Cheese and ME!
CHEESE! What could be better? It tantalizes and teases the taste buds. It blooms on the palate with wonderful spirit and soul. It ages graciously, and becomes richer, smoother, surprising.
And now, brought to you by the “birthday gift”, I will be making CHEESE!
First things first: Getting appropriate milk. It can’t be ultra-pasteurized, and therefore, purchasing directly from the farmers is going to be the solution.
I will get some farm direct milk TODAY!
Second things second: Pasteurize the milk. WHAT?
Didn’t I go to a bunch of trouble to buy RAW MILK?
Well, yes, but it must still be pasteurized…just not too high a temp, or for too long…doing it myself, yeah!
Pasteurization: Water Bath – 30 mins at 145 degrees – 145 degrees, no hotter, no cooler, 30 minutes, no more, no less.
You need stuff…
Reality is much different than the texts. It took a long time to heat the water, after 20 minutes later, on “med+1”, water is officially LUKEWARM! Sigh…I don’t suppose this is going to be quick. Twenty minutes more, and the water is 140, tiny bubbles have formed on the pan insert.
The milk is at about 120 degrees. Water at 150, so I’ll turn the heat down to “med”. Now “med-1”.
Russ came in at this point and remarked that I’d been at it an hour now…. 🙂
4, 8, 12, 16, 20 – the marks on the thermometer. 144 degrees will do. Heat down another notch to “Med -2”. Five more minutes, HOLY COW! The milk is 148; water is 160, I have to turn down the heat! “Low +2” with 10 minutes to go and 50 ICE CUBES later, the water is at 140, and the milk is holding at 144 to 148.
Viola! The milk is in a cold water bath (50 degrees) and cooled to 120 – yeah, another 10 minutes.
Done! Finally, the refrigerator!
The cheese is finally ready to eat. We opened the 1st cheddar at 4 weeks, so we could eliminate problems with the next batch(if there were any). There were none, and the cheese has a nice medium cheddar flavor. Next was a 10 week cheese, sharper flavor but a bit flakey, probably because of the lack of turning during drying and uneven temperature in the rock room. Next up a goat-milk cheddar, and we’ll be taking a look at that in about 2 more weeks.
Blah, blah blah. That 1st post is a bit silly, but the cheese is not! I made a 3lb. Cheese every week this fall, and we are enjoying them greatly. The moisture content is much high that the sping cheese. I beleive it has a lot to do with the goat milk. But, I’ve learned a thing or two, also. The cheese is creamier, and we’ve solved the flaking with regular turning of the aging cheeses. Russ has a weekly reminder that keeps us flipping those beauties, and that keeps the whey from settling to the bottom.
I’m going to have get onto the cow’s milk chedders this spring.