Cheese Report
Back! Yes, I've been lax in reporting farm doings on the blog. It's been an interesting summer, so far. Cold, raining, HOT, cold, rainy, HOT, HOT, cold, cold, cold, cooooolllllllllllddd. Hot today. Ohh well. I'll have pics up and more soon.
But first, the cheese report. I've been experimenting with several things, including old cheese recipes (from 1615!), natural rind cheeses and new techniques. Today I spent an hour rubbing down and caretaking all the cheeses. Here's a summary:
Natural Rind Romano: I'm rubbing it with olive oil as needed. It's not cracking, seems to have the right moisture and has only developed a little of the blue and b. linens (curses of my particular goat milk, or blessings, depending). It smells gorgeous. I still have at least 4 months to age it before I can eat it.
Natural Rind Tomme: WOW. This cheese is da bomb. It smells heavenly. The rind has developed an interesting assortment of b. linens (red/orange which makes muenster smell so interesting), p. candida (camembert type mold), p. roquefortii (blue cheese type mold) and some other things I don't know well enough to identify. The cheese itself is firm, the rind is not moist at all. Another month and I can eat it.
Waxed Romano and Parmesan: These two are 2 and 3 years old, respectively and being eaten. The parmesan is amazing, the best I've ever made. This is what happens when the cheeses get lost in the back of the cheese ageing cave. Mold growth on them is minimal. It used to be that when I'd open a cheese I'd get blue growth immediately. I think I'm aging the cheeses better, so that doesn't happen.
Natural Rind Digby 'Scalded Curd': This is the cheese from the recipe of 1615. It was made in early May. It has been mishandled terribly, set out in the sun at June Faire (so it sweated out a lot of the butter fat), thrown into a bag at the back of the fridge, and more. I aged the cheese before June Faire until it was really dry, thinking that perhaps the scalded curd cheese was meant to be a dry cheese. Scalding the curds will definitely make a dryer cheese. At June Faire we sampled the cheese, it was a month old then. It was mild, but tasty although not of a flavor of any cheese I could name right off the bat. It was sort of cheddar, sort of parmesan, sort of jack. Pleasant.
Found it in the back of the fridge (mind the fridge is too cold for truly proper ageing). It was coated with p. roquefortii, very blue. That rubbed off extremely well. I cut the half round in half again, and sliced a bit of the center. The outside bits, with the left over blue, went to the dog, who very much appreciated them, Thank YOU! *wag wag pant pant*. The inside was delightful. The paste was dry, but not horribly so (like a very dry cheddar). The cheddar flavored overtones had mellowed and the cheese was simply mild and very mellow. I melted it, just to see what would happen. It melted into a nice stringy goo, the taste was still very mellow. All in all, a very successful cheese.
I'm going to do more of the scalded curd and experiment with leaving it with a dry rind, a brushed rind, brining it, etc. I suspect the cheese was meant to be dry and for storage, perhaps eventually even a sailor's cheese.
Been making chevre too, tons of it. I have 6 small rounds of feta downstairs, waiting to be wrapped up and frozen for later. The goats are producing about 3/4 gal milk a day, together. That means I have to make cheese about every 5 days. *slog*
But first, the cheese report. I've been experimenting with several things, including old cheese recipes (from 1615!), natural rind cheeses and new techniques. Today I spent an hour rubbing down and caretaking all the cheeses. Here's a summary:
Natural Rind Romano: I'm rubbing it with olive oil as needed. It's not cracking, seems to have the right moisture and has only developed a little of the blue and b. linens (curses of my particular goat milk, or blessings, depending). It smells gorgeous. I still have at least 4 months to age it before I can eat it.
Natural Rind Tomme: WOW. This cheese is da bomb. It smells heavenly. The rind has developed an interesting assortment of b. linens (red/orange which makes muenster smell so interesting), p. candida (camembert type mold), p. roquefortii (blue cheese type mold) and some other things I don't know well enough to identify. The cheese itself is firm, the rind is not moist at all. Another month and I can eat it.
Waxed Romano and Parmesan: These two are 2 and 3 years old, respectively and being eaten. The parmesan is amazing, the best I've ever made. This is what happens when the cheeses get lost in the back of the cheese ageing cave. Mold growth on them is minimal. It used to be that when I'd open a cheese I'd get blue growth immediately. I think I'm aging the cheeses better, so that doesn't happen.
Natural Rind Digby 'Scalded Curd': This is the cheese from the recipe of 1615. It was made in early May. It has been mishandled terribly, set out in the sun at June Faire (so it sweated out a lot of the butter fat), thrown into a bag at the back of the fridge, and more. I aged the cheese before June Faire until it was really dry, thinking that perhaps the scalded curd cheese was meant to be a dry cheese. Scalding the curds will definitely make a dryer cheese. At June Faire we sampled the cheese, it was a month old then. It was mild, but tasty although not of a flavor of any cheese I could name right off the bat. It was sort of cheddar, sort of parmesan, sort of jack. Pleasant.
Found it in the back of the fridge (mind the fridge is too cold for truly proper ageing). It was coated with p. roquefortii, very blue. That rubbed off extremely well. I cut the half round in half again, and sliced a bit of the center. The outside bits, with the left over blue, went to the dog, who very much appreciated them, Thank YOU! *wag wag pant pant*. The inside was delightful. The paste was dry, but not horribly so (like a very dry cheddar). The cheddar flavored overtones had mellowed and the cheese was simply mild and very mellow. I melted it, just to see what would happen. It melted into a nice stringy goo, the taste was still very mellow. All in all, a very successful cheese.
I'm going to do more of the scalded curd and experiment with leaving it with a dry rind, a brushed rind, brining it, etc. I suspect the cheese was meant to be dry and for storage, perhaps eventually even a sailor's cheese.
Been making chevre too, tons of it. I have 6 small rounds of feta downstairs, waiting to be wrapped up and frozen for later. The goats are producing about 3/4 gal milk a day, together. That means I have to make cheese about every 5 days. *slog*