This can be down to a few reasons:
- Cheese that is bland or tasteless may not have expelled enough whey during the cooking process, causing the flavour to be diluted. You can try cutting the curds into smaller pieces next time or stirring them a bit more to help them release more whey.
- The curds may have been heated too rapidly, and this problem can be fixed by raising the temperature of the curds and whey by only 1°C every 5 minutes during cheese making. Or, it may just need to be aged longer. Wrap it back up and re wax (if it's a waxed cheese) and try again in another 2 weeks.
If you are finding that your hard cheese is consistently bland, you may want to add a little lipase to your recipes if you can source it - try online or in smaller health food stores.
Lipase is an enzyme that works on fat and gives cheese a distinct tang. It will make your curds softer, so be careful, and add a few extra drops of liquid rennet or dissolved rennet if necessary.
If your mozzarella or ricotta is too bland, the cheese may just need a little salt. Add a little extra and taste again.