Smoking cheese questions.

[Jason Noble]

Hi all, I am planning on smoking a 2lb block of sharp cheddar this weekend. I have a few questions.

1. Do I live the cheese in block form or cut it in half for more surface area?
2. I don't own a vacuum sealer and am wondering if a tightly sealed ziplock will keep the cheese fresh for the two week aging time?
3. how many coals do you recomend using, I'm leaning towards four.

Thanks for the help everybody.

 

[Robert McGee]

I use an Amazen tube smoke generator (6") and smoke cheese in my Mini-Joe Gold. I DO have a food saver that I use. However, you'll have NO problems using a zip lock bag for aging in the refrigerator. However, NOTE THIS: you do NOT want smoked cheese to be exposed in your refrigerator as it will smoke the refrigerator and everything in it. So, DOUBLE BAG it! That'll take care of any possibility of it coming undone.

Keep on smokin',
Dale53

P.S. I suggest you cut the blocks of cheese to no more than 1" thick - my favored size is about 1" thick 2" wide and 4" long. The smaller pieces allow better smoke pentration. Just a thought...rdm

 

[Rick Body]

I don't know anything about smoked cheese, but if you want to use a zip lock bag, fill your sink with water, put the cheese in the bag, close all but one corner, then push down in the water until all the air comes out of the corner. This is almost ( not quite, but almost) as good as vacuum packing and will give you a good tight wrap.

Then I guess you would have to put in a second bag as Robert said to keep the smoke smell IN

 

[Richard Hinton]

This should help a lot:

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/cheese.html

 

[Tim Mulvihill]

The fewer charcoals the better, I've used 2 partially lit coals and had a hard time keeping the wsm under 90...in cold weather!

 

[Don Fry]

I am still learning myself, but the best results I have gotten so far has been using two lit briquettes together with two unlit briquettes in my mini WSM. I put the smoke wood (two small hickory chunks) on top of the briquettes. I let it smoke for two hours. In the mini I have all vents 100% open and it stays under 100 degrees without a problem. So far I have only used whole pieces uncut like they come from the store. Last batch I thought initially didn't get enough smoke, but after two weeks in the Foodsaver bags, it was plenty. I really like the sharp cheddar the best. Definitely still learning but having a lot of fun with it.

 

[E Mann]

Hey Jason, I smoke cheese all the time and here's my latest post
All the time. Here's my last cheese smoke...
http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?4646...e-cheese-smoke!

I usually do 3 pieces of charcoal & 1 piece of wood and smoke for 1-hr. If I were you, I'd start with 1-hr for your first smoke and then see if you want more smoke for the 2nd time.