Do you remember my All Things Cheese post? Well life has settled some and I decided to can some cheddar cheese this week. Everybody says it is not safe to home can cheese! I am not everybody. I am just me, doing what I want to do. I am sharing my ways with you. Can it if you will. Me we loved it. Yesterday we used some of our home canned cheese atop of some bread sticks to have with our annual Dinner in a Pumpkin. It was super good and easy to shred.
Home Canned Cheddar CheeseHere are the basics of how I canned this cheese.
First off I have to give a shout out to a meat slicer. It makes so many canning jobs faster for me. Slice up your cheese and then cut into cubes.
See how fast and simple...... 
Using a large pan filled with an inch or so of water. Place your clean sterile jars in the water and start adding cheese cubes. As they melt you can stir them a little. Add cheese cubes as they melt down. I filled 14 half pint jars with 6 pounds of cheese cubes. I could have used only 12 if I really crammed them though. Here is the beginning stage of this.
Here is a shot of the jars almost all the way full of melted cheese. Now this process takes time. You need to keep your water at a low boil maybe even less than that. The cheese needs time to melt. You may have to exercise some patience here. 
Once the jars are full, wipe rim and place a clean hot lid and ring on it. Process in a water bath for 10 minutes. Let cool in the water or on a counter. Label and store in a cool dark place.
Once stored and you want to use it. Open the jar, you may need to run a butter knife around the cheese inside of the jar to help it come out. Now, this picture below is the cheese just after coming out of a canner. The darn lid did not seal and we needed to store it in the fridge. Being me and curious I had to open this bad boy. Well, is sort of greasy in appearance.
It tasted good and grated fine. After letting it cool the in the fridge is did not look so greasy.
It grated even better over our bread. 
This is such a great way to put up cheese. I am amazed how easy it really is. Just a time consuming project. I am very please at how it turned out, and the fact that I have more cheese out of my freezer. I almost all my cheese is stored in the freezer. Unless, is it powdered or velveta for emergencies that is. And let me add her and now. Velveta is disgusting! I hope others out there have tried this. Share what worked for you and maybe what did not.
Just being cheesy~Melissa
I love your blog. I always learn something every time I visit. I never would have guessed you could can cheese. Great job!!
ReplyDeleteFrom Beyond My Kitchen Window- Thank your for the lovely commet. I so appreciate you and all your comments. I am trying to be better at leaving them on others. I read a ton I am just not the best at leaving my thoughts there.
ReplyDeleteMelissa
Well I have never canned anything, but reckon I wouldn't mind giving this ago. My DH is passionate about me learning to can for our unpredictable future. Many thanks for sharing, please keep doing so ....
ReplyDeleteCheese has gotten so expensive, it makes sense to stock up and preserve when you can find a bargain. It would make even more sense to learn to make it myself since we live where we could have goats or a cow ...but as long as I work 40 hours away from home, I'm not taking on any dairy animals. Not enough hours in the day as it is.
ReplyDeleteGosh Girl, You are always so busy. LOL Interesting, I may just have to ask Santa for a pressure canner this year. I wonder if I have been good?
ReplyDeleteTake care,
Smooches,
Mal
Cool, thanks SO much for this great post. I've been freezing Walmart's undyed cheddar, so I don't have the packaging handy to say what kind it is, but even though the dye in cheddar is actually natural, it still gives me mild-med IBS.
ReplyDeleteSo six pounds filled one canning pot? I'm going to give this a try after Thanksgiving with some new white cheddar, so I won't have to give up unreliable freezer space ^_^
BTW: Are these produce store/markets the ones you blogged about much earlier?
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=217672918402435405736.0004b21cc2ec89429d3d6
(Google Map with 4 locations marked)
PS: Love the new header image! It reminds me of the store across from my Grandparents, that my Great Grandfather owned before I was born ^_^
Uh, I didn't make that clear LOL - it's the yellow cheddar that gives me IBS, not the undyed, white cheddar.
ReplyDeleteSheela, I have done a ton of reasearch on folks canning cheese. I have found that only cheddar did a good job and being cheddar like after teh canning process. I learned from a gal who did mozzerla that it did not cut very easily or even melt after being canned. So, it is an experiment. I understand the difference between white and yellow cheddars and I think both can nicely. I hope that helps. Good luck in your cheese canning adventrues....Melissa
ReplyDeleteA water bath canner is not adequate to get all the bacteria out of this low acid food. I would think that a pressure canner would be the ONLY option for safety. The high temperature to kill the bacteria would also probably render the cheese unusable. This would be great if kept in the refrigerator and used within a few weeks.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you've heard of botulism. Botulism develops in an anaerobic environment - an environment free of oxygen - which is what you have with your canned cheese. If the food inside the jar is acidic enough, the botulism toxin won't develop. But foods like vegetables, meat, etc., are not acidic enough to kill the bacteria and that's why they must be processed in a pressure canner to bring the temperature up enough to kill that bacteria. Additionally, the fat in dairy products can surround the bacteria and protect it from the heat, and that is why dairy products should not be canned at home. If you read a bit about botulism you'll quickly see it's not something you want to be responsible for exposing your friends and family to. It's a miserable, painful condition that leads to death unless you have a doctor that recognizes the symptoms quickly enough to order the anti-toxin. I hope you reconsider sharing this method and using it in your own home.
ReplyDeleteI'm confused. Isn't it the bacteria that ages the cheddar?
ReplyDelete