A new cheese blog

I've been making so much cheese lately that this blog was seriously in danger of turning into a cheese blog. So...I now have a new blog, devoted only to cheeses.  Maybe I can move the other posts there, or maybe not, but Yay!  now this blog is back to where it's supposed to be--a farm blog, a thoughts blog, a blog about life.
My new cheese blog can be found here.

Cambozola

I went through all my cheese cultures a few days ago.  I finally listed them all in a computer file so when I order again, I won't end up with duplicates.  After 5 years of cheesemaking, you'd think I'd have done that before.  Nah!

freshly drained Gorgonzola

I had so much milk that I had to make cheese again, despite starting to dry off Beatrice.  So, since I made Gorgonzola a few days ago, I thought I'd try Cambozola, a German blue cheese, which is sort of a combination of Camembert and Gorgonzola.

So, the first thing I didn't do was thoroughly read through the recipe, which I found on cheeseforum.org.  Ah, well, I guess I'll know in 3 months whether that was a problem.

Curds are ready

Anyway, I started out with 2 gallons of raw goatmilk, heated it to 82° (because it's goat milk) and added 1/4 tsp of Flora Danica. Then I added rehydrated Penicillium candidum and Penicillium roqueforti.  That's the part I'm wondering about.  The recipe said to add the P. candidum and then sprinkle the P. roqueforti over the curds later.  Since I had just made Gorgonzola and the P. roqueforti gets added to the milk, well...you get the picture. 

Cambozola in the making

Then I added the rennet--and it didn't set properly, took much longer than it should have.  I finally cut the curds and, following the recipe by this time, drained it in a colander lined with cheesecloth. After a half hour, I ladled it into two Camembert molds, flipped them a few times over the next several hours, and voilà!  two Cambozolas!  They're still in their molds, and will be until tomorrow morning, but I'm looking forward to seeing if they turn out better this time than the last time I tried, last year.

That cheese tasted pretty good, but it was a much drier cheese than it was supposed to be.  I'm not even sure it could be called a Cambozola, because I think I pressed it. I've improved over the past year.  Most of my cheeses actually look and taste like they're supposed to. That's progress!

Camembert success

I had a devil of a time trying to keep the humidity high enough and the temperature low enough for these cheeses that I made a month ago.  I finally just put them in plastic Ziplock bags and left them in the refrigerator, turning them every day, and wondered when they'd be ready.

 I've read conflicting advice about how long to age Camembert, going from 3 weeks to 7 or 8 weeks.  Today I opened up the bags and took a look.  One smelled a bit like ammonia. Not overpowering, but faintly.  The other smelled divine.  I decided to let them come to room temperature to see if the ammonia smell dispelled.  After an hour, my curiosity got the best of me and I sliced into the ammoniated one.  It didn't taste half bad!  In fact, it tasted pretty good, and it looked to be ripening well.  I don't like Camembert when it gets runny and strong, so this was just right:  the outside was soft and pliable, the middle firm. 

I wondered about the second one.  As I put it down, I noticed that it, too, was getting soft on the outside.  A small piece was hanging off, so I picked it off and tasted it.  This one is even better. Yum!

Tomorrow I'm having lunch with some friends.  We're all supposed to bring something to go with the salad.  I think I'll bring feta--and Camembert.

Tidbits

I am SO ready for Ike to leave.  I never realized how brainless bucks become during the rutting season.  My doe goats (two Saanens and a Sable) are all bred, and he will be going visiting for a few weeks, and then I hope he’s sold.  Having a buck goat around can sometimes be trying.  When he’s in his stall at night, he’s constantly jumping up on the door and the side wall to see the does, or jumping up onto the feeder and then down onto the platform that I put in there (goats like to climb).  The noise is jarring to one’s senses, at best.  I actually had to reinforce the wall by the stall door and move the pallet platform, because he was throwing himself at the wall, trying to jump over.  When one of the 2 x 8’s came down from the wall, I moved the platform so he couldn’t get a running leap.  Whew!  Breeding season is hard on bucks.  They forget to eat, drink, and are just plain crazy and unable to relax until the lights all go out at night.

One of my Silkie hens hatched two late chicks.  I thought they might not make it, but they’re fully feathered now (fast!) and seem to be doing fine.  Silkies are pretty cute once you get used to them, but I admit that I didn’t always think so.  My terrier, bless her cotton-picking little hunter heart, got two of my hens and my old rooster.  I found the hens the same day I found a Partridge colored cockerel to replace the other one.  I got him anyway, so now I have two hens and one young rooster.  Hopefully I’ll have more Silkies in the spring.

The chicks are crossbreds from the Silver Laced Wyandotte cockerel that went into the freezer lately, because I couldn’t find a home for him.  I do hope both of the chicks are hens so it’ll be easier to place them.  Since I rarely eat meat, it tends to stay in the freezer for far too long.  Thank goodness for vacuum wrapping to keep them from freezer burn.  

I planted kale and some winter greens in my little 8' x 12' greenhouse, built by my son early last spring..  With a bit of floating row covers,  the greens for cooking and salad surviving the hard frosts we've had.  I'd like to have greens for most of the winter, though I doubt they'll make it through January and February.  Still, I'm hopeful.  They’re growing slowly, but they’re definitely coming along, and I check on them daily, casting an eager eye.  

Elections are coming up on Tuesday, and I fear the state of the country and the world won’t improve, no matter who gets in.  I think we’ve been given the option to vote for the lesser of two evils for far too long now.  I’ll write in my choice, which is neither of the two major parties.  And for local elections, I’ll look for the one that will get government out of my face the fastest.   Probably on the state and local level, we still have some semblance of control, but sometimes I wonder if even that is illusion.

 

I just finished making my first real Gruyere cheese, and wouldn’t you know?  I got the culture ripening time wrong.  It was supposed to set for only 10 minutes, and I left it for an hour.  I don’t think that’ll mess up the cheese, but I’ll know in about 5 months.  In the meantime, I’ll be cutting into a Münster and a Cotswold, because they don’t take quite as long. 

A First Foray into Soft-Ripened Cheeses

After watching a video on YouTube, i decided it was time to put away my fears and tackle Camembert cheese.  It was remarkably easy, but the final outcome is still to be seen.  That shouldn't take very long, as it ripens for only 3 to 4 weeks.

First I had to sterilize all my equipment.  I did this by putting measuring spoons, stirring spoon, modified whisk (thanks to Jim Wallace of Cheesemaking.com for this tip), ladle, stainless steel measuring cup, and long bladed knife, all in my stainless steel 1 gallon cooking pot, covering as well as possible with the lid, and steaming everything for 5 minutes.

 

Goat milk generally takes lower temperatures than cow milk, so next I heated 1 gallon of raw goat milk to  86° F.   Once it was there, I sprinkled 1/4 tsp of Flora Danica, 1/8 tsp of Penicillium candidum, and a tiny pinch of Geotricum candidum over the surface of the milk, let it set for a couple of minutes, then stirred it in well, covered it, and l let it set for 90 minutes.





I generally use DVI cultures from The Dairy Connection, but I've also purchased cheesemaking supplies from New England Cheesemaking Supply, TheCheesemaker, and Glengarry,, and there are many more places to find what you need, so shop around for the best prices (including shipping) and order what you need all at once.

After it had ripened, I diluted 6 drops of double strength vegetable rennet in 1/4 cup cool water, and stirred it thoroughly into the milk.  I let it set until I had a "clean break" at about 60 minutes.

Now it was time to cut the curd.  I did this with my long knife for the vertical cuts, and then switching to the wire whisk for the horizontal cuts, making 1/2 inch - 1 inch curds.

 Here's where Camembert  is so much easier than other cheeses I've made!  No stirring, no heating!  Just let the curds settle for about 10 minutes, remove the whey until it barely covers the curds, and ladle the curds into prepared molds.  I had bought one brie/camembert mold, but needed two, so I got a piece of 4-inch inside diameter PVC pipe, drilled some 1/8-inch drainage holes in it, cleaned it up well, and voilà! another mold!

The curds should be ladled slowly and allowed to drain.  I alternated between the two molds and had just enough to fill them both.  I set mine on bamboo sushi mats, set atop of shallow pans to catch the whey as it drained.

The curds drained quickly.  After an hour, put another mat on top, pick up the mold, and quickly but gently flip it. This was easier than I anticipated.  The curds quickly fell to the bottom to continue draining.  The cheese is flipped 5 times, with an hour in between.

Here they are, both of my cheeses, as I lifted off the molds after the last flip.  They hold their shape nicely and are ready to be salted lightly on all sides.

And here's one salted wheel just before I put it into a cool, humid room to form a rind.  The cheese needs to be turned every day and kept at the correct temperature (45°F) and humidity (90%) to ripen the interior.  Since I have a primitive setup at best, it'll be interesting to see how it turns out.

My cheese "cave", for the present, is a styrofoam container with holes in the top and a wide bowl with water in it to keep the humidity high enough.  Time will tell if it develops properly.

Finnish baked cheese--Yum!

I love Juustoa cheese, or Leipäjuusto, a Finnish cheese, called "coffee cheese", because they put chunks of it in their coffee.  It can also be served as a side dish or a dessert.  I like it for breakfast.  Or even for lunch or dinner.  It's versatile. 

I  had extra milk to play with, and wanted something different for lunch, so I decided to make some and record the process.  Maybe it was the recording that did the trick, but this was absolutely the best Juustoa I've made yet.

Heat 1 gallon of raw goat milk to about 86°, then mix together and add:
   1 heaping Tbsp cornstarch
   1/2 tsp (more or less) salt
   1 Tbsp sugar

Now add about 6 drops of double strength rennet mixed with 1/8 C of water and stir well.  Let rest for about an hour.  In this time, it will set almost like a custard.  Check for a "clean break",

 and break up to approximately 1-inch curds. For this cheese, you can just stir it, as I did, using the edge of the spoon to cut larger curds when necessary.
 

 

 At this point I drain it just like any other cheese, with cheesecloth and a colander,letting it rest until the curds settle and the whey drains out a bit.

To speed this up a bit, hang the curds by bringing all 4 corners of the cheesecloth together to form a bag and suspending it over a pan to catch the whey.  I occasionally work the curds by kneading the bag a bit to release more whey.  

 
When it's well drained, it's time to put the curds into a round cake pan.  Press it all around evenly, and bake in a 400°F oven for 15-20 minutes, draining the whey off every few minutes.  Now remove from the oven and put it under the broiler unti just browned.  Again, pour off the whey as it seeps out.  At this point, you can either serve it or flip it in the pan and brown the other side, which is what I opted to do. 

Voilà! A beautiful, baked cheese!  

  Traditionally this is served with lingonberry jam, but I served it for lunch with blackberry jam.

Don't expect this to last very long. It's light and elegant, and oh so delicious!

The (semi) final iteration.

I thought I'd just post the almost last design change of my cheese press.  I say "almost" because you will not that there are no legs on it...yet.  I plan to cut dowels to fit into the existing holes and make legs, and probably I'll make a groove or two from the center of the cheese mold to the edge to carry away the liquid from pressing.

Note the 6-inch stainless steel mold.  I priced these online from $84.50 for a 5-1/2 inch mold.  I had the local machine shop make me one for $25.00.  I think he did a great job, and it works wonderfully.  My 4-inch mold was even less expensive--the tin from Sesame Tahini, exactly 4-inches and a perfect size for a small cheese.

Genesis of a cheese press

When I decided to jump in the deep water, as it were, of cheesemaking, and try (gulp!) hard cheeses, it became clear very quickly that I had to have a cheese press.  A real cheese press.  Everything I saw online was just too darned expensive, so I designed my own--and then updated it again and again.

Iteration 1:  Actually it was iteration 2, since 1 was a dismal failure.  I had a bottom board, a top board, and four dowels holding it together, and I used whatever I could come up with for followers.  With only one board, there was no way to keep the weights--salvaged from someone's abandoned bench press set--evenly distributed.  The cheese was always lopsided.  So, I added two springs and an extra board, one resting close to the cheese mold.  It was easier to keep the cheese straight, but still pretty primitive.

I used this for several months, but piling all those weights on top was, umm, interesting.  Some of the weights were cement filled, and slightly rounded.  They didn't sit evenly.

I had a local machinest make me a 6 inch cheese mold with stainless steel.  This cost approximately 1/2 what I would have paid online, and no shipping, either.  However, I mainly used a 4 inch mold since I was still experimenting, just trying to see if I could produce anything worthwhile.  When I broke open the cheeses this spring, I was pleasantly surprised and eager to move on to the next level.  Clearly, it was time to upgrade my press.

While visiting a local Amish family, I saw the pressure gauge and press that Hoegger's sells.  I'd looked at both online several times, and had vascillated about the pressure gauge.  No more!  I ordered it within a few days.

Iteration 3:  The modifications were minimal.  One of the upper boards and the springs came off, and a small hole drilled through the center of the board to accommodate the gauge stem, a recessed place for the bolt, and I was set to try it.  I also sprung for real, honest-to-goodness wooden followers.
Getting that pressure gauge was one of the best things I've done for myself.  Since it was made for Hoegger's press, the pressure probably isn't exactly the same.  However, it works, and my cheeses are oh, so much more uniform, and  And sooo much easier to press.  I've taken to using the 6 inch mold almost exclusively. Next modification is removing the 4 dowels and shortening the side screws.  I think tomorrow might be the very day to do that.  I have goat milk and cow milk ripening for cheese tomorrow.