I started smoking cheese a few years back and it has become a holiday tradition ever since. I like to buy my cheeses from the big box warehouses because I think they offer the best value for the money. I then slice them into 2×4 inch bricks, this size is very manageable and offers a good amount of surface area for the smoke to be exposed to. For this batch, I used a Sharp Cheddar, Pepper Jack, and Swiss.
Slice your cheeses into blocks that are approximately 2X4 inches
Like most things, you don’t need a dedicated smoker to smoke cheese, you can do it with a standard grill or even a cardboard box if you absolutely must.
Cheese is cold smoked, so the toughest part is keeping the cheese from melting during the smoking process. For example, Cheddar has a melting point around 150 degrees Fahrenheit, so you want to keep the temperature inside your smoker under 150 degrees. The cool weather of late fall, early winter gives you a leg up on keeping the smoker’s temperatures below the melting point. We don’t get as much help here in Hawaii, so I decided to smoke mine at night. The secret is to generate smoke without generating a significant amount of heat. You can do this by simply smoldering wood chips in a tin can or aluminum foil. Some people do this by putting a soldering iron or wood burning pen into a small can with a bunch of wood chips and keeping the iron/pen on throughout the smoking process.
Regardless of what you use, smoker, grill, box, you will never turn on a heating element other than you smoker generator.
I like to use fruit woods (apple, cherry, pear) for my cheeses, but hickory, oak, and alder are also good choices. I would recommend staying away from the bolder woods like mesquite or kiawe, which may be too harsh for cheese.
While more expensive, I like to use the [easyazon_link identifier=”B00CS6YFIC” locale=”US” tag=”backyardmov05-20″]Amazen Tube Smoker[/easyazon_link]. This little device puts out a prodigious amount of smoke with a minimal amount of heat. You fill the tube with standard food grade pellets, then light them with your torch, and allow them to smolder. This little device also allows you to add a great smoked flavor to anything you produce on your gas grill.
Amazen Tube Smoker
I also like to use non-stick grilling mats like [easyazon_link identifier=”B00LBH7TZK” locale=”US” tag=”backyardmov05-20″]Frog Mats.[/easyazon_link] These keep me from having to deep clean my grill grates, because the cheese won’t actually come into contact with the grates. Because they are non-stick, any cheese that does melt is easily removed, and because they are porous the smoke will come into contact with the cheese.
Amazen Tube produces quite a bit of smoke
The smoking process is as simple as putting the cheese into the container you are going to smoke it in, ensuring adequate spacing between cheeses. You should smoke your cheese somewhere between 1-3 hours, I took mine off around 2.5 hours. Obviously, smoke longer for a bolder smoke taste.
These cheeses are ready to be wrapped and rested
Take your cheese out of the smoker and wrap in saran wrap or vacuum seal, store in the fridge for about a week before serving. The rest period allows the smoke to better permeate the cheeses and also helps the smoke flavor to moderate a bit. If you find your cheese has too smoky a flavor for your liking, allow it to rest for another week or two before making a final judgement or throwing it out.
Tip: Smoked cheese is great shredded and used on nachos!
Happy smoking everybody!
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