Smoking Soft cheese.

[Sargan]

Smoked plenty of hard cheese, now going to try 'soft cheese;

Some Stilton ..... which I guess will smoke same as hard cheese - stand the wedge on a wire rack.

Also some Mozzarella, suspend in sring hammock ............. 2 questions on this.

# Soft Mozzarella as you know is stored in whey,    so after smoking, how do you store it ?  I could vac pac ?

# How long do you smoke soft cheeses for - I typcially do hard cheese for around 3 Hrs

[Wade]

It will be interesting to hear how the Stilton turns out. I have tried smoking it a few years ago and wasn't impressed with the results. If you have a mild Stilton it may smoke better but as a general rule many of the stronger cheeses are not enhanced by smoking them.

With the Mozzarella you need to take care when looking online as to how long it will last, as many of the smoked Mozzarella recipes are talking about the harder, low moisture Mozzarella - or Provolone. This will last for up to 28 days after smoking when kept refrigerated and covered.

The softer "fresh" Mozzarella in the whey has a much higher water content and has a much shorter shelf life. Regardless of the use-by date on the pack, once opened the soft Mozzarella should be consumed within 5 days. Draining and smoking it will reduce the moisture content slightly and will increase the refrigerated shelf life to about 14 days. This is more an art rather than a science as the more water that is removed the longer it will keep (within reason). 

The soft smoked Mozzarella is best stored in the fridge, either in a covered bowl or wrapped in muslin. You could use loose clingfilm but you want to keep it dry as you are trying to preserve the protective harder outer skin that forms during the smoking process. If you vac pac it you will squeeze the higher levels of moisture that remain in the centre back to the outside - softening the protective outer layer.

[Sargan]

Thnx ..... I'll try some Mozzarella for early use , see what it's like