I wanted to put some cheese away and my attempt to parafin wax mine was not really too successful. Does anyone know a source of some hard cheeses that come with the thick wax cover already on them? I have found some larger wheel sizes but they weight 30 pounds or so and thats too much once it is opened. The others are the mini size and they are not good for a family of eight. Any sources?? Thanks in advance.

-- Doc (smfdoc@aol.com), July 13, 1999

Answers

Fennimore Cheese in Wisconsin has the waxed cheddar wheels in two sizes - the largest is 5#. I spoke to them this week and he assured me that these would keep indefinitely in a moderate temperature. He said "if you won't melt, neither will the cheese". However, he won't fill anymore orders until after Labor Day because it is too hot to ship. The Url is www/fennimorecheese.com/fcprice.htm. Sorry, cannot hot link (not very computer literate). Click on: Our "Old Favorites" Cheddar Wheels.

-- Nadine Zint (nadine@hillsboro.net), July 13, 1999.

www.fennimorecheese.com/fcprice.htm

Because of hot weather no shipment until after Labor Day. On order of 10 lbs or more freight is a flat $12.25

e-mail is igor@fennimorecheese.com 1-888-499-3778 accept Master and Visa

-- rb (ronbanks_2000@yahoo.com), July 13, 1999.

I hope this will help you out some. This site lists several cheese suppliers, including the one mentioned above. After getting to the home page, go to cheese links...vendors listed there.

Cheese Net.

Now making hard cheese is an art I will attempt this fall, however, as As I understand it, to wax a cheese you must use special wax, not parafin out of the store. Here is a link for purchasing this wax. The amounts offered are 1, 5 and 10 pounds for $4.95, 15.25 and 25.95.

New England Cheesemaking Company

Another method is wrapping in a couple of layers of vinigar soaked cheese cloth. Can't remember the details right now.

-- Lilly (homesteader145@yahoo.com), July 13, 1999.

Freeze-dried cheese, adventurefoods.com. Highly recommend product and company.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), July 13, 1999.

Great links, folks. Here is another one:

http://www.wsu.edu/creamery/

Washington State University Creamery sells a yummy hard white cheddar - Cougar Gold - in cans. They won't ship to my area (Sacramento) before October because of the heat. I plan to get a couple more cans this fall. They sell other cheeses, too, but they are known for that white cheddar.

-- Margaret (janssm@aol.com), July 14, 1999.

I once sent the WSU cheese to a friend as a gift.

They said it was the best cheese they ever had.

I have never tried it myself, but it occured to me to get some due to Y2K. Too bad about the weather limitation though.

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), July 14, 1999.

You have inspired me to tell about my cheesemaking adventures. Once my story got to be a bit longish, I decided to move it over into my own space at Y2K Cheese, ` la Carte. I would hate to put a lot of effort into the writing, only to have my work scroll off or get deleted. Also, I might be able to prevent formatting disasters such as some I've experienced in other recent posts on this forum.

By the way... I have no financial connection to the cheese wax company that I recommend, nor, for that matter, to any other products or services that I recommend on any of my webpages, including books. Just consider me a satisfied customer. (However, I may get a so-called "partnership"< /a> with amazon.com sometime down the road.)

Parents of grade school kids, this makes an excellent project for your kids to co-operate in, under careful supervision due to the danger from the hot wax. Doing so would make good practice for the possibility of needing to homeschool your kids next year if things get really funky.

-- Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr near Monterey, California (addy.available@my.webpage.neener.autospammers--regrets.greenspun), July 14, 1999.

I talked to the folks at New England Cheesemaking Supply Company a few days ago, after inviting them to read my testimonial above and asking for their comments.

They say to use a steel guitar string to cut whole wheels. I actually did that as a kid, easily, but had forgotten about that.

They weren't too sure about the mason jar idea, thinking that the cheese might get too damp. I'm going to test it with some desiccant. Apparently, the cheese needs to be turned every week. I hadn't noticed that requirement. That's going to change my plans somewhat... I had been thinking I would store jars of cheese along with other foods in boxes, before stashing them into storage. That's not going to work if I have to turn them. I'll have to handle the cheese separately.

I forgot to put cold packs on the ones in my igloo chest for a couple days. Three pieces split, apparently because of that. I'll have to eat my mistakes.

Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr near Monterey, California

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage.neener.autospammers--regrets.greenspun), July 19, 1999.

The Havarti didn't work. It's too soft. After less than two weeks, three of the four pieces that I waxed have developed splits along one edge. We're eating the mistakes.

Y2K, ` la Carte by Dancr near Monterey, California

-- Dancr (addy.available@my.webpage.neener.autospammers--regrets.greenspun), July 20, 1999.