Update on Roquefort and Port Salut

The Roqueforts started blooming six(6) days after making it.  This is relatively fast since it is supposed to take between 10 and 12 days.  I've decided I definitely know how to grow penicillium roquforti mold!  This is a pic of two of the three cheeses at about 12 days.  They are also developing a stronger odor.  I am quite happy with how these are starting out.

This is a pic of the Port Salut from last week, after washing with brine.  A week later, this is now much more orange and the b. linens is starting to grow on the sides of the round.  It too is getting a stronger odor.  I still have issues from time to time with blushes of penicillin mold starting on this one.  Even in a closed container, it gets in.  I have washed it with vinegar and salt solution to treat the spots where the penicillin emerge.  This seems to keep it in check.

Penicillin, Penicillin, Everywhere

I am just about ready to age the Roqueforts in the wine refrigerator after sitting out on the counter for 2 days expressing whey.  But it has me concerned.  Even though I have a two compartment wine refrigerator, the penicillium roqueforti used in Stiltons, Roqueforts and other blue veined cheeses seems to cross-contaminate my other cheeses, even though they are in separate containers and in separate compartments of the fridge.  This mold is prolific...and I seem to be able to grow them quite well...maybe too well.

I had my Stiltons in one compartment, isolated from the Port Salut.  Each compartment has it's own cooling fan.  But I still ended up with tiny colonies of p.roqueforti on the Port every now and then.  Once I removed the Stiltons, the tiny colonies on the Port stopped.  Now, I have to put the Roqueforts in the refrigerator.  But maybe the b.linens, which is now blooming well, will prevent the colonies of p.roqueforti from taking hold.

The only other solution is to buy another wine refrigerator, dedicating one to blues and the other to everything else.  THAT will make my wife happy....not.  Another choice is to do blues only for a while, and once wrapped, I can sterilize the refrigerator and prep it for other cheeses.  But I like rotating different cheeses so that I have a variety coming due all the time.  The blues take much longer to age, so that means no cheesemaking of other varieties for over 2 months at a stretch.  Waxed rind cheeses are unaffected by the p. roqueforti, so there is that possibility.  But, still, that takes a lot of planning to time this right.

eBay, I think it's time I check out what wine refrigerators you have available.  Maybe I can get a great deal like the last time.

Planning for The Holidays - Making Something New

I will have plenty of time on my hands between the holidays.  So I figure I'll make 4 different batches of cheeses.  I plan on making ones that have varying ageing times to satisfy my instant gratification, yet have some I can share and eat later.  When done, my little wine refrigerator ought to be full of ripening containers.  I'll have to move my cheddars and the Caciotta to a regular refigerator for a while, but the cheddars need to age for a long time, and the colder temps for a short time will not harm them.  The Caciotta will be ready to eat and share in a week, so it's not long for this world anyway.

First up is a true Roquefort.  I have the sheep's milk already.  I was informed that my frozen sheep's milk was taking up too much room in our small freezer, so they are out defrosting.  The two gallons will make about 3 lbs of cheese, so I'll make three 1 lb rounds.  Two things I have to watch with this one:  handling the curds more gently and sprinkling the penicillin onto the curds evenly as I fill the molds.  Usually, the penicillin is incorporated into the milk, but this time, it's put on the surface of the curds.  The rest is like making Stiltons with some minor changes.  This will take 2-5 months to age (about St Patrick's Day to Easter).  Sigh!

Then I plan on making more juustoa for Christmas at my Mom's house.  Easy peezy, now that I've got the hang of it, especially the removal of the whey while it broils.  But it's instant gratification!

I will be making more Brie.  I have this one down pat!  And it only takes six weeks to age, so by Valentines Day I'll have some tasty cheese to go with a nice wine.

The last cheese I just couldn't decide.  At first I wanted to make an Emmental (Swiss Cheese).  But then I discovered that I'd have to make a huge cheese, otherwise the holes, or "eyes", will burst through the surface.  Suggested minimum:  8 gallons of milk or 9 lbs of cheese!  Plus, I'd have to make it in two pots simultaneously because I don't have an 8 gallon pot (do they even make them that big?).  This is way too ambitious for me.  Besides, I can get good Emmental here in Wisconsin.  Let someone else deal with the size of the batch.  I thought maybe I'd make an Edam or Gouda instead.  Simple and I do enjoy them.  But, again, I can get good Edam and Gouda here.  Why not try something completely new?  So I think I've settled on a Valencay.  It's a goat's milk cheese shaped into small pyramids.  It is both a mold ripened and a vegetable ash ripened cheese.  The ash gets sprinkled on the surface before ageing, and the geotrichnum and penicillin candidum bloom over the ash so it looks frosty.  At least, that's what the picture looks like.  It also has the advantage that it makes 8 small cheeses.  Ideal for sharing. It can be eaten rather young with fruit and crackers, or when older and drier, it can be grated over salads and omelets.  Really versatile!  So now I just have to buy molds and ash.

Stay tuned.  I won't be posting about the juustoa and Brie, since I've made these before and blogged a lot about that already.  But I will post about the Roquefort and Valencay endeavors.

Pink Mold on Stiltons

I had to leave my Stiltons unattended for a full week while I traveled to Quebec City (talk about a place that likes it's fromageries!)  I had left the lid on the container closed because they were so far along in the mold development that I figured they'd be OK.  Well, they weren't.  I came back to patches of pink mold on the surface of the cheese.  The humidity got too high and it encouraged the pink mold.  I immediately scraped off the mold down to cheese that was not discolored, resulting in much smaller and misshaped rounds.  BUT....it tasted great!

I later learned that the pink mold, while garishly unsightly, was not harmful.  Oh, the humanity!...lol.  But now I learned two important lessons.  When in doubt, err on the side of lower humidity, at least if I have to leave them unattended for a long period.  Also, if I ever see pink mold again, I won't fret over whether the darned thing is ruined.

Rosemary Stilton

Here's my rosemary Stilton.  I made a "rosemary tea" with boiling water and a tiny bit of rosemary, strained it, and added the tea to the milk before doing anything else.  It is nearly ready, but because I was traveling and could not monitor this for over a week, the ageing conainer got a little too humid and pink slime started to form on the surface.  Not to worry, a quick trim and it's just fine.  I'm drying them out now outside the ageing container so I can wrap them later.  A little young, but still very tasty.   I'll wrap the rest and put it in cold storage so it gets a little sharper.  Also, next time I use rosemary, I'll try using a little less.  It's not overpowering, but it could be a bit more subtle.

Port Salut - Again!

OK, this time, armed with even more helpful hints, I made another Port Salut this weekend.  We did eat the last one, even though it did not manage to have it's signature orange/red bloom of b. linens.  It tasted great, and from what I described to a cheese master, it was close in taste to the real thing.  The Port Salut you get at a store is not really Port Salut.  It's a "prettied-up" version.  Commercial Port Salut is softer and close to a cross between cream cheese and gooey Brie in texture.  It is rind-less, too.  And the color on the "rind" is imprinted onto the surface using food dyes, so the color is way off...almost neon orange.

Since I've detailed what I've done making Port Salut's before, I'll just cover the highlights of what I did differently this time, to ensure it ripens properly and develops a rind.  I received two tips from different sources that indicated that my previous versions were too acidic, and that's why the b. linens didn't grow.  It's a fast grower, so I should not have had the trouble I did.  To remedy it, I was told by both sources to add a tiny bit (1/64th of a teaspoon) of either GEO 15, Danisco's Choozit brand of geotrichnum candidum (yeast form) bacteria, or a strain of kluyveromyces yeast, Choozit brand KL71.  And I am supposed to use these in the bacterial wash as well with the b.linens.  A 1/64th teaspoon is about the size of the tip of knife full of powder.  The yeast acts to stabilize the pH of the cheese and keeps it from becoming too acidic.

I have both of these on hand, so I used both, to make up the 1/64th tsp.  The cheese came out of it's brine solution yesterday afternoon, and after drying for 12 hours at room temperature, it's now in the ageing container at 52F.  Believe it or not, I can see some very faint mottling of yellow mixed in with the usually creamy white color of the cheese already.  That didn't happen last time until a few days after being in the ageing container.

Another tip I received was that it was possible that by avoiding having the cheese be too moist in the container, I accidentally let it get too dry.  So, I will have to monitor the moisture on the surface more carefully and try to find the right balance.

Finally, the cheese is supposed to weigh 2.75 lbs.  Mine weighs 3.2 lbs, or almost half a pound too much, meaning there may be too much water/whey left.  I did press it for 12 hours under medium pressure.  But I think I'll lose some weight as it ages.  So I'll weigh it again in a week to see what it is.  The salt from the brining is still on the surface.  It should pull more moisture out over time..

Creme Fraiche

With all the "little bugs", bacteria, mold, and yeast, I've collected trying different cheeses, making Finnish viili (yogurt), and cultured butter, I thought it time to make some creme fraiche....real creme fraiche.  Since it's Thanksgiving, it should be a great compliment to the pumpkin pie I will be making to share at my sister's house.  The tartness of the creme fraiche will counter the sweetness of the pie.  But not just ordinary creme fraiche.  I had the idea to slightly sweeten it and flavor it with a spice that compliments pumpkin pie.  What I got is a tart, thick, eggnogy flavored creme fraiche.  Tastes great.

According to the recipe, I heated a quart of whipping cream to 70F, added 1/4 teaspoon of the aroma mesophilic culture, and let it rehydrate for 5 minutes.  Then gently stirred it into the cream.  I let it sit out on the counter for 48 hours, chilled in the refrigerator, and then spooned it into a container.  When completely chilled, it is firmer, but soft like prepackaged pudding.  If I wish, I could whip it like whipped cream to make it fluffy, but I think I'll leave it the way it is.  I found a variation online to sweeten the creme fraiche.  It said to use 1-2 Tblsp of sugar for each cup.  I thought that a bit too sweet, so I used about a third of that, and added some nutmeg to taste, realizing that the nutmeg will infuse it's flavor while it sits in the cream.

Speaking of sour cream, I compared the creme fraiche recipe to the one for sour cream.  I never realized they were identical, except that for sour cream, you let the cream and starter set out for 24-36 hours, not 48.  Not sure what the big difference is.  So I took a taste of the creme fraiche after 24 hours, when it was in the sour cream phase.  It was slightly thinner than creme fraiche, and not as tart.  Nothing like the sour cream you buy at the store...it's better.

Our kitchen this week is a veritable "bug" factory.  The creme fraiche was sitting on the counter next to the villi I was making.  The Caciotta and Stilton are ripening in the wine refrigerator, and the cheddars are waxed and ripening too.  I ordered a new strain of b. linens and will be making a new Port Salut on Saturday.  I am determined to not let that cheese defeat me!  But then I think I'll take a break from cheese...at least until Christmas vacation :-)