I have been making cheese recently with good results and decided to add
dried herbs to some of my cheddar. I considered adding fresh chopped chives
to a batch of cheddar, but was restrained by the fear of botulism. You have
an anaerobic environment inside the cheese, ph of maybe 5.2 or higher, and
moisture. That looked semi dangerous so I sought advice and was told to use
dried herbs. Now I have 2 nice 5 lb cheeses loaded with dried chives, vacuum
packed, aging for 6 months and a year. But I can't figure out what the
difference between dried or fresh might be as the chives quickly rehydrate
in the whey they absorb. Is this dangerous? Experts? If it is dangerous, is
there a process to do this safely?

Darwin Vander Stelt wrote:

I have been making cheese recently with good results and decided to add
dried herbs to some of my cheddar. I considered adding fresh chopped chives
to a batch of cheddar, but was restrained by the fear of botulism. You have
an anaerobic environment inside the cheese, ph of maybe 5.2 or higher, and
moisture. That looked semi dangerous so I sought advice and was told to use
dried herbs. Now I have 2 nice 5 lb cheeses loaded with dried chives, vacuum
packed, aging for 6 months and a year. But I can't figure out what the
difference between dried or fresh might be as the chives quickly rehydrate
in the whey they absorb. Is this dangerous? Experts? If it is dangerous, is
there a process to do this safely?



What's your source on this? The production process' that I'm aware of for
semi-dry cheese don't take botulism into account. Cheese is not a true
anerobic environment, i.e. there's enough free oxygen present that
botulism isn't a risk.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

The person who told me to use dried herbs is the proprieter of a website
which sells cheesemaking supplies, and she also wrote a book on
cheesemaking. The questions about botulism occured to me after i vacuum
packed these two nice cheeses and an over-active imagination made me wonder
if it was safe to eat!

"Reg" wrote in message
om...
Darwin Vander Stelt wrote:

I have been making cheese recently with good results and decided to add
dried herbs to some of my cheddar. I considered adding fresh chopped
chives
to a batch of cheddar, but was restrained by the fear of botulism. You
have
an anaerobic environment inside the cheese, ph of maybe 5.2 or higher,
and
moisture. That looked semi dangerous so I sought advice and was told to
use
dried herbs. Now I have 2 nice 5 lb cheeses loaded with dried chives,
vacuum
packed, aging for 6 months and a year. But I can't figure out what the
difference between dried or fresh might be as the chives quickly
rehydrate
in the whey they absorb. Is this dangerous? Experts? If it is dangerous,
is
there a process to do this safely?



What's your source on this? The production process' that I'm aware of for
semi-dry cheese don't take botulism into account. Cheese is not a true
anerobic environment, i.e. there's enough free oxygen present that
botulism isn't a risk.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com