Post by Jenny on Mar 7, 2006 2:01:59 GMT -5
OK, I mentioned earlier that I had canned cheese a few years ago and was going to post the recipe as soon as I found it. When I heard about canning butter, I was also told that you can do cheese the same way. Here's what I did. I've only done it with cheddar, but I suppose it would work for any hard cheese. As with the canning butter recipe, I could not find any "approved" method in any of my books, and when I called the extension service, I was told that canning cheese like this was not an approved method by the FDA. Sooooooo, use at your own risk. This is just for information on what I have done.
As with butter, 11 pounds will fill about 12 1/2 pint jars -- or just over 3/4 pound per pint jar. It's harder to work with 11 pounds of cheese, though, so I do it in smaller batches.
1. Cut up your cheese into cubes, or if it's frozen, just crumble it into a pan. Gradually melt the cheese, and add more to the pan as it melts. A double boiler works best for this since cheese tends to stick to the bottom of the pan if it's directly on the stove. This works best for smaller batches, unless you have a large double boiler or a way to keep it a good temperature while you fill the jars.
2. While the cheese is melting, heat your jars in a 250 degree oven for at least 20 minutes. Since it's harder to regulate a woodburning cookstove oven to that low a temperature, mine is usually hotter. Since you'll process for awhile, this probably isn't necessary, but I think it's safer, so it's what I do.
3. Sterilize new canning lids according to package instructions. I let them simmer about 5 minutes, then keep them in hot water until I need them.
4. When the cheese has melted and is hot enough, ladle, spoon or pour it into prepared jars. A canning funnel is helpful.
5. Wipe the rims of each jar clean, place the hot lids and bands, then hand tighten the bands.
6. Process 40 minutes in a boiling water bath. When ready, remove jars from water with a jar lifter. Leave undisturbed until completely cooled. Check to make sure all the lids have sealed before labeling and storing. We keep ours in the cache.
I thought this was a great way to keep cheese. Once I tried grating then drying it, but it wasn't good at all. Just hard little pieces that tasted terrible. I thought it may end up like the parmesan cheese you buy in the store. NOPE. Anyway, I tried some of the cheese a few months after processing. It was really pretty good. It worked fine for cooking, but didn't melt as well as it does when it's fresh. Tasted good on cheese toast, but again, didn't melt as nicely. I just opened the last jar that I processed about 4 or 5 years ago. All in all it was fine, but a little sharper. Haven't tried it on toast yet, but I'll try to remember to do that in the morning for breakfast.
Anyway, Spring is upon us and I have lots of cheese to take care of before it gets warm and begins to mold, and before the bears come out. Last summer we only brought 10 or 15 pounds of cheese out with us. It was cool when we moved back out here, so just kept it in a 5 gallon bucket, along with some dehydrated bananas and other stuff in buckets. Never had bear problems before, but early one morning an ornery black bear made several raids on our food storage buckets before we even knew he was here! I woke up thinking I heard someone knocking on our door downstairs. Thought I heard someone talking up the trail, but didn't recognize the voice. Still groggy, Chuck didn't hear a thing, but went downstairs to see if someone with a cabin on the lake was here and needed something. Just as he was opening the door, I got to the upstairs window and saw a big black bear standing just a couple of feet from the porch. I called to Chuck just as he stepped outside with that bear about 5 feet away. Didn't take him long to wake up and start back stepping into the house for the gun! What a way to wake up!
Now I know why I didn't recognize the voice up the trail. It was that bear talking with his mouth full of our cheese. Didn't even eat it. Just tore the packages and slimed them up good. Has more of a sweet tooth and went for the bananas. Well, now Chuck has enclosed and built a door on our porch.
Jenny
As with butter, 11 pounds will fill about 12 1/2 pint jars -- or just over 3/4 pound per pint jar. It's harder to work with 11 pounds of cheese, though, so I do it in smaller batches.
1. Cut up your cheese into cubes, or if it's frozen, just crumble it into a pan. Gradually melt the cheese, and add more to the pan as it melts. A double boiler works best for this since cheese tends to stick to the bottom of the pan if it's directly on the stove. This works best for smaller batches, unless you have a large double boiler or a way to keep it a good temperature while you fill the jars.
2. While the cheese is melting, heat your jars in a 250 degree oven for at least 20 minutes. Since it's harder to regulate a woodburning cookstove oven to that low a temperature, mine is usually hotter. Since you'll process for awhile, this probably isn't necessary, but I think it's safer, so it's what I do.
3. Sterilize new canning lids according to package instructions. I let them simmer about 5 minutes, then keep them in hot water until I need them.
4. When the cheese has melted and is hot enough, ladle, spoon or pour it into prepared jars. A canning funnel is helpful.
5. Wipe the rims of each jar clean, place the hot lids and bands, then hand tighten the bands.
6. Process 40 minutes in a boiling water bath. When ready, remove jars from water with a jar lifter. Leave undisturbed until completely cooled. Check to make sure all the lids have sealed before labeling and storing. We keep ours in the cache.
I thought this was a great way to keep cheese. Once I tried grating then drying it, but it wasn't good at all. Just hard little pieces that tasted terrible. I thought it may end up like the parmesan cheese you buy in the store. NOPE. Anyway, I tried some of the cheese a few months after processing. It was really pretty good. It worked fine for cooking, but didn't melt as well as it does when it's fresh. Tasted good on cheese toast, but again, didn't melt as nicely. I just opened the last jar that I processed about 4 or 5 years ago. All in all it was fine, but a little sharper. Haven't tried it on toast yet, but I'll try to remember to do that in the morning for breakfast.
Anyway, Spring is upon us and I have lots of cheese to take care of before it gets warm and begins to mold, and before the bears come out. Last summer we only brought 10 or 15 pounds of cheese out with us. It was cool when we moved back out here, so just kept it in a 5 gallon bucket, along with some dehydrated bananas and other stuff in buckets. Never had bear problems before, but early one morning an ornery black bear made several raids on our food storage buckets before we even knew he was here! I woke up thinking I heard someone knocking on our door downstairs. Thought I heard someone talking up the trail, but didn't recognize the voice. Still groggy, Chuck didn't hear a thing, but went downstairs to see if someone with a cabin on the lake was here and needed something. Just as he was opening the door, I got to the upstairs window and saw a big black bear standing just a couple of feet from the porch. I called to Chuck just as he stepped outside with that bear about 5 feet away. Didn't take him long to wake up and start back stepping into the house for the gun! What a way to wake up!
Now I know why I didn't recognize the voice up the trail. It was that bear talking with his mouth full of our cheese. Didn't even eat it. Just tore the packages and slimed them up good. Has more of a sweet tooth and went for the bananas. Well, now Chuck has enclosed and built a door on our porch.Jenny
Oh, sorry. I forgot. This isn't a word problem math test. It's a recipe, so here it is ;D 
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