Who cut the cheese?

[Aawa]

Temperatures have dropped so to a point I can smoke some cheese without having to worry about temps.  Not to mention I had a drawer full of cheese i bought at Kroger a couple weeks back.

1.5lbs colby, 1.5lbs jack, 1.5lbs sharp cheddar, 1.5lbs colby jack, 3.5lbs mozzerella, 2lbs swiss, 2lbs polly o string mozerella, 1lb meunster.


Unwrapped and ready to go.


Setup the A-Maze-N smoker with some hickory dust.


Both ends lit and ready to go.  This should give me 3 hours of burn time.


Witness the power of a fully operational Performer.  All cheese on 2 racks.


3 hours from now, going to pull it off and vacuum seal it for a long rest in the fridge.

[MacEggs]

Oh yeah!  You got that grill loaded.  Look forward to the finished pics. 

[Duke]

This is going to be one of the best cheese smokes I have seen in a while. I will be doing some again this year around Christmas. I want to see how that smoke maze works out.

[Aawa]

This is going to be one of the best cheese smokes I have seen in a while. I will be doing some again this year around Christmas. I want to see how that smoke maze works out.

I have used it a bunch earlier this year and it works great.  It doesn't produce a lot of heat but produces a good amount of smoke.  Love the thing

[Troy]

Looks great!  I used to smoke a lot of cheese. I don't have the cold weather advantage anymore though.


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[kako5256]

So... Who cut the cheese?

How long will that smoke without refueling? Is the dust dry?

[Aawa]

So... Who cut the cheese?

How long will that smoke without refueling? Is the dust dry?

It takes between 3-4 hours to smoke the cheese.  The dust is completely dry.  Just have to get the ends started and then blow the flame out and it will smolder and create smoke.  No refueling needed.  I'm about to pull the cheese out of the kettle right now.

[Aawa]

Cheese is done






And vacuum sealed!



Time to let it age in the fridge.  I sliced a little bit off the cheddar to verify it was cheddar and not colby so I could label them correctly.  It definitely tastes better aged than fresh out of the smoke.

[Weber MD]

That really cool Aawa.  How long will that cheese last you?

[Aawa]

That really cool Aawa.  How long will that cheese last you?

I will probably go through this by Christmas time since I plan on giving some to friends for presents.  I did a batch this size back in march and I have 1 block of swiss left from that batch.  It lasted through 2 large cookouts I had, and 2 friends cookouts, and normal use.

If I was to use it normally, this batch would probably last me close to a year.

[gunner]

NICE WORK!!

[kako5256]

Wow. You just dropped some knowledge. Now make sure you let us know when it's time to cut some cheese!


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[pbe gummi bear]

How long do they store?

[Aawa]

How long do they store?

If you have them vacuum sealed they will store for quite a while.  I have one block of swiss cheese I smoked back in March and there is no mold growth at all on it.  If you are afraid that the cheese will grow mold you can simply freeze it.

After smoking the cheese you can tightly wrap it in plastic wrap or vacuum seal it.  Vacuum sealing obviously removes the air so it will not mold  as there is no air in the package.  If you tightly wrap it in plastic wrap, it is dependent on how much air gets to the cheese while stored.  If I plastic wrapped it, I would put them in a ziplock and get as much air out as possible, let it age in the fridge for 2 weeks and then put them in the freezer to store.

Once I open a block of cheese for use.  I will typically use the block of cheese within 1-2 weeks, so i haven't had any grow mold after I had opened them.  The 2-5 blocks i put out during parties will normally disappear within the first hour, so I really have no clue how long they will last before they grow mold once opened.

Also one thing to help prevent the cheese from growing mold is to wash your hands and tray/utensils really well.  This will help limit the amount of foreign particulates that could be introduced to the cheese.  I always wipe down the work area with clorox wipes and use antibacterial Dawn on the shears/knife and tray, and on my hands before opening the cheese.  Then before vacuum sealing, I'll wipe down the work area again with clorox wipes and wash my hands with the antibacterial Dawn.