Oh My Gouda! 10 Months Later

I was hiding one. That Gouda I made back in in July of last year, it had a twin. I had split the curds up into two small molds, pressed and waxed each individually. The second survived a longer life before being enjoyed, but boy, was it enjoyed.

The cheese was sliced in half, wax on (Danielson!). A reddish-orange oil oozed out from between the wax and the the Gouda that had shrunk within. The aroma was of ripe cheddar, bordering on stinky (the good kind of stinky). It was very dry and crumbly, but the texture remained smooth on the tongue, no unpleasant graininess. With the sharpness an aged cheese should have, a very subtle bitterness came through in the finish; not offensive, but something to improve upon.

Fantastic with a simple (or not-so simple) cracker, this cheese turned out to be a-okay. I'm guessing the exceptional dryness was a result of such a small piece of cheese being aged; I can imagine something larger would have fared better. But, it was small because I was unsure. After experiencing several failures, I was not ready to put a pound of cheese away for a year. I had to be sure it tasted good before I waited on its age. Hence, I split the batch; one for now, one for later.

Now, the challenge is being confident enough in my cheese to make one and put it away for long time.

I'm workin' on it. Sheesh.