First cold smoke!

[dj mishima]

I thought I would try to cold smoke some cheese, so here we go!  I went with mozzarella and pepper jack with jalapeno and habanero.  I loaded up the AMPNS with pitmaster's choice pellets.  Next time I'll use apple dust after I get some.

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• dj mishima
• Mar 9, 2013

In the MES no heat:

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• dj mishima
• Mar 9, 2013

I checked on it/aired out the smoke chamber every 30 minutes.  Here it is after 30 minutes:

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• dj mishima
• Mar 9, 2013

After 1 hour:

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• dj mishima
• Mar 9, 2013

After 90 minutes:

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• dj mishima
• Mar 9, 2013

After 2 hours:

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• dj mishima
• Mar 9, 2013

It was about 40F outside and about 78F in the smoke chamber when I took the cheese out.  It was a little sweaty and took on some good color.

Now we are ready to wait a few weeks in the fridge.

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• dj mishima
• Mar 9, 2013

I like the fact that the pepper jack came in resealable bags.

 

[dave17a]

 Great color! Pepper jack is great. have done pecan, pitmasters, and oak. All diff cheeses,  best choice 8 oz. 4 to 6 hrs. Do some white vermont chedder, pricey but worth every penney smoked or not.  Got a # of vermont chedder, sharp cheddar, farmers , colbyjack. Xtra sharp cheddar is good and takes longer to mellow. Next smoke tommorow, gonna only be 35, wine barrel pellets. Got 1# vermont sharp chedder colby jack farmers.  DO ALL YOU CAN DO! Gonna have withdrawls come summer.

 

[dj mishima]

After 3 weeks, I sliced some of the mozzarella to sample.  I remember when I wrapped it up, it seemed very "campfire" smoke smelling.  It was a bit like that still, but had mellowed considerably.  It was still tasty, but I will wait another week or two to eat the rest.  There was a definite texture difference from the "rind" or "skin" from the inner part of the cheese.  I wonder if this was from the smoke or just from it "aging" in the refrigerator.  This was also the darkest cheese I have done so far.  I don't know if it was the fact that I was using pellets or the choice of pellets.  This time I used pitmaster's choice pellets.  Every subsequent cold smoke, I used apple or peach dust.

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• dj mishima
• Mar 31, 2013

 

[mr t 59874]

Good job by keeping your cheese under 80⁰.  When doing soft cheeses such as cream cheese, keep it under 65⁰.   It would help that before refrigerating, let it air dry for a few hours prior to wrapping.  Your hard cheese does not need to be refrigerated if kept at or below 70⁰.  The difference in texture can somewhat be the result from smoking, but a loose wrap will be a larger factor by allowing the surface to dry.  This will also promote mold in time.

Enjoy, Tom

 

[dj mishima]

Good job by keeping your cheese under 80⁰.  When doing soft cheeses such as cream cheese, keep it under 65⁰.   It would help that before refrigerating, let it air dry for a few hours prior to wrapping.  Your hard cheese does not need to be refrigerated if kept at or below 70⁰.  The difference in texture can somewhat be the result from smoking, but a loose wrap will be a larger factor by allowing the surface to dry.  This will also promote mold in time.

Enjoy, Tom

Thanks for the tips.

 

[dj mishima]

I just found out that one of the pepper jack resealable bags was wide open.  Oops!  Parts of the block closest to the open end have started to dry out.  I decided to break off a little chunk and taste it.  It was pretty good!  The texture was closer to a parmesean or aged cheddar.  Whoo-ee!  The habanero was definitely noticed! 

 

[mr t 59874]

Dj Mishima,  If you don't have a vacuum sealer or are not planning to wax your cheese, you would be better off to tightly wrap in a cling wrap.  Maybe the following will help.  Don't get discouraged we are here to help.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/123130/smoked-cheese-from-go-to-show-w-q-view

Tom

 

[dj mishima]

Dj Mishima,  If you don't have a vacuum sealer or are not planning to wax your cheese, you would be better off to tightly wrap in a cling wrap.  Maybe the following will help.  Don't get discouraged we are here to help.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/123130/smoked-cheese-from-go-to-show-w-q-view

Tom

I don't have a vacuum sealer.  I only reused the original packaging for those blocks of cheese because they were resealable.  All of the others were wrapped in plastic then into sealed sandwich bags.

 

[mr t 59874]

Okay, the idea is to keep oxygen away from your cheese which will help prevent mold, but that can be dealt with also .  Read the link carefully and if you have any questions, please ask.

Tom

 

[chef jimmyj]

Dj, the color difference is most likely a result of the PMC Pellets being 1/3 Cherry. Cherry wood is known to add more color than other woods. Cheese looks Great!...JJ

 

[mr t 59874]

Dj, the color difference is most likely a result of the PMC Pellets being 1/3 Cherry. Cherry wood is known to add more color than other woods. Cheese looks Great!...JJ

Dj, JJ is correct about different woods adding different color in the same amount of time.  I understood your concern was about texture rather than color,correct?

Tom

 

[dj mishima]

Dj, JJ is correct about different woods adding different color in the same amount of time.  I understood your concern was about texture rather than color,correct?

Tom

Well, I was surprised about the "skin" of the mozzarella.  Of the color, I was curious if it was the cherry content of the PMC pellets or just the fact that it was pellets as opposed to dust(because of the higher temp) darkening the cheese more.

I'm starting to get hooked on the smoked cheese.  I've been snacking away on the hard parts of the pepper jack.  I'm going to make sure to take advantage of the cool night temps before spring temperatures fully arrive here in MI.  I see night time cold smokes in my future this week.  Mid 50s for highs mid 20s for lows.

 

[mr t 59874]

It's important to keep the temps low,  one way you can do so is by loading your pellets at a lower level in your AMNPS.  There are other options also if needed. 

Tom