there are plenty of young cheeses in my cheese maturation room (esky) for this update. unlike previous batches, I've managed not to eat them before their prime. "Can I give you some advice from someone who knows nothing about cheese? You need to be more patient" JG sagely intoned when I made my first batch of cheese. How right he was, now I can impress myself no end with just how much cheese I actually have.
but before the news on the youngsters...
mature crottins
I cut into the last of an earlier batch of cows milk crottin last night, which was around 8 weeks old. usually these are eaten at 4 to 6 weeks, and any further maturation will result in a dry interior (apparently some customers of farmhouse cheese makers in the Chavignol region request extra mature crottins and soak them in brandy before eating them with bread). this particular cheese was gently ladled at the curd stage rather than pre-drained or pressed, so it was a moist cheese to begin with and ripened into a semi-soft interior with a fiesty white mould rind. the kind you can taste for half an hour afterwards as it buzzes on your tongue. not to everyone's taste I expect.
two other cheeses from this batch were a failed experiment in wrapping cheese in paper wrap to prevent further drying. the lesson here is that paper wrap sticks to cheese, in fact it becomes a part of the cheese, so if you eat the rind you have to pull the paper out of your teeth afterwards. I won't be doing that again. the solution to this problem with the remaining paper cheese was to cut the rind open and spoon the ripened interior over cauliflower and pancetta risotto. not a total loss.as a point of interest, you can actually buy the perforated foil wrap used in commercial cheese production, which allows the cheese to continue maturing slowly without drying out or drowning in its own exuded moisture. the downside is that it's quite expensive. picture me tediously poking sheets of regular foil with dressmaking pins when the new batches are ready for wrapping...
stilton types
I've made three Stilton types, albeit much smaller than proper Stilton (they're usually made in 8 kilogram rounds, each one requires about 78 litres of milk). mine are small, which means they'll probably mature faster than the usual 3 months and have a less intense flavour.the blue mould is Penicillium roquefortii and it's pretty fierce. a day after these photos were taken the entire surface of the cheese was blue-green. for a short
time they were maturing in the same container as the crottins and camembert and as expected there's been a cross-over of mould types. the Stiltons are growing a minimal white fuzz from the Penicillium candidum but the blue strain is much stronger, so the little white cheeses are growing dense blue spots which will take over the white mould if allowed (rubbing blooms with salt is one way of controlling specific growth, and dipping the cheese in 95°c water for a few seconds will kill off the blue mould on the surface but allow the white mould to continue blooming). do I sound like David Attenborough, or just a regular lacto-freak curd-nerd?crottins
these are a goats milk version of the above-mentioned mature cheese (goats milk is the norm for this type in France now, although there are references to early crottin production with cows milk as well). this cheese is characterised by a high bacteria and acidity level during the initial setting period, so very little rennet is required to set the milk. this makes a soft curd which has been in the acidic whey environment for up to 24 hours so it's strongly flavoured, but not sour, with a silky texture once drained. in fact, I stirred and drained some of the
leftover curd in cheesecloth which resulted in a more flavoursome and smooth fromage frais than methods I've used before. these cheeses are drained gently and without a high dose of rennet, which would help firm up the curd and squeeze out extra moisture, so they stay wet longer which means that mould growth is initially slower. this is not generally a problem as long as they form a rind eventually, however it creates the ideal conditions for the growth of poil de chat. yes, cat hair. long black strands of mould that grow in tufts on the cheese. the two cheeses in the rear of the photo below show the beginnings of a poil de chat bloom.
although clearly undesirable, poil de chat is essentially harmless. in extreme cases where the entire cheese surface is black the cheese may taste bitter, but small outbreaks controlled by salting or rubbing usually result in nothing more than a marred appearance on the rind if the white mould is unable to cover the area. the causes of poil de chat are numerous and difficult to ascertain. it can be a sign of poor sanitation, of a contaminated ripening area, or from spores present in the milk from the beginning. encouraging rapid white mould growth with proper draining and drying is the best prevention as the interior probably won't be affected by poil de chat if the rind is correctly formed.
on the right is poil de chat growth on the rack which was submerged in the residual whey and water in the bottom of the esky, used to control humidity.
camembert
my dear friends SS and DW very kindly brought me some fresh, raw milk from a cow they know in Alexandra. cardiologists, don't look, this stuff is so creamy.
goats milk is essentially homogenised when it comes out of the udder, the fat particles being so small that they suspend evenly with the proteins. cows milk has much larger fat globules which is why the cream separates unless the milk is mechanically homogenised. in large-scale cheese production the fat levels in milk are standardised with the removal or addition of cream.
with a fast setting curdling method there is no need to homogenise the milk, as stirring will incorporate the fat into the protein mass. however something about the starter culture or the temperature the night I made these camembert wasn't right, so the setting period was much longer than it should been, allowing the cream to rise to the top. not wanting to rough up the curd too much and ruin the final texture, I didn't stir it and just put the curd in molds and waited to see what happened.
some of the cheeses have formed with an excessive layer of cream on parts of the surface, which slowed mould growth initially, although I'm happy to report that the bloom is now forming correctly over the creamy layers.I think they'll mature just fine and be
deliciously rich and creamy, but anyone who eats them should have health insurance, and girls, try not to think about how it looks just the same on your thighs as before you eat it.I should also note that despite the privilege of having access to raw milk, I decided to pasteurise this milk anyway. I am all for raw milk cheeses and am incensed by the draconian Australian import laws which ban raw milk cheeses with shorter maturation times, such as Roquefort. however as an inexperienced cheese maker I thought it best not to take the risk with a soft cheese and was not sufficiently prepared to make a hard, aged cheese (cheese matured for longer than 60 days and with a lower moisture content, e.g. Romano, Pecorino, Parmesan, is generally safe from the pathogens which can occur in other raw milk cheeses.) but I did use the gentlest method which has the least deleterious effect on the protein structure, that is to hold the milk at 68°c for one minute, the absolute minimum for safe pasteurisation. standard practice usually involves holding the milk at 72°c for 30 seconds, or even higher temperatures for 15 seconds, which ensures that all bacteria is killed but which changes the nature of the milk.
I think this is my girl, isn't she gorgeous? Her name is Buttercup and she lives at Fawcett Country Cottage.
