Hmmmmm…….

My Queso Fresco melts well – use it in cheese sandwiches frequently.  I'll have to check the caerphilly (I like it so much plain that I haven't tried to melt it.  I have put it in tacos and it seems to melt okay onto the hot meat, though.)

I don't pasteurize my milk before making cheese so that could be one variable. 

Usually the ones that don't melt are more like Queso Blanco with quite a different make procedure.

I wonder if I have anything in any of my resource books that would comment on that.  I'll take a look later and see if I find anything.

Yes, skimming does change the texture for sure!  And, my hunch is, that it probably will make a difference in the melt-factor as you're working with a "dryer", altered end-product.

Both of the cheeses you're making are whole milk cheeses…..

Can you try making a queso fresco full cream and see how it compares?  You'll have to sacrifice a bit of butter  but I think it would be worth trying to see the difference!

(And now its MY turn to use all the icons!!! )

So far I've made mine with full fat. 

Sometimes I skim off a little because the milk I'm getting has a pretty high fat content.  If I skim, I can take about 1/3 of the cream off and still have a pretty high percentage of fat left.