Sharp n' Smokey!

This post is for my niece Claire, and her penchant for sharp cheddar.

Start with a good sharp cheddar cheese:

I like to cut it into smaller blocks. This is a very crumbly cheese. I was not able to cleanly cut it lengthwise. Maybe a cheese wire could do the job. I set one small block aside for comparison after the smoking.

I set them up on parchment paper, on a perforated grilling tray: 

Into the smoker, with the cold smoke generator. The temperature this day was around 30°F. Inside the smoker rose up to about 41°F throughout this process.  

The cold smoke generator is just a new soldering iron and a tin can of smoke pellets. You can find more detailed instructions easily online. Just be sure to use a new iron, and to burn off any coatings from the can. I get about three hours of smoke from one can full of pellets, and switch out between a couple of cans throught this process. This is very well smoked cheese!

Whatever it is you smoke, keep the smoke thin & blue for the best flavor. Clouds of white billowy smoke will make your food taste of creosote. 

 

The fruits of our labor twelve hours later, with that reserved block of cheese that was not smoked in front, for comparison. 

Now, I wrap them and refrigerate. I find it best to let the blocks mellow for a week or so, just to let the smoke flavor more permeate the cheese.

While I do this because I like the flavor, it is worth noting that I have never had a block of cheese I have smoked go moldy. Even softer and milder cheeses, such as Monterey Jack, have kept a long time without going moldy, once they were smoked.