Placing a cheese on any mat on an impermeable plate will still pool whey. Mats if close spaced weave will also do the same, see samples in picture at right where only the right widely spaced “thread count” mat avoids this problem and is recommended, but only when placed on a wire rack to allow good air flow beneath it. Cloth and closely spaced mats also do not work well, while they let the cheese breath, capillary forces will often hold water in the mesh, a location for molds and yeast. In between these two extremes are cloth and mats. Placing cheeses on an impermeable surface such as plastic or china plates is the worst as the bottom will stay completely wet and whey as it is expelled will puddle, resulting in a severe location for molds and yeasts to start.Īt the other extreme, drying cheeses on widely spaced metal racks will result in the best circulation of air and thus drying of the bottom of the cheese, but depending on cheese hardness and wire spacing will often result in less aesthetically pleasing deep deformation “dent” lines in the young soft cheese.
#DRYING RACK THE FOREST WIKI HOW TO#
Air Drying Base Food grade plastic mats with capillary forces holding water between threads resulting in poor air drying of bottom's of cheeses.Ī second common problem is how to enable the base or bottom side of cheese to dry. Solutions to this splitting are discussed in the Wiki: Defects articles. An example common environment causing this problem is air drying in household kitchen cold and low humidity fridge, even if in a higher humidity vegetable or cheese drawer. This splits will often result in deep fissure type defects as the moister middle of the cheese has even less tensile strength than the dehydrated surface. The problem here is that cheese has very poor tensile strength and if this stress is excessive, dried too quickly, then the cheese will split in one or several places to relieve the stress. This results in tension stress around the surface and compression in the middle of the cheese, somewhat similar to a football but on a much smaller stress scale. Conversely too fast will result in uneven moisture content across the cheese, the outer rind will dehydrate rapidly resulting in shrinkage while the middle stays moist and does not shrink. Not enough evaporation and the cheese’s surface will stay moist and be a base for molds and yeasts. The primary problem is to obtain the right speed and amount of drying, the variables being cheese size and moisture content, and air humidity, movement and temperature. Air Drying Method 1 pound cheese, surface initiated fissures after 3 days improper air drying in 37 F very low humidity kitchen fridge. Note, removal of a small amount of water from the cheese naturally results in similar small amount of shrinkage. Commercially, this phase is accelerated by cold air being blown on the young cheeses. Note, pressed cheeses include those that are pressed with an external weight or if large via their own internal weight, also some such as washed curd Gouda types are brined after pressing before being air-dried.įor hobby and small commercial cheese makers, air drying is performed by placing the young cheese(s) on a mat at room temperature typically for 2-3 days such that moisture is evaporated into the air is enable and the cheese is periodically turned to maintain it’s shape and enable even drying of all sides. This article discusses air drying which entails drying the freshly formed cheese ia evaporation to air to remove excess moisture from the surface and thereby form a dehydrated rind that can better withstand unwanted molds and yeasts.
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