Cheese...

[Smokesmore]

I smoked about 4 different kinds of cheese on 2/15/14 and just opened a block of kraft sharp cheddar and it tastes like an ashtray. Am I too early or what is going on? I used hickory for two hours.  I love my dark smokey cheese I buy in the store but this tastes like ash. What did I do wrong?


I bloomed it for over an hour and vac sealed it to perfection.  Temps in the smoker were around 60-80 degrees. HELP!!!!

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[Saber 4]

Sounds like you did everything about the same as most of us do, I use apple or pecan for my cheeses, maybe the hickory was to strong for your tastes?

[ragweed]

I'm not a cheese expert, but from my limited experience, the harder the cheese, the longer it takes to "de-ash".  The cheddar I did took 6 wks.  I smoke with Apple and most of what I do now is great at about a month. Provolone and Cooper.

[Tenpoint5]

Wrap it back up in plastic wrap and wait for another week or 2. The sharp cheddar is a hard cheese and it will take longer. On the really hard cheeses I wait 2 months. I had a 3yr old cheddar that I let sit for a year before I opened it. That was like butter best cheese I have smoked yet

[Salmonsmoker]

I smoked about 4 different kinds of cheese on 2/15/14 and just opened a block of kraft sharp cheddar and it tastes like an ashtray. Am I too early or what is going on? I used hickory for two hours.  I love my dark smokey cheese I buy in the store but this tastes like ash. What did I do wrong?


I bloomed it for over an hour and vac sealed it to perfection.  Temps in the smoker were around 60-80 degrees. HELP!!!!

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Smokesmore, not that all commercially smoked cheese would be made like this, but one time I was in the cheese section of a grocery store looking to get some smoked gouda. I was reading the ingredients label and it had "liquid smoke" listed. It wasn't even actually smoked. If this were the case, could it be a much milder taste that you're used to?

[Smokesmore]

I don't think it's the milder taste. There is really no other way to describe it.  It smells like it's smoked but it tastes like ash. I'm going to try and let it sit a little longer.  Maybe it was the 2 hours of hickory.  I did another batch on 3/15 and it was 2 hours of apple. I'll wait longer and see what happens.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[renoman]

Wipe it down and repackage. My cheese was really ashy after 3 months. Wiping it helped. Next time I will wipe it before I package it. I also used hickory and it was too strong.