheesing of Gavin’. I better do a food handling course first, even though I am very strict with kitchen hygiene!
@ Rose. Sure, you’re on the list 🙂
Gav
I think you have created a new widget there — as soon as you mentioned that your Emmenthaler smells like Swiss cheese, I got a whiff of it! Mmmm. (And I believe I have the correct spelling there! Wikipedia doesn’t put in the H, but I’ve always seen it that way.)
Gav, looks incredible!!
I just made my first Emmental last night.
Curious though, you used Mesophilic instead of Thermophilic? Any reason why?
A huge fan,
Tasos
http://allyourcheesearebelongtous.blogspot.com/
Hi Tasos,
You are 100% correct. It is a typo on my behalf. I do indeed use Thermophillic culture for this recipe. It take a true cheese maker to pick up that mistake!
Gav