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BS: Making Cheese
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Subject: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST,Raggytash Date: 08 May 15 - 02:33 PM I've just taken my first steps into making Cheese at home. The results won't be known for some weeks yet. Does anyone else make their own cheese and if so have they any advice to a complete novice like myself. Cheers Raggytash |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: olddude Date: 08 May 15 - 03:02 PM I will ask my amish friends there stuffis aamazing. I never tried to make it |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Jack Campin Date: 08 May 15 - 03:02 PM You'll know you've got it right when it climbs out of the pantry, logs into Mudcat, and starts posting about how it woke up this morning, got that penicillium blues. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Ebbie Date: 08 May 15 - 04:09 PM Years ago, when I was but a girl a cousin who was staying with us made a batch of yellow cheese. She put it into pans and set them on a table in the screened porch to "ripen". It never ripened. Older siblings of mine kept dipping into the rubbery stuff and ate it all up. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Stilly River Sage Date: 08 May 15 - 04:38 PM Closest I've come is making a yogurt cheese that is the consistency of ricotta. Making yogurt (fresh whole milk, heated, cooled, yogurt starter added, covered bowl sits overnight wrapped in towels) into cheese like this is simply to add the finished yogurt to a strainer or cheese cloth and let the whey drip out. So it would be a fresh versus an aged cheese. It's great in lasagna. SRS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Steve Shaw Date: 08 May 15 - 06:41 PM Making cheese sounds like a great idea, but here in tne Westcountry you can get superb cheeses, without resorting to Davidstow-style factory stuff, for ridiculously little money. Waitrose "mellow and fruity" Westcountry farmhouse cheddar (strength 5) is a beauty, as is Wookey Hole Cave-aged cheddar, which you can buy in loads of places (it's been on offer in Sainsburys for a while). In the world of cheddar cheese these two are second to none. We went to Bath a couple of weeks ago and bought a lump of Bath Blue from the Fine Cheese Co shop on Walcot Street. What a cheese. Easily the finest blue I've ever tried, and I've tried a lot. I notice that Bath Blue was voted the world' s tastiest cheese by BBC Good Food in 2014, out of 2700 cheeses. Several places sell a very fine and inexpensive Somerset Brie these days, as good as any French stuff. Make sure you buy a ripening Brie and not one that's been stabilised. I'm not a particular fan of Stilton, though Tesco's British Stilton (not "Finest") is as good as any. As a Lancashire lad I love Lancashire cheese, and Kirkham's or Butler's are as good as any. Butler's creamy version makes a superb cheese and piccalilli butty. For a cheese and tomato butty you can't beat a tangy Wensleydale on ciabatta. Tomorrow night we're having some homemade mackerel pate with toast and some cheddar and some St Agur with Bath Olivers. Beat that. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST Date: 08 May 15 - 06:56 PM I made feta once. You warm up a pot of sheep's and/or goat's milk as if preparing to make yogurt, but then you throw in just a pinch of some powder. I don't know what that was, but I think the Greek word for it (ma-YAH) was the same as the word for the yeast you use to make bread, and you differentiated between them at the store by saying "maya for cheese" or "maya for bread." That's pretty much it. After you add the maya, you let it sit for a little while and it thickens. Then you cut it into chunks and strain it in a cloth, and then put it into a little round basket, salt it, and leave it to drain and dry for a day. Then you either eat it or put it in brine to preserve it until you're ready to eat it. And if you wanted hard cheese, you took one of those disks and left it outside for a few weeks to dry thoroughly and shrink down to a much flatter disk. Each house had a ventilated screened box mounted on a pole for that purpose. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST,Raggytash Date: 08 May 15 - 06:59 PM Steve, I'm sure I can come up with some tales of the hundreds of cheeses I have sampled to match that. However I've just spent the night listening to George Welsh (superb) had a few pints and bed beckons. I'll just add that as a Lancashire lad myself the choice between Crumbly Lancashire and Lincolnshire Poacher is a very fine line. Only loyalty to my native county makes me favour the Lancashire. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Steve Shaw Date: 08 May 15 - 08:09 PM Well, Raggytash, crumbly Lancashire makes superb cheese on toast, as it doesn't go all runny. Only aficionados such as you and I would appreciate that. Also, crumbly Lancashire is my numero uno when I have to raid the fridge at two in the morning, peckish and a bit pissed, when I need a bite. Which is not infrequent, malheureusement. One does have to live, though, and, let's face it, it's either cheese or streaky bacon done crispy. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Stilly River Sage Date: 08 May 15 - 11:27 PM You want good cheese on this side of the pond, look at the Ag department at Washington State University. Cougar Gold and their other varieties are excellent! When universities set up this kind of program everyone wins - the consumer gets good cheese and the students learn best practices for making a quality product. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Jack Campin Date: 09 May 15 - 04:42 AM Crumbly Lancashire is almost identical to Turkish "tulum" cheese, which is traditionally shipped in a calfskin bag with the hair still on ("tulum" also means "bagpipe"). Tulum cheese is the usual one used for cheese pide - a sort of baguette split along the middle with cheese melted into it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Steve Shaw Date: 09 May 15 - 04:58 AM That'll do me, Jack. :-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Will Fly Date: 09 May 15 - 05:05 AM I want this thread taken out! Out, do you hear? A few weeks ago, a blood test I had revealed high cholesterol and, even though I feel great, the doc said "No cheese, only low-fat milk, etc." Well, I loved cheese - ate it every day - and I miss it, how I miss it. I'd kill for a slab of Stilton, murder for a hunk of Lancashire... Cheese, cheese, cheese... oh, be still my heart! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST,Raggytash Date: 09 May 15 - 06:05 AM Last Sunday I made about 1.75 lbs of a cheddar style cheese which I allowed the form a crust before vacuum sealing it. I'll open the first of the two pieces at Whitby Folk Weeks, just over 3 months away. Hopefully it will have matured by then. Yesterday I made another 1.5 lbs of a cheddar style cheese which is drying out as I type. Over the next week or two a Blue Stilton and a Lancashire will follow. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST,Jon Date: 09 May 15 - 06:08 AM I can be full of good intentions. I've been meaning to have a go at making paneer for I don't know how many years... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Rapparee Date: 09 May 15 - 09:58 AM No whey! This thread will curdle your blood, but go ahead and milk it for all its worth until people cream to please top. But maybe this is a music thread, sort of a bleu's song. I'll be interested who can provolone that they make others cheddar with their puns. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST,Raggytash Date: 09 May 15 - 10:11 AM Landlord !! A pint of whatever Rapparee's drinking please. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST,Dave the Gnome Date: 09 May 15 - 01:19 PM How do you encourage a grizzly with a piece of cheese? Camambert How do you smuggle a piece of cheese out of Wales? Caerphilly What cheese do you use to disguise a horse? Mascarpone |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST,gillymor Date: 09 May 15 - 01:37 PM This is some gouda stuff. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST,Dave the Gnome Date: 09 May 15 - 01:58 PM E-dam you gillymor! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Irene M Date: 09 May 15 - 02:25 PM Joking aside. Where does one get un-homogenised milk these days to make cheese? I bought the cheese-making book from Lakeland, but gave up before I started given that all the moo-juice I can find has been plasticised! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST,gillymor Date: 09 May 15 - 02:26 PM Kiss my asiago, gnome. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: The Sandman Date: 09 May 15 - 03:03 PM yes i have made soft and hard cheese |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: The Sandman Date: 09 May 15 - 03:04 PM if u want unhomegeonised milk keep a goat or a house cow |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST,gillymor Date: 09 May 15 - 03:16 PM Irene, unless you need the manure or crave four-legged companionship this might help. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: gnu Date: 09 May 15 - 04:46 PM Cheeses! I edam up! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST Date: 10 May 15 - 01:42 PM I went down to that London last week. Found myself outside Neal's Yard Dairy. Came out ten minutes later having spent 46 quid! Stand outs were Isle of Mull Cheddar and a blue called Stichelton. All their cheeses come from small independent cheese makers. If you're down there it's worth a visit. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Steve Shaw Date: 10 May 15 - 02:18 PM Stichelton is like Stilton, only made with raw milk and eschewing factory-produced rennet. It's made in the same area. In fact, Stichelton is the ancient name of Stilton village. The guy who runs Neal's Yard is one of the producers. In the 1980s we used to get a lot of cheese from Llangloffan dairy in Pembrokeshire. We saw the mighty Leon Downey making it by hand. It was superb cheese, made from the milk of his own dozen or so cows (I think they were Jerseys). He retired some years ago but the cheese is still made. I haven't tried it recently. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Rumncoke Date: 10 May 15 - 05:41 PM I used to work for Lyons in Market Harborough and on one occasion there was a lot of milk bought and then never used - so I decided to make cheese from it, and when it was straining, my co worker went ballistic saying that I would poison myself and anyone else who ate it, and when I was out of the lab, threw it all away. I don't think she was really cut out to work in the food industry. Personally I waste very little food at home - I make something and put it in the freezer for later. Stews, soups, ice cream or puddings - depending on what it in the fridges, I have two, and a large freezer. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST,. Date: 10 May 15 - 07:50 PM Can you spell Fever, stiff neck, confusion, weakness, vomiting, sometimes preceded by diarrhea… |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST,Jon Date: 10 May 15 - 08:13 PM We have 3, rumdcoke. They tend to fill up over the summer. Apple juice gets frozen, some apples sort of get stewed up and frozen, Pip likes to make a blackcurrant cordial, I boil up some mix of tomatoes, aubergines, peppers, etc. which Pip later in the year might use as a base for a meal, then there are runner and French beans, etc. It all gets used over the year. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST,Raggytash Date: 01 Sep 15 - 06:06 AM Well the first cheeses have matured been opened sampled and devoured. I was remarkably surprised at just how good they were. The Stilton vanished in a haze of knifes and crackers the "cheddar" when matured actually turned out very much like a Lancashire. I've opened the next batch which again is disappearing at a rate of knots. This morning I have made another batch of Lancashire to add to the one that is ageing in a vacuum sealed bag in the cheese fridge. The first one won't be sampled until Christmas and todays I intend to keep for a year before trying. (I don't think that will happen but I will try) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Steve Shaw Date: 01 Sep 15 - 07:22 AM Will Fly, since you posted to this thread I've read that the cholesterol in food is not a problem at all. Of course, fat intake is always a bit of a concern, not quite the same thing. I'm not a doctor and I don't peddle medical advice, but I can tell you that no bloody doctor is going to tell ME to stop eating cheese! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Penny S. Date: 01 Sep 15 - 07:40 AM I keep making the stuff because my milk keeps turning. It's not proper anything, just low fat milk that's decided to acidify. So I heat it up to make sure I have all the casein curded (like ricotta) filter it, and reduce the whey to freeze and use in soups. Then I put the cheese in the fridge. Sometimes I blend it into desserts. Or mix it with chives for a sandwich. Sometimes it goes blue and I throw it away. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Doug Chadwick Date: 01 Sep 15 - 07:56 AM ......... the doc said "No cheese, only low-fat milk, etc." Not eating cheese may help me live longer - but if I can't eat cheese then I don't want to live longer. DC |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST,Raggytash Date: 01 Sep 15 - 07:57 AM Penny making cheese is relatively simple. This morning I made some Lancashire. I took 4 litres of full fat milk, 100ml of Plain Yoghurt, 100ml of buttermilk combined them and warmed to 30 degrees I then added 1 ml of Calcium chloride (diluted in 30ml of cold, boiled water) and 1ml of rennet (diluted in 30ml of cold boiled water) stirred them together for a minute and left it for I hour. I then cut the curds and stirred them for 10 minutes and then left them to stand for 30 minutes. Next I strained them off through a cheese cloth and left the curds to hang for 30 minutes to drain. I then broke the curds up added 2 teaspoons of salt and placed the curds into a cheese mould (lined with a cheese cloth) which is now weighted down to remove any further whey. I will keep it weighted down for 4 days and then remove the cheese from the cloth and allow to dry out at room temperature for about a week. I will then vacuum seal it and store it in the fridge for several months until it has matured. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 01 Sep 15 - 10:30 AM Penny, making cheese out of milk that has gone bad in your kitchen is not a good idea. You don't know what kind of microbes are in there. Is your refrigerator too warm? Are you buying more milk than you can use? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Dave the Gnome Date: 01 Sep 15 - 10:47 AM Can you make Lancashire Cheese in Yorkshire? :-P Watch out - You may get the advertising standards people after you! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Raggytash Date: 01 Sep 15 - 11:13 AM I'n doing missionary work Dave !! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Steve Shaw Date: 01 Sep 15 - 11:43 AM If you're a Yorkshireman you don't make Lancashire cheese. You nick it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Raggytash Date: 01 Sep 15 - 11:58 AM Ah but I'm a Lancastrian, born in the County Palatine years before some oik in Whitehall decided that my home town was now part of "Greater Manchester". Needless to say I, and many others, choose to ignore that bit a bullshit and I still address my letters back there to the County Palatine of Lancashire, although I do use the postcode M to ensure that the poor sod born more recently than I can deliver them to the correct house. The Lancashire Cheese I made this morning is now being pressed under weights off the scales and bags of sugar. However I have in my hot little hand a G clamp. There's going to be technology in the Scaife household. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST,Penny (new computer) Date: 01 Sep 15 - 12:14 PM leenia, it's all been properly cold with its lid on most of the time, and it has been a quantity thing. I'm having problems getting the right milk in the right size at the moment. Some has to be decanted and frozen. I'm very careful, and go by smell and taste, as well as heating the milk. My mother, who was brought up on a farm, taught me about making cheese from turned milk, and I have her dairy thermometer to check when I scald the stuff. I'm still here! I am careful, and dump anything at all iffy. I've never felt ill after any of it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Megan L Date: 01 Sep 15 - 01:23 PM Several years ago there was a big fight which the Scottish producer eventually won.Lanark blue is a fine unpasteurised blue cheese. Folk have become so wrapped up in cotton wool they have become neurotic about everything. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Penny S. Date: 01 Sep 15 - 05:23 PM Actually, I think there is a balance in favour of unpasteurised being safer in terms of turning, because of the natural microbes involved, and the ones in pasteurised milk not being so beneficial. I keep meaning to get to the local seller of unpasteurised milk, but it involves wiggly lanes on a Saturday morning and doesn't happen. My milk develops a sharp tang, and I suspect the acidity deals with the nasties. I ATENT DEAD YET. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Penny S. Date: 01 Sep 15 - 05:28 PM Forgot to add, the sharp taste is very refreshing. If it isn't, it gets dumped. I had a conversation with the guy in the Polski Sklep when I bought some Smatana, and he said his mother made it by simply leaving the cream uncovered in the dairy overnight. Which does sound like a bad recipe to me. Though not unlike sourdough. Reminds me of a bad joke asking what the difference was between a pot of yogurt and a particular nationality - there being more culture in the yogurt. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Stilly River Sage Date: 01 Sep 15 - 09:19 PM Your background is reassuring for cheese-makers, Penny. leeneia worries a lot, but having the answers for those concerns is what makes some of these food threads very helpful. I make yogurt, and sometimes I put it in cheesecloth and let it hang to get to the consistency of ricotta/soft cheese and use it like fresh cheese, in lasagna, etc. There are several recipes I've seen for milk left to set in a warm dark room. My mother talked about her step-mother making something like that (a Norwegian recipe) - I think it was clabber. There are lots of sour milk and sour cream recipes out there. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Dave the Gnome Date: 02 Sep 15 - 03:21 AM Mrs G used to make soft cheese from off milk. Didn't seem to us any harm! She now makes butter from fresh cream and as a by-product gets buttermilk to make scones with. Delicious with the home-made butter :-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Raggytash Date: 02 Sep 15 - 07:46 AM Just one Leeneia, when you detect the horrible smell of milk that has gone off it is the whey and not the curd that has gone off. If you pour the whey off the curd has a variety of uses. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: Rapparee Date: 02 Sep 15 - 10:04 AM Cheese curds...scooped up from the tank...delicious. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Making Cheese From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 02 Sep 15 - 10:20 AM Did you see that post above about listeria? Do some reading about listeria. That's just one of the problem microbes you can get in cheese. When you make cheese, you need to start with a clean dairy product, you have to make it in a clean environment with clean tools, and you have to use known cultures to ferment it. If you want to use up extra milk, use it when it's fresh and wholesome. |
