canning cheese

[Clooney]

Has anyboby ever canned cheese? I know Jackie Clay of Backwoods fame has but she doesn't say how long to water process it for.

Anybody know. Thanks

[Darlene]

Here at MrsS we discourage against home canning anything that contains dairy products. The home canning system does not have the ability to insure that dairy can be processed safely for long term storage.

 

We choose to err on the side of caution in what we suggest to our membership, regardless of what other people do on the net.

[Violet]

It is not safe at all to can cheese, or milk, or butter.

If it were something that could be canned at home, it would definitely have to be pressure canned, not in a water bath canner. Cheese is a VERY low acid food and would require a pressure canner.

If you want to preserve cheese it can be frozen. Just be sure to grate it first or it will crumble and be a mess.

 

[Darlene]

Clooney, here's a recent post that Violet posted regarding home canning butter, that will be helpful in explaining the details behind the concern about homecanning dairy products:

 

http://www.mrssurvival.com/forums/ubbthrea...ge=1#Post143989

[Leah]

I have seen dehydrated cheese recipes, but I believe it has the same problem. The product stays in the unsafe temperature zone for too long.

[ArmyOfFive4God]

You can wax it.

[Violet]

Leah, you are correct about dehydrating the cheese and it staying in the danger zone for too long.

I appreciated your comment on that. I know you can buy waxed cheeses, but I have never looked into it before. I just grate and freeze mine if I need to keep if for longer storage.

 

[Leah]

Found this on waxing cheese... http://www.justpeace.org/nuggets18.htm

 

WAXING HARD CHEESE

 

This works with hard cheeses such as cheddar, mozzarella, etc. It is a way to store such cheeses without refrigeration. Dip the cheese into a salt solution (salty enough that an egg floats) and place on a rack to dry overnight. On the 2nd day, rub with salt and leave on the rack. Do this again a 3rd day. By this time a rind should be developing. If it feels dry and smooth, continue to the waxing; if not, rub with salt and let dry another day.

 

Waxing: Apply 3 or 4 coats of wax (either with a brush, or by dipping into melted wax), letting the wax dry between each coat. Wrap with cheese cloth, and continue the process of dipping and drying until several layers later the cheese is completely covered with a smooth wax exterior. It will continue to age inside, but remain good. If you do find mold on hard cheese, simply scrape or cut it off and use the rest of the cheese.

[westbrook]

canning cheese....

 

here is how I can cheese...

 

I go to the store and buy Campbells cheese soup! or I pick up a jar of processed cheese! check the Mexican food isle too.

 

that way I don't have any worries.

[goatherder]

If you wax a hard cheese, you still have to store it at 35 to 40 degrees. The wax just prevents drying and contamination. Heat will cause it become "greasy".

[ArmyOfFive4God]

And you need to check the wax for cracks every couple of months. If they become cracked, you need to dip it again.

[Mother]

The pioneers and settlers made their own hard cheeses and kept them in either the spring house, a cool dairy room or in the root cellar or basement for months at a time.

 

I did it myself with no problems for many years. Cheese needs to be pressed pretty hard to avoid the small fissures that can occur if not well pressed. Even then a hot knife works well to close any small areas that are not smooth on the cheese. The rest of the process is the same as suggested above with salting and drying the outside to form a rind. I sat mine on slatted shelves (mine were stainless steel) that were scrubbed meticulously and often and then turned the cheese almost daily, rubbing salt in until a rind formed. Then it was waxed with a cheese wax (as apposed to parrafin because cheese wax is more pliable) and put back on the shelf to cure. Even with the wax I inspected and turned them often.

 

My shelves were in an insulated cement block cold room in the basement and the temp stayed about forty five degrees most of the time. There was a vent that could be opened at night for fresh air occassionally. Air movement is crucial to the drying of the cheese.

 

I made the biggest share of my hard cheese in the spring when the milk was abundant from freshening cows and goats and still had no trouble keeping the cheese through the hot weather as long as I was very careful to make sure it was properly taken care of. When we moved from that home I kept my cheeses in an older refrigerator we had just for that purpose. I haven't made cheese for several years other than soft cheese and I would NOT try to keep store bought cheese that way unless I got it in whole rounds from a cheese factory already waxed.

 

I have also kept cheese cubes in olive oil in the refrigerator for months at a time and had no problems with that. They are great in flavored oils, like garlic or with italian spices.

 

I've canned a lot of stuff but I would not can cheese. I have canned hundreds of quarts of milk but would not do that any longer either. I canned meat and vegetables in a water bath canner for hours and hours but there is no reason when a pressure canner is MUCH safer for meat and low acid vegetables. I'm glad I know how and I WOULD do it in an serious emergency but only a true SHTF, have to do something to preserve it situation and then I'd cook the heck out of it before use. It's just not worth my family's lives to tempt fate.

 

I'm more inclined to be like Westy now and buy my cheese already dried, processed or canned. Perhaps that means I'm just getting older but I prefer to believe that I'm getting wiser. (:

 

(((( )))))

 

 

[westbrook]

Mother,

 

unless I was getting into serious cheese making again, I find it just easier to go buy Nacho cheese in a can or Campbell's Cheese soup, or Jarred Cheese Whiz. Call me old, lazy, protective of my health as well as my families fine.. but cheese making and bread baking does not go hand in hand. I had to choose, one of the other. I would rather hone my skills making bread then cheese.

 

 

[susie]

I can cheese. I give small jars of cheese (about a cup) a boiling water bath of about 15 minutes. The hard cheeses (Gouda, emmenthal, massdammer) are the best, and it comes out 'cheesier' than it did when it went in.

 

 

[Mother]

HOw do you prepare the cheese for canning Susie? Do you cut it in chunks, leave it one whole piece or ???? Do you use anything on the cheese, water? Oil? And does the cheese melt to fill the jar?

 

Do you have any proof the cheese is safe after a certain length of storage time and how do you store it? I've always wondered about canning it myself. I've seen it in some of the old recipe books but am ever careful not to kill off the people I feed with my preps

 

((( )))

[susie]

I simply cut it into chunks and squish it into the jars. I used to pack it in tightly, but noticed that it all sisn't melt, so now I fill the jars, but don't hammer it in.

 

Just cheese, nothing else. And it's really nice to have a supply on hand.

[Joanna]

Wow--I never even thought about all the ways to perserve Cheese. It never lasts more that a few days at my house anyway. We eat it, cook with it, bake it into beads, put in on salad, and before we realize it is all gone! We are cheese-aholics!

[Violet]

Originally Posted By: Darlene

Here at MrsS we discourage against home canning anything that contains dairy products. The home canning system does not have the ability to insure that dairy can be processed safely for long term storage.

We choose to err on the side of caution in what we suggest to our membership, regardless of what other people do on the net.

I agree !