Gouda Gouda Gouda

I'm still practicing gouda, but technique wise the main differences between this cheese and other mesophillic cheeses are:

• Washed curd to remove lactose, so it doesn't ever get too sour
• No cheddaring
• No salt added to the curd before pressing, but an extended brining after it is removed from the press

I'm sure there are other considerations, but since I don't have a pH meter at the moment that is one benchmark I am not able to measure.

I know lots of people that absolutely love smoked gouda, and while this one won't end up smoked I do intend to cheat on the next one with liquid smoke in the brine. It would be great to cold smoke a loaf, but I currently don't have the ability to smoke anything at 90F.