Little Green Cheese

Cheese making at home with Gavin Webber the Cheeseman

Why Salting Cheese Is Essential In Cheese Making

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Salt is an essential ingredient in cheese making.  Not only does it add flavour to the cheese, it helps to dry the curds during draining by controlling whey expulsion and causing the curds to shrink.  However, the primary reason for salting cheese is to retard or halt the bacteria cultures continuing to convert lactose (milk sugar) into lactic acid.

It will help to kill harmful bacteria and other fungi growth when used as a brine for salting after pressing or as a simple wash during maturation.

Salting is also essential in the development of a natural rind.

Salting Cheese

Once the cheese is ready to be pressed or has been pressed, salting cheese can be achieved in one of three ways:

  • Dry Salting – rubbing salt over the entire surface of the cheese (used for mould ripened cheeses like Camembert),
  • Milling – adding approx 2% salt by weight to the curds just before adding to the mould/basket and pressing (Cheddar-style cheeses),
  • Saturated salt brine solution – A mixture of salt and water are mixed together and the cheese is left submerged for a given length of time (most other semi-hard and hard cheeses).

Making Brine

Common brine solutions that are commonly used in cheese making based on the percentage of salt saturation as shown in the table below:

The table only goes to 26% as at 26.395% brine is fully saturated (at 15.6°C) and additional salt will not dissolve in the water.  The table below is at standard conditions of 15.6°C/60°F. When using salt for cheese you should only use non-iodized salt.
% NaCl Salt kg NaCl Salt / litre Water pound NaCl Salt / US gallon Water
0 0 0
2 0.0204 0.17
4 0.0417 0.347
6 0.0638 0.532
8 0.087 0.724
10 0.1111 0.925
12 0.1364 1.136
14 0.1628 1.356
16 0.1905 1.586
18 0.2195 1.828
20 0.25 2.082
22 0.282 2.349
24 0.3158 2.63
26 0.3513 2.926

 

For most of my brined salted cheese, I use an 18% solution which is commonly known as a fully saturated brine.  Although the salt content of the brine can be higher, I find this amount of salt to be perfect for Salting cheese.  It provides adequate salt absorption during the brining process.

Here is a video tutorial I made that shows how to make and test an 18% brine solution for cheese making.

Additionally, have a listen to this podcast episode where I talk about brine.

Testing Your Brine

Note the use of the raw egg to ensure that you have reached the correct saturation.  If it floats and about a 2cm circle is above the surface, then the brine is at about 18% saturation.  Make sure you add a Tablespoon of white vinegar and a teaspoon of calcium chloride to balance the pH to approx 5.3.  This ensures that your cheese will not become slimy during brining due to calcium ion exchange between the brine and the cheese.  You may have to use pH testing paper to measure the pH of your brine.

Reusing Brine

You can reuse your brine solution many times.  Make sure you top it up with at least 2 Tablespoons of salt after you remove your cheese to replace salt absorbed by the cheese wheel.  Store it at 13°C/55°F to reduce any mould growth.

Salting Cheese - Feta in brine
Feta in an 18% Brine Solution using leftover whey as the liquid.

What Type of Salt Should I Use?

Basically cheese salt is normally a non-iodized salt.  It is the non-iodized part is the critical factor when it comes to cheese making.

Iodized salt though won’t help your cheese at all, as the iodine in the salt inhibits the cultures and bacterias you WANT in your cheese.  Fine sea salt or flakey kosher salt will be fine, but remember that not all salts weight the same as shown in this salt video.

I tend to use fine grain non-iodized salt (dairy salt) without an anti-caking agent for all my cheeses.  It works perfectly fine for the home cheese maker.

Summary

Hopefully, you now have a better understanding of salting cheese and how important it is to get it just right.  Too little and unwanted bacteria or moulds may infect your cheese and too much makes it inedible.  Who would have thought that this simple compound was so essential to cheese making!

How to Make Tilsit – Washed Rind Cheese

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Tilsit is a semi-hard cheese made from cows milk that develops a rind with the aid of Brevibacterium linens (the aroma producing bacteria) during the ripening phase. It can be made from either raw milk or pasteurised milk. It is washed with a brine solution during maturation to encourage the light red smear on the rind.

 

This recipe is the traditional one that originates from East Prussia and not the Swiss version of the same name.

TILSIT

INGREDIENTS

EQUIPMENT

METHOD

ADDING INGREDIENTS

  1. Sanitise all equipment.
  2. Warm your milk to 35°C (95°F), stirring gently whilst bringing up to temperature.  Turn off the heat.
  3. Sprinkle culture and B. Linens over the surface of the milk and allow to rehydrate for 5 minutes.  Stir thoroughly in an up and down motion without breaking the surface of the milk.  Cover and allow to ripen for 30 minutes at the target temperature.
  4. Add the Calcium Chloride solution and mix well.
  5. Add the rennet solution to the milk and mix thoroughly using the same up and down motion for no more than 1 minute.  Cover and allow to set for 50 minutes.
  6. Check for a clean break.  If necessary, leave for another 10 minutes then check again.

CUTTING AND Stirring THE CURD

  1. Cut the curds into 1.25 cm (½ inch) cubes.  When the curd is cut, cover and allow to heal for 5 minutes.
  2. Slowly increase the heat to 43°C (110°F) over 40 minutes, stirring to prevent matting.  Cover and stand for 10 minutes.

DRAINING AND PRESSING

  1. Using a ladle, ladle the curds in the unlined 165mm mould.  Place the follower on top.  Place the mould back into the pot to keep the curds warm.
  2. Flip the mould every 15 minutes for the first hour.  Don’t remove the cheese from the mould during the first hour.
  3. After the first hour, flip the cheese out of the mould, then replace back into the mould, every 2 hours for 6 hours.  This will help firm up the cheese and form a smooth rind.
  4. Leave the cheese in the pot overnight.

BRINING and Air Drying

  1. Next morning, remove cheese from the mould.  Place in the saturated brine solution for 12 hours, turning over once at 6 hours.
  2. Remove from the brine and place on a cheese mat in a ripening box.  Place the lid on diagonally so the cheese can still breath at room temperature for 1 day.  Turn once during the 24 hours.

AFFINAGE (AKA MATURING)

  1. After air drying, you will find the cheese a little bit tacky.  Ripen at 13°C (55°F) and 90% humidity, turning daily for even ripening during the first week.
  2. After the first week, begin to wash the rind twice weekly with a simple brine solution (1 cup cooled boiled water + 2 teaspoons salt).
  3. You will notice that this cheese starts to yellow then turn slightly orange as you continue to mature it.  Keep washed twice weekly for 2 months for a mild flavour and up to 6 months for a stronger flavour.

 

This cheese is simply amazing!  Well worth the wait.

Tilsit

You can pick up supplies for Tilsit cheese at our shop https://www.littlegreenworkshops.com.au. I recommend the Italian Cheese Kit with the addition of Brevibacterium Linens, as it contains most cultures, supplies, and equipment you’ll need to make this cheese.

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How to Make English Coulommiers

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The English Coulommiers is a fresh, soft and spreadable cheese that unlike its French cousin, is not mould ripened.

In this recipe, you can substitute in Aromatic Mesophilic in lieu of Mesophilic to achieve a more buttery texture. It only matures for 2 days in the fridge to achieve the desired flavour. Use within 2 weeks.

 

English Coulimmers (aka English Farmhouse Cheese)

INGREDIENTS

EQUIPMENT

METHOD

ADDING INGREDIENTS

  1. Sanitise all of your equipment.
  2. Heat milk to 32°C/90°F. Turn off heat.
  3. Sprinkle Mesophilic starter culture over the surface of the milk and allow to rehydrate for 5 minutes. Stir culture through milk using an up and down motion for 1 minute.
  4. Add Calcium Chloride and mix thoroughly.
  5. Add Rennet solution and stir for 1 minute. Cover and allow to set for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
  6. Check for a clean break. If necessary, wait another 10-15 minutes then test again.

CUTTING THE CURD

  1. Cut the curd into large vertical squares.  Move pot over to draining area.

PRESSING AND Salting THE CHEESE

  1. Using Skimmer or Ladle, place thin slices of the curd into the 6 moulds or hoops.  This may take up to 6 hours, but don’t be tempted to add more hoops.  The curd will fit.
  2. Once filled, let drain for 12 hours.  Flip each cheese top to bottom and allow to drain for another 12 hours.
  3. Unmould each cheese and sprinkle ½ teaspoon of cheese salt on the top and bottom surface of each cheese.

AIR DRYING AND MATURATION

  1. Place each cheese on a cheese mat in the ripening box and ripen for 2 days at 4°C/42°F and 80-90% humidity.  The kitchen fridge will be fine for this cheese.
  2. Drain any collected whey daily and wipe the box dry with paper towel.
  3. Eat and enjoy!  You can wrap each cheese in foil to store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Coulommiers is French for columns, and the regular mould is two stainless steel hoops with the top hoop fitting into the bottom one, standing 15.25 cm (6 inches) tall and 10cm (4 inches) wide. They are filled with curd and once it sinks below the level of the top hoop, it is removed and the bottom hoop is flipped.

As you can see, I substituted Camembert hoops/baskets, which were perfectly fine for this cheese, with a bit more patience for refilling every hour for six hours until all the curd was used.

Camembert Kit
Camembert Kit

If you are interested in making this cheese, I recommend our Camembert Kit (plus two more moulds).  You will then have enough equipment and ingredients to make this cheese.  The added bonus is that once you’ve made this simple cheese, you can then advance to making Camembert which has a similar process!

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