How To Wax Hard Cheese

Once you have made your hard cheese, you must age it, and without some sort of moisture barrier, your cheese will turn into a big dry rock rather than some tasty cheddar. This video shows how to use cheese wax and melt it without a double boiler.

Blog post describing the process in detail:
http://www.tngun.com/?p=19

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Cheese Wax
• How To
• DIY
• Shepherd School
• Food Prep
• tngun
• instruction
• how-to

[ntmarbles]

You mentioned you don't have a vacuum sealer so you use wax. Is a vacuum sealer as good as wax? I have one and it would be much easier I think.

thanks

[TNGun]

@ntmarbles I have a vacumn sealer, but wax is more traditional and non-electric... A Vacumn sealer is MUCH easier, and does pretty much the same thing. Vacumn sealing offers better protection, but waxing allows a little moisture exchange for aging.

[SuchaCaligrrl]

Where can I buy this type of wax? Also if the entire wax is not used can it be re-heated latter?

[TNGun]

@SuchaCaligrrl I reuse mine, actually, I have a small pot that I use to melt the wax, and I let it cool in that same pot, so whenever I have wax (wither from mine or those little babel round cheeses) I just wash off the wax and throw it in the pot also.... In Nashville their is a local brew-shop that sells cheese-making supplies, but you can get in online from several vendors.

[TNGun]

6 weeks, but the longer it ages the stronger it gets....

[scottgeiger88]

why didn't you dip it in.?

[msm00dy]

I just added this to my favorites and about to share it on my Facebook,this is awesome

[kamikazekeebler]

I stumbled upon your whole serious by accident...I'm glad I did. I love the website also. Reading about your space plants now! Thanks and please keep it up! Hopefully the cheese came out great!

[backyardsounds]

The only thing I dislike about old style of preservation (no matter the style of food), is the waiting. I made some real pastrami and stored it in the brine for 3 weeks. Most delicious sliced meat ever... I have some cheese I made and my wife keeps saying, "oh that cheese looks so nice in that back room, just sitting there begging to be eaten...oh the wait - the WAITING!"

[mikecorbeil]

@kibaslover1 I wonder if what you say about the melted wax being easily removable by using a microwavable container for melting the wax and then, when finished, you place the container in a freezer for 20 minutes might work with stainless steel pots, as well.

[mikecorbeil]

@sunbird62 TNGun said that using a natural bristle brush to apply the melted wax isn't the way it'ld be done by cheese-making businesses, manufacturers, whatever they're called; but, the wax can also be applied as he shows. There's nothing wrong with using the brush; it's just that it's surely not as quick as dipping.

[mikecorbeil]

@TNGun The longer cheese, cheddar anyway, ages, "the stronger it gets"?

What if a person is like me and told, by MDs, to avoid eating most cheeses, definitely all soft ones, leaving little choice besides cheddar and mozarella, possibly also Swiss, due to inherited cholesterol and triglyceride problems. For cheddar, I was told it's safe for me, but to stick with the mild kind and away from the (tastier) strong kind.

Do you know how long it takes to age cheddar for a mild kind?

[mikecorbeil]

@TNGun Reusing the wax, even the wax that was used to coat a block of cheese, once the wax is cleaned of any cheese that clings to it anyway, should be perfectly safe, I believe. After all, it's only melted wax; not burned. I'm not a chemist or bio-chemist, but don't think there's anything to worry about with reusing wax.

I've also noticed over the years that farmers sometimes wax cabbages and rutabaga for the purpose of preservation.

[mikecorbeil]

@TNGun And aging, from what I've gathered about cheese, wine and some excellent microbrewed beers, is to be valued. For microbrewed beers, some benefit is gained from letting them age, tho I only of that with "La Fin du monde" or the "Fin du monde" of Unibroue in Quebec, Canada, which was bought out by Sleeman's of Ca while they've maintained the recipe. It's supposed to be fruity beer, but it comes thru much more with aging. Aging is sort of like ripeness, I guess.