# Making cheese 2016 into 2017



## blissful

I started making soft cheeses last fall. It takes a while to accumulate all the equipment and ingredients.

I started with mozzarella which is the hardest cheese in my opinion. Then I started making curds. Both turned out great with an occasional ricotta cheese. 

Then I got my refrigerator 'cheese cave' set up recently. My cheese press is half assembled now. I have two homemade molds and although I was limited to only 30 lbs of pressure up to now, I was able to make some cheeses this winter.

I've done about 20 gallons of milk for ricotta, mozzarella, and curds. Recently I made three soft 'pressed cheeses', havarti, butterkase, and caerphilly, each are ripening in ripening boxes in the cheese cave. I turn or wash them twice a week. The havarti will be waxed in 3 weeks then ripened another 2 weeks to eat. The butterkase is waxed and will be ready to eat in 3 weeks. The caerphilly will be ready to eat in a couple weeks. Each of the soft press cheeses are just shy of 5 lbs each.

Today I made a 4 gallon batch of mozzarella, as the guys here are crazy for pizza and motz sticks and they have the metabolism to be able to eat that at their leisure. 

There are bound to be failures along the way but I am keeping my hope up. Here are two pictures.

The first is the cheese cave with ripening boxes with the cheese in them, the vinegar and brine solutions I use, a bucket of water with a towel to keep the humidity very very high. The temperature in the cheese cave is between 52 and 57 degrees F.







This second picture is a picture of the havarti, and you can see the lines in the surface made by the sushi mats.






Next cheeses will be parmesan, romano, colby, and cheddar, multiples of each so they can age for a long time. It is a fun hobby--though it might be more seasonal because I'm a gardener and canner in the summer. 

For recipes and reference I use Gavin Webber videos and blog which are both free. He resides in Australia and does a mighty fine job of explaining things.


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## larry_stewart

That looks terrific ( and like fun too)
I tried making Mozzarella once , and almost burned my fingers, and all I wound up with was a ball of cheese smaller than a golf ball.

I occasionally make paneer, but the store bought is better .


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## Rocklobster

Looks like fun..I wish I had the time....I would love to do it...


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## blissful

larry_stewart said:


> That looks terrific ( and like fun too)
> I tried making Mozzarella once , and almost burned my fingers, and all I wound up with was a ball of cheese smaller than a golf ball.
> 
> I occasionally make paneer, but the store bought is better .



Since mozzarella doesn't require a cheese cave or aging, or a  mold, or a press, people believe that it is an easy cheese to make. The method of making mozza is a little more difficult, the ph has to be just right, and the method of handling it is a little touchy. I made one 4 gallon batch yesterday and ended up with three big bowls of curds/whey. 2 out of the 3 turned out perfect and I had a little trouble with one bowl, and I believe it was the way I was physically handling it was the problem. I was mashing it a little instead of patting and squeezing it a little. I ended up with too much whey and the curds weren't sticking together. I was in too much of a hurry to do a good job on that one bowl.

 I use rubber gloves to handle the hot curd. A good yield for cheese is 1.25 lbs of cheese per gallon of milk, if I'm lucky. Still, it is fun even when it doesn't turn out perfect, and it is still edible.

Cheese making is more like baking than cooking. The amounts of ingredients are touchy, the timing of the heat is touchy, when to stir, when to let it rest, putting it in a mold, pressing it for a number of lbs of pressure for so many minutes, turn, rewrap, press again. Dry or age or wax in some combination.

I decided to do this because with 3 of us here we go through a lot of cheese. Our milk prices are pretty low in the midwest and we like 'expensive' cheeses when we can fit them in the budget.

If you end up giving it a try, make sure you have either raw or your own milk supply or find recipes that are for store bought milk. Before investing in a cheese cave/old refrigerator with temp controller, or a press, there are ingenious ways to mimic those conditions temporarily until you decide you want to get into it with more equipment. A cheese cave can by used to dry and age sausage/hams too, another use for one. 

The point is, I guess, it has been fun and I hope to continue to make cheeses this year when I'm not busy gardening and canning and dehydrating and freezing food. Winter is always a lull in activities around here and cheese has been useful and delicious as a hobby.


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## larry_stewart

blissful said:


> Winter is always a lull in activities around here and cheese has been useful and delicious as a hobby.



Definitely sounds like a great winter project.  I've resorted to growing mushrooms indoors, and herbs in my aquaponics garden during the winter months.  Cheese sounds more exciting, as it is more hands -on.


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## blissful

Larry I've thought we should do mushrooms here too, but we haven't accomplished it yet.

I made some really great cheddar curds a couple days ago, friends are thrilled, we are thrilled too, they taste specatular.

Yesterday I made some colby, I'll wax it in a couple days.

Tomorrow I'll make parmesan, I'm excited to try it. It takes 10 months to age, so I'll probably make it a half dozen times before I taste the first stuff that is aged out. Fun.

Today, I'm making a lemon glazed white cake and mac and cheese, some bacon to put on top. Dh's birthday is tomorrow.


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## taxlady

blissful said:


> Larry I've thought we should do mushrooms here too, but we haven't accomplished it yet.
> 
> I made some really great cheddar curds a couple days ago, friends are thrilled, we are thrilled too, they taste specatular.
> 
> Yesterday I made some colby, I'll wax it in a couple days.
> 
> Tomorrow I'll make parmesan, I'm excited to try it. It takes 10 months to age, so I'll probably make it a half dozen times before I taste the first stuff that is aged out. Fun.
> 
> Today, I'm making a lemon glazed white cake and mac and cheese, some bacon to put on top. Dh's birthday is tomorrow.


So, since you have fresh cheese curds, you could make some really good poutine.


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## blissful

taxlady said:


> So, since you have fresh cheese curds, you could make some really good poutine.



Yes I could, if we don't eat them out of hand so fast. They are fantastic!


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## blissful

I made the parmesan, then 2 days later, romano, then yesterday, cheddar. The fun (WORK) never ends. So many dishes to wash and sterilizing everything. UGH.





That is the outside of the havarti, scary stuff.






There is a green blue spot of mold, I removed it. Under it there is a white clean cheese--believe it or not.





The cheese press, needs a bit of tweeking, some parts work okay and I'd like it to work more predictably. DH made it.

Most of the cheeses are waxed, or brined, pretty boring but filling up the cheese cave.


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## Dawgluver

blissful said:


> I made the parmesan, then 2 days later, romano, then yesterday, cheddar. The fun (WORK) never ends. So many dishes to wash and sterilizing everything. UGH.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That is the outside of the havarti, scary stuff.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> There is a green blue spot of mold, I removed it. Under it there is a white clean cheese--believe it or not.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The cheese press, needs a bit of tweeking, some parts work okay and I'd like it to work more predictably. DH made it.
> 
> Most of the cheeses are waxed, or brined, pretty boring but filling up the cheese cave.




Gah!  Brainzzz!

Neat endeavor though, bliss!


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## blissful

Dawgluver said:


> Gah!  Brainzzz!
> 
> Neat endeavor though, bliss!



 My aunt told me she thinks there are tiny interstellar beings in the cheese and they are trying to communicate with the mold. ha ha ha so funny. Brainzzzz...it's something isn't it?

I'm having fun, and it is work, but we like cheese, so it works out. I'm looking forward to the part where we TASTE the cheese. The first stuff will be ready in a couple weeks now. Some of it ages 3-6 weeks, some ages for months and years. We have about 30lbs of cheese put up in the cheese cave so far. Tomorrow I make parmesan again. We are feeling blessed by the whole thing.

You know how when you freeze cheddar or colby, it crumbles and doesn't stick together as well as cheese that has never been frozen? That is one of my DH's pet peeves, and this might fix that problem and we'll have fresh cheese available. He likes to eat cheese out of hand.


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## Dawgluver

Please let us know if you need any additional taste testers for, you know, quality control.  We'd all be happy to gorge, um, I mean help you out!


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## blissful

Dawgluver said:


> Please let us know if you need any additional taste testers for, you know, quality control.  We'd all be happy to gorge, um, I mean help you out!



Oh I do, I will, need taste testers and I wish you were closer, I could send you some for your birthday! Happy Birthday!


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## blissful

The second parmesan, Parmesan2.






Cheddar1, waxed in red.






First ripened cheese, Caerphilly. 7 out of 10, salty, less salt than feta, tasted somewhat like brick, can be sliced, does melt. MMMMMMMM We've got cheese.

Here's my list of what I've made besides mozzarella, curds, ricotta, with some help from DH for the press and buying milk, on sale, and DS, on taking out brining cheeses at 2 am, thank goodness I was tired.

Starting in late february and ending yesterday, from my cheese log.
Havarti
Butterkase
Caerphilly
Colby (2 1/2 months)
Parmesan1 (10 months)
Romano1 (8 months)
Cheddar1 (6 months or much more)
parmesan2
romano2
gruyere (6 months and more)
cheddar2

Each cheese is between 2 and 5 lbs and they are stored in the cheese cave refrigerator in the basement. So now when I need some cheese, once it ages, then I'll have it available. 

And I spent today making mother cultures to cut the cost of buying cultures of meso and thermo. Tomorrow I think some swiss cheese of some type or a second colby. Milk is on sale today, tomorrow and tuesday. Then, after that, I might get a little break. Gardening season is calling.


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## taxlady

Wow blissful, that's impressive.


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## blissful

Thanks for the encouragement taxlady and everyone.
I made some mother cultures frozen now, so that will save money on buying them. Yesterday I made colby2 and I took it out of the mold this morning.
Today I'm making Emmentaler (swiss type cheese) for the first time. I need at least three types of swiss cheeses for Christmas when I make swiss cheese fondue, four is better. Then when I shred up the cheese mixture, I keep it in the freezer to use in quiches and egg dishes and ham dishes. I have one Gruyere, so I need 2 more swiss types--just can't decide what to make. 

2 oz of rennet runs between $7 and $9, a 4 gallon recipe of cheese uses about a teaspoon of rennet. There are different types, organic vegetable, vegetable, and animal. Each is labeled so that 1/2 teaspoon is enough for 2 gallons of milk, double rennet is 1/4 teaspoon for 2 gallons of milk, triple rennet is 1/6th teaspoon per 2 gallons of milk--something to pay attention to! I just found a source for organic vegetable triple rennet.

This sure keeps me busy and on my feet for about 7 hours a day!


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## GotGarlic

You are making me really want to invest in a cheese cave/wine fridge [emoji813]


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## blissful

GotGarlic said:


> You are making me really want to invest in a cheese cave/wine fridge [emoji813]



Well, splitting hairs....no one makes you ....anything. I take what you say in a very positive way, just as I'm sure you meant it.  But if you want to do it, just get an old used fridge, and the thermostat units were super expensive a year or so ago and now you can get them for $28.50. And if you decide not to have a cheese cave anymore, you can use the thermostat portion to keep your crock pot at just about any temperature you like! 
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V4TJR00/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1


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## taxlady

Are the mother cultures what make the different cheeses the kind of cheese they are?


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## blissful

taxlady said:


> Are the mother cultures what make the different cheeses the kind of cheese they are?



Essentially yes. There are other factors too. The two cultures most often used alone and with other cultures are mesophilic and thermophilic. Meso is for lower temperatures while thermo cultures can be heated higher. I was reading a manchego recipe which uses both!

Other factors:
How long you stir at each stage.
How big you cut the curds.
The temperature you bring the curds up to.
How long you rest the curds.
If you wash the curds to heat them or to cool them.
If you add salt to the cheese, as it controls how acidic it gets.
If you mill the salt in or if you brine the cheese after pressing.
How long and at what poundage you press the curds.
How long and at what temperature and humidity you age the cheese. 
Whether you wash the rind to protect the cheese or if you wax it or if you grow something moldy on the outside of it.

It makes a difference what kind of milk you have, sheep, goat, or cows, or? and whether it is pasteurized and homogenized, or raw. So, there are lots of factors and the mother cultures are part of the recipe that makes them what they are.


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## GotGarlic

blissful said:


> Well, splitting hairs....no one makes you ....anything. I take what you say in a very positive way, just as I'm sure you meant it. [emoji2] But if you want to do it, just get an old used fridge, and the thermostat units were super expensive a year or so ago and now you can get them for $28.50. And if you decide not to have a cheese cave anymore, you can use the thermostat portion to keep your crock pot at just about any temperature you like!
> https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00V4TJR00/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1


You are inspiring me to pursue a new aspect of foodiedom. Is that better?


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## blissful

GotGarlic said:


> You are inspiring me to pursue a new aspect of foodiedom. Is that better?


I inspired you, yes that is much better! Go for it. It is a blast that tastes good.


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## taxlady

blissful said:


> Essentially yes. There are other factors too. The two cultures most often used alone and with other cultures are mesophilic and thermophilic. Meso is for lower temperatures while thermo cultures can be heated higher. I was reading a manchego recipe which uses both!
> 
> Other factors:
> How long you stir at each stage.
> How big you cut the curds.
> The temperature you bring the curds up to.
> How long you rest the curds.
> If you wash the curds to heat them or to cool them.
> If you add salt to the cheese, as it controls how acidic it gets.
> If you mill the salt in or if you brine the cheese after pressing.
> How long and at what poundage you press the curds.
> How long and at what temperature and humidity you age the cheese.
> Whether you wash the rind to protect the cheese or if you wax it or if you grow something moldy on the outside of it.
> 
> It makes a difference what kind of milk you have, sheep, goat, or cows, or? and whether it is pasteurized and homogenized, or raw. So, there are lots of factors and the mother cultures are part of the recipe that makes them what they are.


Thanks for the info. That's really interesting.

D'oh! I knew about the mesophilic and thermophilic cultures. Are they the same ones as I use for quark and yogourt?


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## blissful

taxlady said:


> Thanks for the info. That's really interesting.
> 
> D'oh! I knew about the mesophilic and thermophilic cultures. Are they the same ones as I use for quark and yogourt?



Um, you'd have to read up on whether quark and yogurt have those same cultures, I'm not sure. I know for sure that my kefir has both of those cultures in it and I've used it to make cheddar curds and it turned out fantastic. I would guess, yes, but I am just learning this stuff!


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## taxlady

blissful said:


> Um, you'd have to read up on whether quark and yogurt have those same cultures, I'm not sure. I know for sure that my kefir has both of those cultures in it and I've used it to make cheddar curds and it turned out fantastic. I would guess, yes, but I am just learning this stuff!


I know that the quark uses a mesophilic culture and the yogourt uses a thermophilic culture. I guess I'm wondering if there is more than one of each. I would imagine there are and I guess I would have to look up their scientific names.


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## blissful

Thermophilic (DS) Culture - 5 Packets

If you start here on the vendor page you will see that thermo has: lactose, streptococcus thermophilus,  lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. Lactis, lactobacillus helveticus, sucrose

They also have yogurt starter and mesophilic cultures. There are other vendors too. I like this particular vendor.


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## taxlady

Thanks blissful


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## blissful

Since I last posted, I made Jarlsberg (type of swiss), my second Gruyere2, and today I'm half way through a White Cheddar3 (3 for 3rd cheddar). 
I will wax 2 cheeses today.
We may move on to some blue cheese because I like to have a little blue cheese around for blue cheese dressing for salad, and blue cheese enhances cheddar cheese/cream cheese in flavor when mixing cheeses.
I still need to buy an 8 qt collander and some kind of seal a meal or food saver device and bags.


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## Dawgluver

Whoa, bliss, you are a cheese making fool!  Very impressive!  

When is the tasting party?  I'll bring wine.


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## taxlady

Dawgluver said:


> Whoa, bliss, you are a cheese making fool!  Very impressive!
> 
> When is the tasting party?  I'll bring wine.


ditto


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## blissful

I agree, I am a fool about cheese lately.

I finished the white cheddar3 and decided to make another white cheddar4 today, both for long aging. They will supposedly be better as time goes on, first at 3 months, then 6, then 9, then 12, then 24, then 36 months...sharper as time goes on. It's cow's milk so it doesn't fully get 'sharp' until some time passes. I'm a fan of long aged cheddars.

I changed my cheese washing schedule, of wiping down the cheeses in the cheese cave, drying them, and turning them, from every 3-4 days to every other day because I'm seeing more mold on the outside of the brine washed cheeses now than when I first started. It takes a little less than a half hour.

We don't have the variety of cheeses for a wine and cheese tasting party just yet but in a few months we should be able to do that. You guys are on my guest list. 

Yesterday the Butterkase (a german and austrian cheese) aged out at about 5 weeks since I made it. So we busted it open. We took off the wax and cut the almost 5 lb wheel into quarters. It was white and creamy, soft, it had lovely small hole development (like a havarti, not big holes like some swiss types). The flavor was mild and the texture at room temperature was so soft that thin slices would crush, thicker slices were beautiful. This would melt very well. Husband and son were very happy with it. I was ecstatic. Knowing that it only took 5 weeks to develop into this great cheese that we all really like, I'd make it again.

(I'd recommend making this cheese as a first cheese, it is straight forward following the recipe, easier and less time consuming than cheddar curds or mozzarella. The only drawback is waiting the 5 weeks to maturity.)

We ordered a food saver vacuum sealer, finally, and that will help for storing cheese when they've aged out, so they don't mold. Hopefully that will be here Tuesday.


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## bethzaring

I really miss cheese making.  I only made soft cheeses; mozzarella, whole milk ricotta and chevre.  I made my own cultures, using freshly made buttermilk for the mesophilic culture and freshly made yogurt for the thermophilic cultures.


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## blissful

bethzaring said:


> I really miss cheese making.  I only made soft cheeses; mozzarella, whole milk ricotta and chevre.  I made my own cultures, using freshly made buttermilk for the mesophilic culture and freshly made yogurt for the thermophilic cultures.



Why not get back to it? Since it takes a number of hours or a whole day, I think it would be tough to do working full time and trying to fit in cheese making. I don't have unlimited time. As soon as work starts for me, I'll be limited to week-ends so I'm hoping to have some in stock for a while. I love the idea of using buttermilk and yogurt for the cultures.


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## bethzaring

blissful said:


> Why not get back to it? Since it takes a number of hours or a whole day, I think it would be tough to do working full time and trying to fit in cheese making. I don't have unlimited time. As soon as work starts for me, I'll be limited to week-ends so I'm hoping to have some in stock for a while. I love the idea of using buttermilk and yogurt for the cultures.



I used to make cheese from the milk from my personal herd of dairy goats.  I no longer have those goats.  My recipes were based on goats' milk. I now purchase goats' milk for $7. a quart.  Not likely to spend $56 for a 2 gallon batch of mozzarella!


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## blissful

Yeah Beth, that is a little exorbitant! I couldn't do it. That's way out of budget amounts!


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## blissful

Since the white cheddars..
I made:
Brick
Emmentaler2
Guinness Infused Cheese
Jarlsberg2 w/mace
Parmesan3
and I took 2 days off to catch up on everything else

Yesterday I started a batch and DH had car trouble which means I get to drive all over heck to pick him up, but my car wouldn't start, needed a new battery.....I thought, oh gee I can't let this milk sit for 3 hours at 80 degrees because the natural bacteria might cause long term aging issues and I didn't want to throw out the 4 gallons milk. Start, stop, start, stop, I can't make cheese with my schedule interrupted, changed, changed, changed. So by late afternoon I decided to be flexible and instead of an aged cheese, I'd make mozzarella and freeze it in 8 oz containers, so I did. DH even offered to wash up the kitchen afterwards and I let him, I was worn out from all the crisis stuff w/the cars. I think I'm finally getting good at the mozzarella making.

Merlot infused cheese is today. Wash down the cheeses in the cheese cave, wax 2 cheeses.

I finally did get a FoodSaver sealing device and sealed up the havarti, butterkase, brick, and caerphilly cheeses, for longer term storage in the freezer and refrigerator. I bought an off brand roll of sealing material, and I cut bags from it, and used it. It is sturdy and worked very well. It is called FoodVacBags and it is good for sous vide as well.

I still need to find an 8 quart colander to fit across the 14 inch sink so I can deal with the stilton cheese. The colander bowl needs to be 13-14 inches and the handles need to span to about 16 inches. The curd doesn't get cut and is drained for a long time in the colander before putting it in the mold(s).

Off I go to boil water and equipment....for a long day.


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## taxlady

Bliss, I love hearing about your cheese making. Sorry to hear about the car headaches.


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## blissful

Taxlady, thank you for caring. Caring is under-rated.  Sometimes I'm all alone with my cheese and I wonder if I'm boring people to death with my kitchen/lab experiment cooking.

Cars will be fixed tomorrow, it's gonna cost an arm and a leg, again. 

I'm now in the part of the process to get 4 gallons of milk to 88 degrees F from about 40 degrees F. It is in a roaster and at 450 degrees for 20 to 22 minutes, then I turn down the roaster to under 250 and raise the temperature of the milk slowly to exactly 88. 

I'm going to use buttermilk for the culture in this recipe. Merlot infused cheese, is quite cool looking but I have no idea about how it might taste. It will appear blotchy, with the inside of the curd being white, the outside being red, then it is pressed hard together and aged.

One of the interesting things going on in the kitchen, is that the emmentaler is now being kept at room temperature for around 2 weeks while it develops eyes, so it bloats on the top and sides. Instead of being shaped like a drum, it will have curves.   I wash it every other day and turn it upside down daily so that the eyes will be round. Once it really gets going, after a bit of bloat, it needs to be refrigerated to stop the eye formation or it might blow out the side or top. Then it ages for many weeks in the cheese cave. 

I never knew it could be this easy to make cheese--I mean it takes all day and there is a lot of equipment to invent or find, but then, it just takes a little work to do it. I love doing most of it.


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## Dawgluver

Bliss, I love hearing your cheese stories.  Taxy and I are still bringing wine to the tasting.


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## blissful

Thanks Dawg! I'm counting on that wine!  Wine shows you care! 

I was having SO much blue/white mold growing on my rind ripened cheeses for the past few weeks. It's normal but it is a lot to clean 2 times a week. Now I'm cleaning them every other day. I finally moved the pail with the water in it into the vegetable drawer, partially covered it and lowered the relative humidity into the low 80's instead of the 90's, and the cheese isn't as tough to clean up, wash them in brine. I treat any creases with white vinegar and I use a hand brush to brush off the mold with the brine. Then I dry them good. God Forbid anything happens to me, what would my DS and DH do if they let this cheese cave go without maintaining it? Brain mold city.

It's been written in some cheese journals that the mold is at its worst in the beginning of ripening/aging, and then it isn't as bad as time goes on. I'm finding that to be true. I'm pretty sure my brain cheese was an example of that. And the brain cheese, havarti, did turn out edible, it is quite delicious. 

Back to today's cheese. Time to cut the curd, 3/4th inch cuts this time. Then it heals for 5 minutes, then I rest and stir it for 30 minutes.


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## GotGarlic

I'm bringing wine, too, plus homemade crackers! 

Bliss, are you keeping detailed records on your cheese-making? How do you keep track of what needs washing or turning, etc., and when? 

Such a cool project. I have a book; I really need to give it a go again. I've made fresh mozzarella, but that's it.


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## blissful

GotGarlic, thank you for caring too!

Yes the cheese journal started with a list of cheeses I made each day, a date and a cheese type. Then that part changed when I needed to know when it would be good to eat, so the last column is when it is done aging. Then I needed to know when to wax or move it for eye formation, so that became the third column.

The recipe section, I thought the recipe would be the same each time but it is not, and when it is done aging, I might want to change it. Then the dry cultures were made into mother cultures, so instead of 1/4 tsp of dry culture, it went to 1/4 cup of mother culture. Then the rennet went from double rennet to triple rennet, so 1/4th tsp of rennet to 1/3 tsp of triple rennet.
Each recipe is different for one reason or another. Sometimes it says to press for 8 hours but I sleep until 12 hours, so that is made note of in that recipe, that is why each cheese has a name and number. Swiss3 or parmesan2. Then I can check what I did and repeat it or not repeat it as needed.

Then I realized I was losing control of when to wax and move for eye formation (mostly swiss cheese issues), so I put a weekly calendar page in for each week. I put the date of waxing or moving (to room temp or back to the cave). 

So the journal is becoming a book.
1st section: date/cheese type/move or wax/eat
2nd section: calendar detailing when to do something wax or move.
3rd section: recipe for that particular cheese with anything that I did different, wrong temperature, or longer or shorter pressing, or stirred too long (some kind of interruption)

Thanks for the offer of wine and crackers!


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## blissful

Sage Derby Cheese, made with sage and spinach (for color), in a type of cheese that uses cheddaring. Air drying then wax and put in the cheese cave. Aging a month to 6 months.


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## Dawgluver

This sounds interesting, bliss.  Let us know how you like it.


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## blissful

I'm worried about the sage derby because there is vegetable matter (sage and spinach) in it and even though it still looks good drying, I'm thinking the vegetable matter will rot or mold. I'll find out in some months.

In the meantime.....
I made another parmesan4.
I decided to wax all the parmesans and the romanos, so I'm melting purple wax and then those will stay aging anywhere from 8 to 24 months. I started waxing cheeses with clear/white wax, not thrilling. Then I waxed all the cheddars and colbys and some of the swisses with a red wax, that worked out great.
Today I made the first blue cheese, only 2 gallons of milk, two cultures penicillium roquefortii and flora danica (meso type). It only takes 30-40 days to age, so I'll know how good it is or is not soon enough. I do love blue cheeses.


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## Dawgluver

Yeah, I wondered how the spinach would hold up.

There are a few of us here who love purple.  A nice choice for wax color!


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## blissful

Oh yeah, thank you for reminding me. I'll take pictures of the purple waxed cheeses and the red waxed cheeses, for the purple loving people.


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## Dawgluver

And then you can send them to us, and we will age them for you!  Or wear them!  Or test them!


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## blissful

Dawgluver said:


> And then you can send them to us, and we will age them for you!  Or wear them!  Or test them!


 I knew I could count on ya'll.


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## blissful

The romano1 in purple.






Inside the cheese cave.






The white one on the top right is colby. The red ones are cheddar, colby, and the bulging one is emmentaler--round, the red square ones are the guiness infused and merlot infused cheeses. The Parmesans and Romanos are purple. Happy purple to you.

Dawg, I smelled the sage derby and looked it over, it still looks good and smells nice, so I'm worrying less. I may wax it tomorrow or the next day.


----------



## Dawgluver

Wow, bliss, they look beautiful!  You must be a proud parent!


----------



## blissful

Dawgluver said:


> Wow, bliss, they look beautiful!  You must be a proud parent!



Yes, and I go downstairs and talk to them once a day.  They are so well behaved for such young'uns. That one colby that is crooked, and waxed in clear or white wax, is the first one that will be cut open, end of May, he's the most unruly one.


----------



## Dawgluver

Please tell them hello from me!


----------



## Chief Longwind Of The North

There is a cheese available throughout Michigan that comes from a town named Pinconing.  The cheese is called Pinconing, and comes in medium, sharp, and extra sharp.  The extra sharp is aged just as you would cheddar, and has all the flavor and texture of a 5  to 7 year aged cheddar, even the mineral crystals.

Pinconing cheese is an aged Colby style cheese that was first made in Pinoning Michigan.  It is a rich, semi-soft cheese that at room temperature will saturate you pallate with delight.  The extra sharp is crubly though, and has to be sliced with a sharp knife, or cheese knife, as a wire cutter simply causes the cheese slice to disintegrate.

It would serve you well to learn how to make this cheese as it is wonderful, like that good butterkase, or an aged cheddar.

I'm not telling you what to do, but rather, if you can make it, it's a very good cheese.

Seeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


----------



## Chief Longwind Of The North

blissful said:


> The romano1 in purple.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Inside the cheese cave.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The white one on the top right is colby. The red ones are cheddar, colby, and the bulging one is emmentaler--round, the red square ones are the guiness infused and merlot infused cheeses. The Parmesans and Romanos are purple. Happy purple to you.
> 
> Dawg, I smelled the sage derby and looked it over, it still looks good and smells nice, so I'm worrying less. I may wax it tomorrow or the next day.



You are a true rock, I mean, cheese-star!  How come my wife didn't get that _I love Making cheese bug?_  We could have made it a hobby that we both could have loved.  Heavy sigh.  You have a very fortunate partner.  I hope you are appreciated.

Seeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


----------



## Just Cooking

blissful said:


> The romano1 in purple.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Inside the cheese cave.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The white one on the top right is colby. The red ones are cheddar, colby, and the bulging one is emmentaler--round, the red square ones are the guiness infused and merlot infused cheeses. The Parmesans and Romanos are purple. Happy purple to you.
> 
> Dawg, I smelled the sage derby and looked it over, it still looks good and smells nice, so I'm worrying less. I may wax it tomorrow or the next day.



Those are spectacular...  

Ross


----------



## blissful

CLOTN, thanks for the compliment. If I can make cheese anyone can. DH drilled holes in containers to use as molds and had followers cut to fit. Then he built a press ($40 in materials) because the presses out there are great but expensive. The cheese cave is just a working used refrigerator or freezer that has an external thermostat ($28). Once you have those things, well, most of the other stuff is less expensive--cheese cloth, milk, cultures, rennet, CACL2, thermometer (40 degrees F to 140 degrees F), pots and pans and utensils, wax. I've got a supportive partner! 

There are some cheeses that are not in the cheese cave. Once something has matured it needs to be stored in the refrigerator or freezer. I bought a vacuum sealer for that. If you like a cheese when it is matured, usually, if you store it back in the cheese cave it will continue to age. That can be good and it can also over ripen sometimes giving off an ammonia odor or over softening. The ammonia odor may dissipate after an hour or so and it may still be eaten.

The three cheeses you don't see in the cheese cave are Butterkase, Havarti, and Caerphilly, and they take between 4 and 6 weeks to mature.

There are also 6 cheeses not in the cheese cave and are at room temperature, 3 waiting to be waxed and drying, a blue cheese just beginning to develop, and 2 swiss cheeses that are in the process of developing eyes--expanding.

I don't have much wisdom about the pinconning cheese but I can say that the colby and cheddar recipes I use, use the same ingredients for those cheeses. DH likes the colby while I prefer the cheddar. The way the two cheese are different is, colby curds are washed with hot water, lowering the acid level, while the cheddar is not and after draining the cheddar goes through a cheddaring process (layering and turning to develop the acid). I think of them as sibling cheeses that use the same cultures and coloring. Colby will be more pliable and Cheddar more likely to crumble when you slice it, and if you age anything long enough it will have more sharp flavor and it will be drier and crumblier. I might have to make some colby for long aging and see how that turns out! 

Cheddar cheese curds don't need a cheese cave, a mold (use a colander), a special culture (use kefir or cultured buttermilk) or a press. After you wing it a few times, you'll be hooked and then it's just a matter of getting equipment together for aged cheeses. You'll need liquid fresh rennet or you can find rennet tablets. Calcium Cloride CaCl2 can be purchased in liquid or powder. You can make them white or colored orange. I can give out my recipes here and say whether they were successful or not for me, if anyone wants to try anything. If I can do it you can too.


----------



## blissful

Just Cooking, thank you.


----------



## blissful

Made Gouda1.
Smoke flavored Gouda2.
Mottled Colby3 today. 

The blue cheese is getting BLUE, who'd of thought of that?!?


----------



## Chief Longwind Of The North

blissful said:


> Made Gouda1.
> Smoke flavored Gouda2.
> Mottled Colby3 today.
> 
> The blue cheese is getting BLUE, who'd of thought of that?!?



Since you make Ghouda, let me tell you about a cheese I just tried - Ghouda aged 1000 days.  The cheese is sublime.  It has a full-bodied mature flavor, similar in flavor and texture to a 3 year aged small farm cheddar, but just different enough to tell it's not cheddar.  It's really had to describe the difference in flavor, bit there is a difference.  I'm a fan.

Just sharing.

Seeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


----------



## Chief Longwind Of The North

And if anybody else wants to find this delectable cheese, the brand name is Landana.  I purchased it at Meyers in Petoskey Michigan

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


----------



## blissful

Chief Longwind Of The North said:


> Since you make Ghouda, let me tell you about a cheese I just tried - Ghouda aged 1000 days.  The cheese is sublime.  It has a full-bodied mature flavor, similar in flavor and texture to a 3 year aged small farm cheddar, but just different enough to tell it's not cheddar.  It's really had to describe the difference in flavor, bit there is a difference.  I'm a fan.
> 
> Just sharing.
> 
> Seeeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North



Chief, this is the hardest part of cheese making, aging it. Imagine if you made some cheese for the first time or the tenth time, in 2014. You had no idea if you were actually doing it very well or not. You wanted to wait until the cheese was 1000 days old, so you did. Even if you are successful you have no gratification for those 1000 days and the day you cut it open you might find a number of possible things. You might see the cheese expand when it's not supposed to, leading you to realize your milk was sub par or contaminated. You might find mold under the wax and mold has a tendency of changing the flavor of the cheese and continuing to grow into the cheese. You might find that the acid continued to grow unchecked (not enough salt to retard it) and you have acid whey that eats away at the cheese and instead of a soft or hard cheese, you've got a flaky acid mess. It's not like cooking/baking, at least with regular cooking/baking, you get some immediate gratification.

That gouda, sounds heavenly! So far, you've brought up the aged colby and now the aged gouda, that is gouda stuff to know! Thank you for your comments and sharing! 

Okay, that deserves more pictures....so....
This is the beginning of blue cheese, just a 2 gallon batch, so around 2 lbs, holes poked in the top bottom and sides to grow the mold, it gets turned daily for the first week, ages for 30-40 days to full maturity. If I had known blue cheese was so short aged and easy to make, I wouldn't have spent money on buying it at its exorbitant prices.






This picture shows an emmentaler on the top, and two jarlsbergs a week apart, this is after being in the cheese cave and waxed, then it sits at room temperature while it expands for hole formation. The back one is expanding and the front one is just beginning to expand. Then they get waxed again and put back in the cheese cave, or shredded and frozen, or just foodSaver and frozen, for FONDUE, yum yum yum. I usually make fondue with 3 types of swiss cheese and easily spend $75 a year buying these for near Christmas. What will it be like to never buy cheese? This is not my mother's kitchen.


----------



## Chief Longwind Of The North

blissful said:


> Chief, this is the hardest part of cheese making, aging it. Imagine if you made some cheese for the first time or the tenth time, in 2014. You had no idea if you were actually doing it very well or not. You wanted to wait until the cheese was 1000 days old, so you did. Even if you are successful you have no gratification for those 1000 days and the day you cut it open you might find a number of possible things. You might see the cheese expand when it's not supposed to, leading you to realize your milk was sub par or contaminated. You might find mold under the wax and mold has a tendency of changing the flavor of the cheese and continuing to grow into the cheese. You might find that the acid continued to grow unchecked (not enough salt to retard it) and you have acid whey that eats away at the cheese and instead of a soft or hard cheese, you've got a flaky acid mess. It's not like cooking/baking, at least with regular cooking/baking, you get some immediate gratification.



Both my exuberance and ignorance show here.  Yes, I should have known that there are critical parts of the recipe that would affect the final stages of an aged cheese, and why some 5 year cheeses as far superior to others.  You know far more about cheese making than I do.  I have always been that guy who jumps in with both feet, often before I have enough knowledge about what I'm jumping into.  Sometimes you find a beautiful swimming hole, and sometimes you find a lot of shallow rocks.  Both ways, you learn something.  But it's far better to test the waters, and ask trusted resources so that you can avoid jumping into the rocks.

Your cheeses sound delightful, and I still am envious.  But I still have my own successful experiments as well.  They just don't need to be aged.

Keep us updated.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


----------



## Sagittarius

Blissful,  

Extraordinarily  amazing labors. 

Cheese has always been an integral part of the Mediterranean legacy, henceforth, 
during the Christmas Season, time permitting, I have made homemade Ricotta.

Thank you for posting.


----------



## blissful

I made another mottled colby4, and it had too much whey left in it and I struggled with pressing it for a long time. Then once I took the behemoth out of the mold/press, it was at least 1/3 bigger than it should have been. It drained on a mat and there was whey everywhere the next morning and I finally moved it to a mat on a towel. It's finally looking almost normal and drying a bit but it developed a crack in the side which I suppose I'll wax over once it is dry enough. Stuff happens and I need to roll with it.

I made cheddar5 today and probably cheddar6 tomorrow. The goudas are waxed and in the cheese cave and I plan to wax the gruyeres next.


----------



## blissful

Why with even the same or similar ingredients, do I end up with a different cheese?
This is the Gavin Webber video on why, very new and timely. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8pQppXTvIA&t=625s


----------



## taxlady

Neato blissful. Is that how you learned to make cheese, by watching his videos?


----------



## blissful

taxlady said:


> Neato blissful. Is that how you learned to make cheese, by watching his videos?


Yes.


----------



## buckytom

Bliss, you should move to Nazareth, Pennsylvania and open a cheese shop.

You could call it Cheeses of Nazareth...


----------



## blissful

Bucky, I'm thinking of staying here and calling them the Cheese's of Mom, because I'm a mom that has no idea what she is doing except these good tasting cheese keep showing up. We ate the colby4, that was much too wet, and without aging, it is delicious. We couldn't believe it. It was our best cheese so far.

Today I made a 7 layer salad and I'm making 7 qts of baked beans, I put off the cheddar6 until tomorrow. My blue cheese looks deep dark blue. I really enjoy the cheese making, it might take all day but it will give us lots of good nutrition and taste great.


----------



## buckytom

I am so envious, really. I looooove cheese. 

Best of luck with your cheesey adventure.


----------



## blissful

That's okay, you can be my cheesy friend, It's fun and I have cheesy friends.


----------



## blissful

Okay I made the cheddar 5 but not the cheddar6 yet, Cheddar 5 is rock solid, hard pressed and for long aging. I'm making the parmesan5 today, because we have 2% milk today. This also needs to be rock solid, hard pressed, little moisture for long aging. 

While I'm doing this I'm making a texas super spicy not terribly hot, chili. I have a colby and a cheddar to wax today. I took the red wax off the jarlsbergs that were exploding and cleaned the wax with soap and water, then dried them, then put that wax back in the dedicated red wax pan, to wax the next cheese. I vacpacked the emmentaler2 and the two jarlsbergs, all of them exploding a bit with hole development, after I washed all the room temperature cheeses in an 18% brine solution. I made 2 more quarts of brine solution, to have on hand for brining and washing the cheeses. (two qts of boiling water, 1 t calcium chloride, 2 T of vinegar and 1 lb of non-iodized salt) The three swisses went into the freezer portion of the cheese cave, only about 54 degrees F, just a hair cooler than the refrigerator portion of the cheese cave. I still need another shelf in the refrigerator portion and DH is working on it (thinking on it).

By the end of the day, all the cheeses except today's parmesan will be either vacpacked, waxed, in the cheese cave or vacpacked in the refrigerator and freezer for eating, that will be a relief. Having 5 or 6 cheeses 'in process' in the kitchen is kind of distracting from cooking and gardening.


----------



## blissful

Since the last time, I made a parmesan6 and parmesan7. Today, I made a 2 gallon batch of cottage cheese. Wow that cottage cheese is heavenly. I like cottage cheese but this stuff was heavenly.
I'm putting my cheese making stuff in boxes and finding a place to keep it clean while I'm not using it. 
I'll be back when I do a taste testing in the coming months. I hope to see you all joining in when you have time, and milk.


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## blissful

This is the quarter of the blue cheese we are now eating, once I peeled back the outer mold. It is mild and delicious. The rest is vac packed and in the cheese cave aging.






This is the cheddar2 cut in half. The wax was leaking but not much, so I wanted to have a good look at it and make sure no mold was growing, it wasn't. So nice to see. It still has a month (or a year) to age. The little I tasted was a very mild cheddar, nice.






This is jarlsberg1 and I was thrilled with the texture and its mild taste. Those two halves weigh about 4 lbs. We took 1/4 of it and we are eating it and the rest repackaged and put back in the cheese cave.






There's a slice, isn't that nice.


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## Dawgluver

Pretty cheeses, bliss!


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## bethzaring

Beautiful cheeses!!


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## Just Cooking

Ditto and ditto...   

Ross


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## taxlady

Looking good blissful. Now I'm hungry for cheese.


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## blissful

I miss making cheese most days but I think we have enough for most of a year now. Thank you for the kind words, thank you, thank you thank you. 

I finally got up the nerve to write to this youtube cheese making guy in australia, Gavin Webber, sent pictures and descriptions of the cheeses, as he has been the inspiration for something I've always wanted to do, but never had the nerve to do. He wrote me back, a kind kind reply, what a great inspiration. He's an excellent teacher.


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## mcrx

Oh Man! Awesome!
So, where might one find this stuff in the States? I was just over watching Gavin soy yogurt recipe. Cool! Except I am not sure the sweetened yogurt will work with my savoring. :/ but it would  still be great and possibly  save significant money on the store bought  soy yogurts!


----------



## blissful

mcrx said:


> Oh Man! Awesome!
> So, where might one find this stuff in the States? I was just over watching Gavin soy yogurt recipe. Cool! Except I am not sure the sweetened yogurt will work with my savoring. :/ but it would  still be great and possibly  save significant money on the store bought  soy yogurts!



There are a half dozen or more non dairy yogurt cultures available on Amazon. Another place I buy from is the New England Cheese Making Supply Company. Good Luck!!


----------



## blissful

Chief Longwind Of The North said:


> There is a cheese available throughout Michigan that comes from a town named Pinconing.  The cheese is called Pinconing, and comes in medium, sharp, and extra sharp.  The extra sharp is aged just as you would cheddar, and has all the flavor and texture of a 5  to 7 year aged cheddar, even the mineral crystals.
> 
> Pinconing cheese is an aged Colby style cheese that was first made in Pinoning Michigan.  It is a rich, semi-soft cheese that at room temperature will saturate you pallate with delight.  The extra sharp is crubly though, and has to be sliced with a sharp knife, or cheese knife, as a wire cutter simply causes the cheese slice to disintegrate.



Three days ago, the cheese man in australia put out his video Ask The Cheese Man #19, at about 25 minutes (of one hour), he is asked, what is pinconing cheese and he says it is a colby that is aged for a longer time. I thought that was neat that he, like you, mentioned it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsmS92jxUvY

Well, I'm into the cheese tasting part of my cheesy adventure now. 

Here is the guinness infused cheese. It turned out quite good. It has that slightly bitter beer taste which the salt balances, the texture is very solid, it was pressed quite hard at 50lbs, and it is drier but not crumbly. A slice holds together quite well. If I make it again, I'll boil down the guinness to a syrup so the curds will still be beige in the middle but the syrup will be more black coloring the outsides of the curds. The way mine turned out it was all the same beige and not as distinctive as I had hoped. The holes are mechanical, created when the curds are pressed.







We un-waxed this next cheese, 2 months old, Gouda1, last night. Delicious! Creamy with a tangy taste at the end, stayed in nice slices once refrigerated, had some cracks horizontally probably from gas produced. We are thrilled with this one, a good snacking cheese that won't last long around here. I'll be making some again right away because we just love it.


----------



## taxlady

Thank you for the update.


----------



## skilletlicker

I am mightily impressed. Not enough to follow you, but enough to wish a neighbor would so we could barter.


----------



## blissful

skilletlicker said:


> I am mightily impressed. Not enough to follow you, but enough to wish a neighbor would so we could barter.


I'm a fan of bartering too. Wish we were neighbors!


----------



## blissful

Since my last check in here...(my last confession, father, was 2 weeks ago...)

I made:
gouda3
gouda4
manchego1
manchego2 (that smells like a smelly parmesan, which I like)
orange cheddar curds
white cheddar curds
Another set of meso and thermo mother cultures enough for 32 batches of cheese.

Tomorrow I'm making some cheddar curds. 

I caught up with a girlfriend from college days, way back when, and we have been emailing. She's in California, I told her a little about the cheese thing, and sent pictures. She says, "I'm on my way and I need to taste each one."

Does anyone know when a good time of year, is good for mailing cheese? With 80 to 100 degree F temperatures, I'm sure the cheese would be unhappy at those temperatures. Anyone have ideas?


----------



## blissful

Starting something new. There are the basic thermo and meso bacteria cultures, the propionic shermanii (for holes in swiss types), the blue cheese culture, flora danica (a type of meso culture for that aromatic buttery smell), and now finally I bought some b. linens type. The B. linens creates an orange or red mold that is found in tilsit, muenster, limberger and other cheeses that have that smelly socks type smell. (as if we don't have enough culture or stink!?!)

I'm making some tilsit, a washed rind cheese. After it is made pressed (?) and brined, it is washed with a salt solution for its life. This is a cheese that is not actually pressed with any weight, it compacts under its own weight. Washing it every other day to 2 times per week, this can be aged for 2 months to 6 months and a red/orange mold will color the outside rind. I'm looking forward to eating this cheese.


----------



## bossman150

Have you tried making cottage cheese?  It seems like purchased cottage cheese is such a crap shoot.  No matter what brand you buy you get a good container about 1 in 8-10 tries.  When you get a good one it is so good, just perfect distinct individual curds, whether large or small, just enough moisture and good slightly salty taste.  Most of them you get are mush with no distinct curds and almost paste like and tasteless.  Sometimes you can rescue them by adding a bit of milk but I end up throwing so much of it away.

I have had homemade a few times at a restaurant and that is always good.  I have heard its easy to make but have never been brave enough to try.


----------



## Dawgluver

You're right about store-bought cottage cheese, bossman.  Most of what I can get around here is consistently inconsistent, though a local brand has a lesser chance of being swill, usually 1 time out of three.  The other brands are indeed a crapshoot.  The Amana Colonies have home-made, but it's a bit of a drive to get there.


----------



## blissful

I've only made the cottage cheese one time and it was delicious. I could see a big difference between the curds from the whole milk (less defined) in one pan and the 1% milk (much more defined) in another pan.

I used a recipe with a meso culture (culture 3 hours at 86 degrees F), a few drops of rennet, 1/4 t. calcium chloride/gallon. Cut the curds in 1/2 to 3/4 inch (and they shrink a lot when cooking and cooling). Then going from 86 degrees F and raising temperature over 60 to 90 minutes to 114 degrees F. (curds each form more of a skin on their outside giving them shape--think of a curd like a delicate water balloon, the balloon portion holding the shape and the inside being soft and creamy) Stirring very gently, very, the entire time. Then cooling by dunking in cold water and then in ice water. In the cooling time, if you are not very gentle, you will break up the curd.

Then I added salt and I add cream--but the cream is optional. Cottage cheese and all cheeses' curds are very fragile and any roughness in handling them does break them up, so I treat them like the most delicate things. I've ruined batches of mozzarella from rough handling. Just be patient and gentle.

There are also recipes for vinegar cottage cheese that I've never tried. Some recipes take 3 hours and some go overnight. If you google making cottage cheese, take a look at the curd to see if it turns out how you want it, with individual curds or mashed. I'm a fan of individual curds too.

I found that the cottage cheese was very refreshing and delicious. The skim/1% milk is a better milk to use (and just add the cream in later) because the curds are well defined and the remaining whey is clear. Using whole milk doesn't give me well defined curds and the resulting whey is milky (not clear). 

This homemade cottage cheese only lasted about a week, first some whey came out (watery whey), and then it started to spoil, so I would only make 1 gallon batches at a time.

I hope you give it a try, no matter which recipe you follow, and try to get it to the consistency and richness that you like. Good luck.


----------



## blissful

I made the tilsit on 7-1 and then french muenster on 7-3 both use the smelly type bacteria b. linens. I wash these cheeses' rinds every 2-3 days in a salt brine, clean out their ripening boxes, put them back in the cheese cave. The rinds should turn to an orange/red color. The smell is like going to the cheese factory in mid-wisconsin where they make aged brick, a very distinctive odor. These will be edible in 6-10 weeks and we are really looking forward to them. Both recipes I used were the Gavin Webber recipes and methods. These would all be in the same family of using b.linens bacteria: tilsit, muenster, aged brick, Limburger.


----------



## Dawgluver

(Packs suitcase, heads to Blissful's house for cottage cheese)


----------



## blissful

Dawg! ha ha, I wish I had some in the house right now! I love cottage cheese in a bowl, dipped up with lay's potato chips, or spread on some hot buttered toast-the toast needs to be hot and the cottage cheese needs to be cold. A stuffed tomato with cottage cheese and french dressing on the top. 
I haven't made cream cheese yet (because we seem to stockpile it) and that would be just as much of a pleasure to me as the cottage cheese.


----------



## bossman150

blissful said:


> I've only made the cottage cheese one time and it was delicious. I could see a big difference between the curds from the whole milk (less defined) in one pan and the 1% milk (much more defined) in another pan.
> 
> I used a recipe with a meso culture (culture 3 hours at 86 degrees F), a few drops of rennet, 1/4 t. calcium chloride/gallon. Cut the curds in 1/2 to 3/4 inch (and they shrink a lot when cooking and cooling). Then going from 86 degrees F and raising temperature over 60 to 90 minutes to 114 degrees F. (curds each form more of a skin on their outside giving them shape--think of a curd like a delicate water balloon, the balloon portion holding the shape and the inside being soft and creamy) Stirring very gently, very, the entire time. Then cooling by dunking in cold water and then in ice water. In the cooling time, if you are not very gentle, you will break up the curd.
> 
> Then I added salt and I add cream--but the cream is optional. Cottage cheese and all cheeses' curds are very fragile and any roughness in handling them does break them up, so I treat them like the most delicate things. I've ruined batches of mozzarella from rough handling. Just be patient and gentle.
> 
> There are also recipes for vinegar cottage cheese that I've never tried. Some recipes take 3 hours and some go overnight. If you google making cottage cheese, take a look at the curd to see if it turns out how you want it, with individual curds or mashed. I'm a fan of individual curds too.
> 
> I found that the cottage cheese was very refreshing and delicious. The skim/1% milk is a better milk to use (and just add the cream in later) because the curds are well defined and the remaining whey is clear. Using whole milk doesn't give me well defined curds and the resulting whey is milky (not clear).
> 
> This homemade cottage cheese only lasted about a week, first some whey came out (watery whey), and then it started to spoil, so I would only make 1 gallon batches at a time.
> 
> I hope you give it a try, no matter which recipe you follow, and try to get it to the consistency and richness that you like. Good luck.



Thank you!  I will try this sometime!


----------



## bossman150

Dawgluver said:


> You're right about store-bought cottage cheese, bossman.  Most of what I can get around here is consistently inconsistent, though a local brand has a lesser chance of being swill, usually 1 time out of three.  The other brands are indeed a crapshoot.  The Amana Colonies have home-made, but it's a bit of a drive to get there.



The Machine Shed in Des Moines serves homemade cottage cheese and it is out of this world.  I asked one time but I can't remember if they get it from the Amana Colonies or another local outfit.


----------



## blissful

Dawg, I think it might have been you that was also curious as I was about whether the sage/spinach derby would have rotted due to the spinach content.

Well, I did open it up and the spinach/sage was fine in it, so no rotting. The spinach/sage mixture went into the large curds with salt, so that may have helped. The only drawback is that the large cut curds were dry or on the dry side, so the spinach/sage stuff, doesn't make good glue, and the curds are prone to falling apart. The cheese smells wonderful, very cheddary with a hint of sage. Texture, not so great, falls apart easily. I can see shredding it and using it in casseroles but not on cheese platters.

The tilsit and muenster are still being washed and aging. 

These are the dog days of summer. I'd sure like some cooler weather for putzing in the kitchen. I've been canning, and it's hot and humid. Not my favorite thing.


----------



## blissful

Made cheddar white curds on 8/1.
Havarti2 on 8/2.
Havarti3 today 8/4.
Some of the recipes for harvarti have them air dry and waxed instead of washing the rinds for weeks. That's the direction I'm going today.


----------



## blissful

I ground up the sage derby and used it on top of garlic, butter, crusty loaf, delicious.
Butterkase2 and butterkase3, today manchego3, tomorrow manchego4. These are gonna be gifts for christmas and trades. I'm all in favor of trades.


----------



## blissful

Two wonderful smelly cheeses 4 and 2 weeks from being ready.

Aging muenster:





Aging Tilsit:


----------



## blissful

I made 2 more motz recipes, string cheese turned out really good. Rich, opaque, white, tender, delicious.
And 2 gruyeres, 3 and 4 with imprints.










The end of 2017 is approaching and I only have a batch of cheddar curds on the agenda before the end of the year. Happy Cheesing people.


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## taxlady

Neato!


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## blissful

The year is coming to an end.
1. Merry Christmas to everyone. Enjoy the miracles happening around you.

2. I made 64 batches of cheese, most were 4 lbs each. I made 24 kinds. It was quite an adventure. I was actually surprised there weren't people that liked to cook that also liked to make cheese. 

Here is one of the best cheese sauce recipes I learned. 2 T. sodium citrate, 1 and 1/2 cups chicken broth, 1.25 lbs of cheddar cheese. This is good for dipping, for nachos (add some peppers), and for mac and cheese. 

Our Christmas and holiday food will feature lots of cheese, I knew you'd guess that. Fondue with 3 kinds of swiss. Mac and Cheese. Artichoke Spinach dip with parmesan. Cheese and sausage trays. Shrimp alfredo and a salad with blue cheese! We spread this out over 10 days, as there is only so much cheese a person can enjoy!

Dh bought me my first cheese book, David Ashers, The Art of Natural Cheesemaking. I'm thrilled, so much information on natural cheese making, making your own cultures or rennets and some of the most basic cheeses. Anyone can do it.

If anyone takes up cheese making and wants to PM me, have at it. I'm sure I'll continue to enjoy it. I'll check back on the cheese area of the forum from time to time. 

Merry Cheesy Christmas to everyone.  Bliss


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## taxlady

Merry Xmas to you too Bliss. I have really enjoyed following along on your cheese making adventure. I hope you will keep us up to date.


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## blissful

*Jan-Feb 2018 cheese update*

January-February 2018 update:

In January I made provolone, feta cheese in brine, and bel paese. Each in 4 gallon batches ~ 4 lbs each. We tasted the provolone, very good. The feta can stay in the brine for up to 10 months, we had cucumber tomato olive feta salads last week--divine.

Plans for february-march: make enough parmesan to age for 2019 and 2020. 6-8 batches. Make at least 4 batches of cheddar to age. Try something new, so brie or camembert, so I need to make smaller molds holding about a lb each. Once either of those are aged and ready, they don't hold long so I'm trying to think of how to use them.

I make a cheese sauce with a lb of cheese about once a week now, for mac and cheese, or cheesy potatoes. I've used gouda and cream cheese and cheddar and some swiss. The mozzarella is frozen and gets taken out and grated about once a week on pizza, that's a lot of cheese each week.


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## taxlady

Wow! That sure is a lot of cheese consumption. Great that you are still enjoying it and interested in learning how to make more kinds of cheese.


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## Josie1945

Hi Bliss
  Do you like the cook book, that
DH bought you. Does it cover everything
That U are already doing? I was thinking 
about ordering it. I have been Following
 your journey. I am impressed.

Josie


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## blissful

TaxLady, we went through about 100 lbs of cheese, but much of it was gifts I sent to family and friends across the country, in October, and then we gifted some to the deer hunters, and the pot luck. We have a 32 year old living with us, and he eats a lot of cheese and does hard physical labor, so there is that too.

Josie, I'd recommend following the youtube videos of Gavin Webber for recipes and processes. I bought his first e-book for $15 and it covers many cheeses, worth getting. He is working on his second e-book now. There are things to see in the videos that you won't learn in a book, it shows you HOW to stir, and how to handle cheeses at each stage, washing cheese with brines. When I begin a cheese, I start with sterilizing all the equipment, and while that is boiling, I sit down with my cheese log with pages for recipes, and write down the ingredients, timing, temperatures, processes from the video. By the time the equipment is boiled, I have my recipe in front of me and I'm on my way.

The book by David Asher, is great, The Art of Natural Cheesemaking. It doesn't cover the cheeses I made last year. It covers more of a natural approach, like using kefir or buttermilk or yogurt for cultures instead of direct vat inoculation (buy), it covers how rennet is made or has been made in the past. It covers using raw milk, instead of pasteurized, and goat's milk, instead of just cow's milk, I make cheese with pasteurized homogenized cow's milk from the store. It covers blue cheese, feta, white mold cheeses, some alpine cheeses, whey cheese, and chevre. The things he covered are a more natural approach than buying each item from a cheesemaking vendor--rennet, cultures. Good pictures, lots and lots of informative reading. I haven't been able to read it all yet.

I think though, you could start making cheeses by taking either route to make cheese, both are excellent, just different approaches really.  I use mother cultures instead of DVI (google it if you want), and I make my recipes for 4 gallons in a roaster, instead of a double boiler, or the kitchen sink method. We made our own molds from buckets and a drill, we made our own press. Do what works for you.


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## blissful

February, I made a gentler kinder white cheddar (6) and I just finished making some mysost. Mysost is the whey boiled down, with added cream, then cooked until the color and texture of thick brown caramel. It is slightly sweet, a tiny bit tangy, smooth and meltable and is served with jams or jellies on crackers, rye bread with thin slices with fruit, or melted as a dip.


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## taxlady

blissful said:


> February, I made a gentler kinder white cheddar (6) and I just finished making some mysost. Mysost is the whey boiled down, with added cream, then cooked until the color and texture of thick brown caramel. It is slightly sweet, a tiny bit tangy, smooth and meltable and is served with jams or jellies on crackers, rye bread with thin slices with fruit, or melted as a dip.


Mysost is supposed to be similar to brunost. That stuff is like candy.  

Don't let it catch fire. Norway goat cheese fire closes tunnel - BBC News


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## blissful

> Mysost is supposed to be similar to brunost. That stuff is like candy.
> 
> Don't let it catch fire. Norway goat cheese fire closes tunnel - BBC News



Wow, who'd have thought that!


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## blissful

I made a cheddar white 7 and 8, then another mysost.
I posted this post on a friend's blog a recipe for making cheddar cheese curds with some pictures. I know there were a few people considering trying to make those, so I thought I'd share.
https://wordpress.com/post/hilltophomestead.wordpress.com/2036
Let us know if you make them.


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## taxlady

blissful said:


> I made a cheddar white 7 and 8, then another mysost.
> I posted this post on a friend's blog a recipe for making cheddar cheese curds with some pictures. I know there were a few people considering trying to make those, so I thought I'd share.
> https://wordpress.com/post/hilltophomestead.wordpress.com/2036
> Let us know if you make them.


That link doesn't work for me. The page doesn't load. I tried FireFox and Chrome.


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## blissful

taxlady said:


> That link doesn't work for me. The page doesn't load. I tried FireFox and Chrome.



My fault, so sorry. Thanks for trying it.
Let's try this.
https://hilltophomestead.wordpress.com/2018/03/04/cheddar-cheese-curds/


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## blissful

I finished up the 4 cheddars I wanted to make, the 9 parmesans, all of that is to age into 2019 and 2020.

I was falling behind on paperwork stuff, so I took a break from cheese. DH retired and we are figuring out how to enjoy that time. We took up hiking on days over 40 degrees F at a local hiking trail/forest. DH is metal detecting on most days. We spend a lot of time gardening and then canning in the fall.

I'm getting back into a little cheese now. Tomorrow I'm making some raclette for melting over potatoes and pickles, and that will be done aging in July. Then soon after, some camembert or brie and that will take time to age until June and July. Both of us are fans of mozzarella and provolone so I'll stock up making that soon after making the other two cheeses. They are necessities for pizza.


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## blissful

Update beginning of May.

My little camemberts failed after 2 weeks. I'm going to make another batch tomorrow.

The raclette is aging beautifully, growing a red/orange mold on the outside, washed every other day in a ripening box in the cheese cave. I can't wait for this melty cheese on potatoes and pickles.

I made some provolone and instead of dry aging it, I vacuum packed it and it slices beautifully. DH is happy with this batch.

We've gone out hiking/walking 21 times so far since spring sprung. Our garden transplants are being replanted in bigger containers and will go in the garden at the end of May. Our cheese cave, a refrigerator with temperature control and the cheeses that are stored in there are like going to the deli and most cheeses are better with age so no hurry to eat them.


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## taxlady

Thanks for the update. I'm sorry your Camembert didn't work out. Better luck with the next batch.


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## blissful

The raclette was starting to get creamy under the rind, 4 weeks early, so I cut it and packaged it. It is delicious. Today I'm making a potato/cheese casserole with the raclette.








And 9 pounds of white and orange cheese curds, much we gave away.








And the next batch of camemberts started to cover itself in white mold, WIN WIN! 









The provolone is really so good. We go through it on pizza and eaten out of hand. Dh wants another batch of provolone, so I'll make it tomorrow and stretch it into balls and brine it the next day.


We are so spoiled.


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## taxlady

Wow! I am so impressed with your cheese making. I had no idea someone could make all of those cheeses at home. I thought it would take years to get good at making one or two kinds.


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## blissful

taxlady said:


> Wow! I am so impressed with your cheese making. I had no idea someone could make all of those cheeses at home. I thought it would take years to get good at making one or two kinds.




I honestly didn't know what to expect either. Then I thought of our ancestors and how they survived or get any certificates of mastery. I don't have to make cheese to sell and I don't have to be a cheese master. I just want to learn enough to make cheese for my family. I so much appreciate your encouragement along the way. It's not rocket science at all. I have enjoyed the journey and I don't think I'll ever quit. What's not to like about making cheese. I get in the zone, enjoying the process, and then everyone is happy with the results. I love that. Just like cooking. A creative endeavor that everyone enjoys.


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## Cooking Goddess

*bliss*, I finally took the time to read your cheese diary. Wow, am I impressed! I know you say that "anyone could do it", but I'm soooooo sloooooow doing anything in the kitchen (or any other project, honestly), that the cheese would be aging in my hands! Or spoiling. I am thoroughly enjoying reading about the fruits of your labor, though. Thanks so much for this interesting thread. Now that I'm up to date, I can now keep up  A couple of comments about things I read along the way:

Homemade cottage cheese sounds divine. I like mine with apple butter, Spice House/Penzeys Greek seasoning, strawberries, cantaloupe, or (don't laugh) watermelon chunks. Even better if you have some blueberries to mix with the melon. Heck, I like it plain, too.

The Gruyere with the imprints is pretty. Almost too pretty to eat. Almost. 

I'm sure by now you figured out uses for the brie. If not, wrap in a pastry crust and bake. Yum!

It seems like no one has offered to bring bread, *bliss*. If I can come to the cheese tasting party, I'll bring loaves of fresh-baked bread. And wine. Never too much wine. 

Thanks again for the great read.


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## blissful

Cooking Goddess, bring bread and wine!


As you can see by the title to the thread, I thought cheese making would be a quick hobby and maybe I'd lose interest after a few months--but that didn't happen.


DH retired this spring, and so now when I'm making it he is a little more involved with the hands on stuff though he's always been supportive because, well, he likes to eat cheese.


Last night I was showing him how the curds for provolone, (one of his favorites) like rice, they are small and separate, then added to the hot water, started gluing themselves together and it was like magic stretching and pulling it into a ball to put them in brine overnight.


I make 'mother cultures' using the direct vat inoculation powders in skim milk, then portion them out into 8 oz freezer containers to use with each cheese batch. I'm doing that today.



We are pretty frugal here and this saves money. There is no way we'd go to the store and buy 30 kinds of cheese over the course of a year, it's just too expensive. With milk at $1.99/gallon, the 4 lbs of cheese in each batch costs about $9 and you can't buy cheese for that.


I could have posted a different post each time I made a different cheese, but, there isn't much interest in making cheese here and I think people are afraid to make it. It also takes a full afternoon to make a batch and most people don't have a free afternoon or want to invest in all the equipment for it.


The good news? No one will starve here if we have bread and cheese.


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## GotGarlic

I'll bring fresh-baked bread and wine, too!

Bliss, even though the rest of us aren't making cheese, many of us are interested in following your cheese-making adventures [emoji2] I'd love to hear more about them.

I'm still interested in making fresh mozzarella. My problem is that I fell and sprained my wrist pretty badly a few months ago. It's taking its sweet time healing  I'm hoping I'll be up to twisting and pulling it by the time we have fresh tomatoes.


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## blissful

GotGarlic, I hope your wrist heals well.


Mozzarella, and provolone, both are pulled cheeses. Most people think they are easy but they are more intermediate to difficult. An easy cheese is made into curd, then pressed, what could go wrong? Not much. That describes cheddar, parmesan and romano.



Mozzarella can go wrong in many ways because the ph of the cheese needs to be 'just right' in order to pull it and stretch it. Provolone is also this kind of cheese but it has an extra culture, lipase, but the method is the same.


There are two methods for mozzarella. The 'quick' and the 'traditional'.


The quick method uses citric acid to lower the ph, and it works and produces a mozzarella that will flatten and not hold it's shape over a day or two. It's not bad, it's kind of easy, but if measurements are off, it's off and it won't work. The taste isn't the same as traditionally made mozzarella. (it's like the difference between fermented pickles and vinegar/salt pickles, they are both pickles) Some people like it though, so you might want to try it. I've done it and it's not bad.



In the traditional method, (like the provolone), the culture is added and as the culture grows in the milk, it lowers the ph. It takes a long time, from the time you add the culture, rennet it, cut it, drain it, until the ph is low enough and if it goes lower, then you are out of luck with that as well. Maintaining, buying, calibrating a ph meter is another issue that takes time and money to deal with--I have one, it's a pain. So I make the mozz or the provolone on one day, let the curds sit at room temperature for 24 hours, then stretch it and make it into balls in boiling water, the next day, it seems to work for me. That's what I did last night, at 7 pm, with DH, in 90 degree F weather, with double insulated gloves, pulling and stretching cheese, because I like to sweat. I like the traditional method better for the cheese to hold it's shape and the taste.


When you make it, please share how it went for you. The average american eats 33 lbs of cheese per year, mostly driven by pizza, so mozzarella is the most used cheese in our country. That is enough reason to make it.


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## GotGarlic

Thanks for the additional info, bliss. I've been making the quick pizza on tortillas for lunch quite a bit lately, so I'm using a lot of mozzarella cheese  I'm not sure I can find milk for $1.99/gallon but it would be fun to try it anyway. I'll let you know how it goes.


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## blissful

The second batch of camemberts seemed to have worked out. I wrapped them all in parchment paper 2 nights ago. I couldn't wait to try them, so I cut a wedge out for myself tonight. It was good. I made notes on my recipe to brine for 2 hours and not 3 hours because I'd like it just a little less salty. 



We are spoiled!


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## taxlady

I am so impressed.


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## blissful

The brie/camembert recipe with the white mold. Turned out nearly perfect. I've been eating it, it is wrapped in parchment. I'm freezing 2 of the 4 of them, as I can't eat that much cheese. What a treat.










9 lbs of cheese curds, half white half orange.









This is the raclette, 4+ lbs. It was starting to get very liquid creamy under the rind. 









I read a cute thing. Something like, "Milk one day wanted to become immortal so it became cheese". I like that.


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## taxlady

Now I want cheese, and that store bought cheddar in my fridge is not nearly as appealing as the cheeses in those pix.


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## Addie

blissful said:


> I honestly didn't know what to expect either. Then I thought of our ancestors and how they survived or get any certificates of mastery. I don't have to make cheese to sell and I don't have to be a cheese master. I just want to learn enough to make cheese for *my family. *I so much appreciate your encouragement along the way. It's not rocket science at all. I have enjoyed the journey and I don't think I'll ever quit. What's not to like about making cheese. I get in the zone, enjoying the process, and then everyone is happy with the results. I love that. Just like cooking. A creative endeavor that everyone enjoys.



Will you adopt me? Then I will be family


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## blissful

I opened up this cheddar5 that was made in May '17, a little over a year old. It turned out better than I could have imagined. Sliced well, excellent texture, flavor is cheddary delightful. This was really important to me, that the cheddars and parmesans turned out well, since we eat those more than most other kinds.


I left cheddar3 and cheddar4 (both white) to age long, and if I'm lucky we'll let them get sharper and sharper until they are much older. There's nothing quite like a 5 or 10 year old cheddar.


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