Neat! Please share how it turns out!
Matt, That will be a while, after I am finished I vacuum seal it for a nice month long rest in the fridge. This is my 4th or 5th time I have smoked cheese and it continues to get better. First one was very bitter, but every other time after that it has gotten better as I have added more mild woods to the smoke and adjusted the times.
It is fun and it is nice to give to that person that is not into smoked meats but likes cheese.
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For me your post is very timely. I am interested in your technique and your comments about bitterness and resting in the fridge
I was going to create a post inquiring about smoking cheese. I have the A Maze N smoker and would like to do some cheese. I also have a vacuum sealer.
Thanks
Gary S.
I bought the Amaze N Pellet smoker in Jan of this year. I have learned a lot in the 4 or 5 times that I have smoked.
My first batch was a mixture of Oak, some Apple and even a bag of black walnut (2-1-1) that I had. I think this was too strong as black walnut is a strong wood.
Additionally, I think I smoked it for too long as I went for 4 hours.
Round two, I added a lot of apple pellets to my ratio was 3 apple, 2 oak and 1 black walnut. I reduced the time to 3 hours and this came out much better.
Round 3 I did the same wood but did 1, 2, and 3 hours with swiss, ched-Jack and mild cheddar. I did a taste test last week at work, while opinions varied, two hours was the sweet spot. Todd the owner of the Amaze N products confirmed that two hours is about right.
I found that swiss can handle longer smokes, in the case of cheddar I prefer a mild version and the sharper ones get bitter faster. I am still learning and want to get the system perfected before summer when it is difficult to cold smoke anything. If you like smoked cheese get a Amaze N Pellet smoker, if you are hesitant to fork over 30 or 40 bucks from something that you might make for $20 then e-mail Todd and ask him about his used products, I got mine for half off. I think you said you already had one Gary so that statement was for the others that wanted to try it out. It is a great way to take cheap $2 - $3 cheeses and make them very good.
I have had a lot of success with almonds as well, simply smoke them for 4 hours, coat them with olive oil and Weber sweet and tangy rub and roast them in the oven@ 350 for 15 to 20 min
Oh, and the bitter first round cheeses have mellowed out going into month 2 and 3 so you really can't go wrong.