#washed curd

Did you know that the American Cheese Society site has an "Ask Dr. Cheese" feature?(You can submit your own questions to [email protected]). This month, San Francisco Chronicle's cheese columnist Janet Fletcher talks to CheezSorce's Neville McNaughton about the how's and why's of washed curd (not to be confused with washed rind) cheeses: 

Washing curd to produce a sweeter cheese isn’t a technique limited to Gouda production. “The Dutch are famous for it, but almost every country in Europe has water-cooked cheese,” says Neville McNaughton of CheezSorce, a cheese consultancy. McNaughton addresses some of the “do’s and don’ts” of washing curd in this interview with San Francisco Chronicle cheese columnist Janet Fletcher.

Why wash curd?

There are two ways to get cheese with a sweet body. The Swiss cook the moisture out with heat and a small cut. They limit sugar by limiting moisture content. The Dutch add water to pull lactose out of the curd. So the bacteria have no more food (lactose) and will cease making acid.

But why did cheesemakers do this historically?

It’s just conjecture on my part, but possibly because people generally do not like acidic cheeses with short, mealy bodies. Washed-curd cheeses across the board have smooth, creamy bodies when young. By keeping them sweeter, with higher pH, they could get eyes in the Gouda that you couldn’t get in more acidic cheese.

What are the keys to success with washed-curd cheese?

Good milk with low mesophilic spore counts. Not too much silage because higher pH cheeses are very sensitive to clostridia and late blowing. It happens at about six weeks.