Click here to see my first French Crotin,
made with milk from my La Mancha goat "Paradise"
Click here to see the processing of a Ginger Stilton type cheese I made in December 2010
An ash-coated, mold ripened goat cheese, made in December 2011 ~ 3 week old cheese
see earlier photos below these two
These little goat cheeses got a sprinkling of charcoal ash...
Aren't they beautiful now, with the "bloomy" white Penicillium Candidum growing ~ just like true French Valencay cheese
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I made a Halloumi style cheese and Anari on October 21 2011. Anari is made
out of
the whey produced during the Halloumi making process.
I added lipase to cow's milk to give the cheese a traditional flavor- authentic Halloumi is
made from sheep and
goat's milk,
and is registered as a traditional Cypriot product.
This is the first time I've made Halloumi. It doesn't look "traditional" because after
I heated it to 190F near the end of the process, I put it on
a drying rack that had an odd shape,
and made the cheese bumpy. It's very soft when it's hot, and takes on the
shape
of whatever
you put it on to dry. Next time, I'll put it on one of my French straw mats to dry.
The yellowish tint is from the color of the whey that I added to the brine solution.
It tasted so good when it was hot and had just come out
of the
190 degree F whey. I decided
not to add mint to the Halloumi my
first time, so
I could
learn the basic flavor first.
Link to Wikipedia page about Halloumi- it has an interesting history.
This is Anari, a soft cheese made from the Halloumi whey. I added a small amount
of vinegar (acidic)
to the very hot whey- the curd immediately separates from the whey.
I strain the curds through a cheesecloth and add a small amount of salt. It still tastes
sweet even with the addition of salt. It can be used like Ricotta, or eaten with
honey and cinnamon, or dried and made into a grating cheese.
My Stilton style cheese with candied ginger ~ one year old
A cow's milk "bloomy rind ~ surface ripened" cheese I made October 12, 2011.
This photo was taken immediately after the cheese came out of the
Tallegio mould
I used to give it the square shape. I used a mesophillic
starter bacteria,
P. candidum
& G. candidum molds for the surface bloom.
The following two photos you can see the Pennicillium candidum and Geotrichum candidum
developing on the outside. I had "knocked it down" just before I took the photos,
by rubbing salt water brine on the surface with a small piece of cheesecloth.
I can't wait until it's ready to eat!
A wheel of cheese just out of the press.
(I'm not allowed to name it Stilton, because Stilton has it's own
Certification Trade Mark and is an EU Protected Food Name.
It can only be produced in the 3 Counties of Derbyshire,
Nottinghamshire, and Leicestershire & with locally produced milk.)
Here's a look inside my cheese cave.
The top shelf has Havarti cheeses. The wheel on the left side is made with saffron threads,
and the one on the right is made with fennel pollen. On
the second shelf are Gouda wheels.
I used cow's milk for these cheeses.
Each wheel took 4 gallons of milk to make 4 pounds of cheese.
On the bottom is a French Tomme that I made
using 4 gallons of my goat's milk.
cheese cave full of lactic cheese made in November 2010, a few pieces of Manchego,
and one wheel of Cheshire also made in Nov. 2010
Chevre rolled in Hungarian Paprika made with my goat's milk