By Dylan Clay
Cheese takes to smoke really well, for this reason I typically go with hardwoods that offer a “light” smoke flavor:
If you’re just starting out, start with apple wood first and then cold smoke for 30 minutes to 1 hour at most.
From there, aerate for 48 hours in parchment paper and then vacuum seal it for 2 weeks before eating.
Most websites/articles will likely tell you to use applewood to smoke cheese with and I agree.
It offers a lighter smoke that won’t overpower the flavor of the cheese.
As an added benefit, it’s also likely the most readily available smoking wood – meaning it’s cheap.
Regardless of where you’re from, you’ll likely be able to find Apple wood in wood chip, chunk, or sawdust form.
While I don’t like it at all with pork ribs – I’d rather use Cherry – I think apple wood works best with Cheese.
If you find Apple to be too strong, Maple will likely be your favorite hardwood to smoke with.
I also live in New Hampshire and Maple wood is readily available to me – which I know isn’t the case for a lot of people.
Alder is similar to Maple in terms of offering a light smoke flavor but I can almost never find it.
If you can find alder where you live and you like a very light smoke flavor, use it.
Cherry is one of my favorite woods to smoke with – it offers a light, sweet smoke that compliments most cheeses.
Cherry is also known for offering a deeper mahogany hue.
Here’s a block of cream cheese smoked with cherry before and after.
Before:
After:
As I hope is obvious, the cheese is noticeably more mahogany hued.
I also find cherry wood to have an appetizing sweetness that apple tends to lack.
The biggest mistake that beginners to smoking cheese make is that they smoke at too hot of a temperature.
Often this is due to the limitations of their smoker – ie. most pellet grills can only go as low as 160-200F.
Electric smokers can go low but you need to be at around 110F to smolder wood chips.
Smoking at too high of a temperature will cause 1 of 2 things:
The reason the cheese melts or sweats is due to the butterfat.
So we can see why hot smoking is problematic.
You’re exposing the cheese to ambient temperatures above the melting point of the butterfat. Rather, you should invest in either a smoker tube or a smoking maze (pictured above).
Hardwood smoke exists on a spectrum and the woods that tend to offer a “lighter smoke” flavor are:
With these woods, the order of taste will typically be:
I find nut woods like hickory and pecan to be too strong for cheese and you essentially just get a bitter creosote taste that engulfs your mouth.
For this reason, all of the recommendations in this article are “lighter” smoke hardwoods.
Cheese will take really well to smoke.
Meaning, you only want to cold smoke for 30-60 minutes at most – not 2+ hours like most smoked meats.
After cold smoking, allow the cheese to aerate in parchment paper for 48 hours in your refrigerator. This will mellow both the taste/smell of the smoke.
After aerating the cheese, vacuum seal it for 2 weeks. This will further temper the bitter cold smoke flavor.
