Sage marbled Monteray Jack

After I made the jack with layered sage leaves I was told I needed to add more sage to it. So this time I am using the sage method for making sage derby cheese and applying it to this batch of jack. Hopefully it will have a nice marbled green look to it after it ages. None of my other cheeses have had good marbling yet. I would have thought the beer ones would but not on the cheddared Caerphilly. Anyway back to the sage jack. I used the standard recipe for Monterey jack except instead of during the last 30 minute cook at 100 degrees i lowered it to 20 minutes and then drained it for 10 minutes. After draining I broke the curds up into quarter or smaller sized pieces and then added in the sage mix.

Sage mix from the Sage derby recipe

12 sage leaves (flavor)
12 spinach leaves (color)

rinse and soak the sage leaves for 20 minutes to remove some of the herbal bitterness out of them.

Sage rinsed well in cold water and now soaking in 2 cups of water to remove some of the bitterness

After they have soaked add them to 4 ounces of water and puree them all together.

My mix came out a dark green. I would have thought it would have been a lighter color color. Maybe I shouldnt have used baby spinich leaves — My mix came out a dark green. I would have thought it would have been a lighter color. Maybe I shouldnt have used baby spinach leaves

Cheese after the first flip. Looks like it will have a nice green marble to it.

And now to age it for a month and we will see how the interior marbling looks. So far the outside looks promising. I love the strong sage smell that it has.