Monterey Jack cheese — Photo: Mack Male from Edmonton, AB, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMonterey%20Jack%20Cheese%20(2312582355).jpg

American Dairy Age - Monterey Jack

Garlic Jack

Name: Garlic Jack
Prep time: 2 h
Cook time: 8 h
Yield: About 1 small home batch
Ingredients: 2 gallons pasteurized whole cow milk; 1/4 teaspoon direct-set mesophilic starter culture; 1/2 teaspoon calcium chloride diluted in 1/4 cup cool non-chlorinated water; 1/2 teaspoon single-strength liquid rennet diluted in 1/4 cup cool non-chlorinated water; 2 tablespoons non-iodized cheese salt; 2 teaspoons dried garlic flakes or 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Garlic Jack is a mild American Jack-family cheese with clean milk handling, careful curd cooking, optional flavoring, pressing, and controlled aging.

Community-powered photos. Reviewers can upload dish photos, and the highest-rated community image may be featured here.

Difficulty

Advanced

Prep time

1 to 2 hours active

Cook time

4 to 8 hours make day

Total time

2 to 8 weeks

Servings

About 1 small home batch

Region

California and national deli cases

Era introduced

American Dairy Age

Introduced by

Monterey Jack

Recipe tools

Save to a Collection

The Story

Garlic Jack belongs to the flavored Jack family, where a mild California-style cheese became a carrier for popular American savory seasonings. The recipe below keeps that history practical for a home cheesemaking setup: use pasteurized milk, sanitized tools, measured culture, controlled temperature, controlled humidity, and refrigerated aging rather than casual countertop ripening. It is a learning recipe for the American style, not a commercial standard of identity or raw-milk guidance.

Ingredients

2 gallons pasteurized whole cow milk
1/4 teaspoon direct-set mesophilic starter culture
1/2 teaspoon calcium chloride diluted in 1/4 cup cool non-chlorinated water
1/2 teaspoon single-strength liquid rennet diluted in 1/4 cup cool non-chlorinated water
2 tablespoons non-iodized cheese salt
2 teaspoons dried garlic flakes or 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Equipment

Large stainless steel pot
Accurate dairy thermometer
Long curd knife
Slotted spoon
Colander
Butter muslin or cheesecloth
Cheese mold
Cheese press
pH strips or pH meter
Aging refrigerator or cheese cave

Directions

Read the safety notes before starting. Use pasteurized milk only, sanitize every tool that touches milk or curd, wash hands well, and discard the batch if it smells rotten, turns slimy, grows black or pink mold, or shows swelling that does not match the style.
Warm the milk to 88 F. Add mesophilic culture, rest 3 minutes, stir well, cover, and ripen 45 minutes.
Add calcium chloride, then rennet, stirring each diluted addition for 30 seconds. Hold still at 88 F for 40 to 45 minutes, until the curd sets cleanly.
Cut into 1/2-inch cubes, rest 5 minutes, and stir gently while raising the curds to 102 F over 30 minutes.

Community Recipes

Share family changes, regional twists, or pantry-friendly adaptations as full community recipes.

No community recipes yet. Submitted recipes are published right away.

Community Reviews

Rate this recipe and share how it worked at your table.

No reviews yet. Be the first to rate this recipe.

Related Recipes

Recipes matched by era, region, occasion, ingredients, and cultural roots from the archive.

Same era

1800s-present

American Alpine-style Farmstead Cheese

American Alpine-style Farmstead Cheese is a cooked-curd American Alpine or grating-style cheese with thermophilic culture, firm pressing, brining, and controlled aging.

American farmstead dairies1800s-present

America's Melting Pot

American Cotija-style Grating Cheese photo coming soon

1800s-present

American Cotija-style Grating Cheese

American Cotija-style Grating Cheese is a brined American farmstead-style cheese with clean milk handling, measured culture, rennet setting, draining, salting, and brine aging.

Setting the table...