Author Topic: Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux  (Read 23279 times)

Offline Boofer

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Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux
« on: October 07, 2012, 03:20:13 PM »
Having been recently disappointed in the early results of my first Delight, I was determined to make corrections and retry the cheese.

Yesterday, I had a forehead-slapping (D'oh!) moment when I was correcting the acidity in the blueberries I was using in this cheese. Eaten out of the bag as dried fruit, the blueberries are merely okay, tastewise. They were not significantly sweet nor sour. The revelation occurred after I added them to boiled distilled water, let it cool, and added baking soda. In the hot water bath, the berries rehydrated, releasing their inner goodness. The baking soda counteracted the inherent (but not apparent) sourness of the blueberries and produced an incredibly sweet transformation. The pics show the before and after pH levels, but the change was, as I said, forehead-slapping worthy. It was as if I had actually added sugar to the blueberries. Thank you, Sailor, for nudging me towards what should have been an obvious observation to me, but wasn't.

This make again follows the process of Fourme d'Ambert #2 with minor changes.

initial pH: 6.68

1 gallon Pride & Joy whole raw milk
2 gallons Twin Brook whole creamline milk
1 pint Dungeness Valley raw cream
8 cubes Kazu mother culture
1/16 tsp Geo13
1/32 tsp KL71
1/2 tsp CACL2
1/16 tsp Renco dry calf rennet

Blueberries were processed to bring acidity down and pH up over several hours, adding baking soda, stirring, testing pH.
When I was satisfied that the acidity was stable, I drained the berries, reserving the resultant blueberry juice. I then sprinkled salt all over the berries to help keep them from sticking and to assist their accommodation by the curd.

Thawed culture cubes in bowl of warm, not hot, water.
Floc'd in 13 minutes. Used 4x factor.

Added curds to Plyban-lined mould (changed to a different mould for this make), added berries, added curds, added berries, added curds...until mould was full. But I still had what looked to be a lot of curd left in the kettle. I put the mould inside the pot into the press and pressed it lightly to squeeze out some of the moisture from the curds so that I could fit the rest of the curds into the mould. Whew! I managed to put all the curds into the mould. Hooray! :P

I pressed using only the weight of the press lever arm and piston (11 lbs) for an hour under whey, flipped the cheese, rewrapped it, and pressed for another hour under whey. Then I flipped, rewrapped, and pressed (same weight) without the whey. The pH was 6.00. Lastly, I removed the Plyban and pressed naked for several hours. When I was able to check on the pressing, the pH was 5.16. A little lower than I wanted, but it couldn't be helped (My wife is in the hospital and I wasn't able to get away.)

The cheese went into cool brine that I had made from a half gallon of recovered whey. Getting up at 1:30 this morning, I flipped the cheese in the brine. After a total 8 hours in brine I removed the cheese, dried it and weighed it. Now it's out to air dry before going into the Boofer cave network.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

Sailor Con Queso

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Re: Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux
« Reply #1 on: October 07, 2012, 07:42:35 PM »
Boof,

You will see a big difference this time. You just can't add an ingredient with a pH of 3.73 without having repercussions throughout the whole cheese. By adjusting to 5.8, you are also slightly increasing the base pH of the entire cheese, at least at a localized level around the berries. Paradoxically, while a blue needs initial acidity, native yeasts normally kick in quickly to help neutralize the surface pH, creating a friendlier environment for the blue mold. I know of at least one cheese maker on an island off the coast of New Zealand that covers the surface of their blues with ash to raise the pH quickly. So, you should see a slightly faster "set" of the blue mold on this make because of your pH adjustment.

And you are right about the sweetness. Acid = sour/tart  (that's simply a variable burning sensation on your tongue from the acid) Basic = sweeter. IMHO if you simply add dehydrated fruit, tomatoes, etc to a cheese, the rehydration itself will sometimes pull too much moisture out of the cheese. By rehydrating ahead of time the fruit is already at hydro-equilibrium when it is added to the cheese. FYI - I also pour the water used for rehydration back into my cheese vat to retain some of the "inner goodness". :D

JeffHamm

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Re: Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux
« Reply #2 on: October 07, 2012, 09:07:21 PM »
Oooo, will be fun to see how this one goes.  Blue II, return of the berries.

- Jeff

Offline Boofer

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Re: Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux
« Reply #3 on: October 07, 2012, 09:38:19 PM »
Although I followed the process for my FdA #2, there is no PR involved here. Not a blue cheese.

Sailor, you added the rehydration liquid back in with the curds? Mine was not only very sweet but also very blue. Wouldn't that dye the cheese phenomenally blue?

My first effort used rehydrated berries but not pH-adjusted.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

Sailor Con Queso

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Re: Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux
« Reply #4 on: October 08, 2012, 04:07:47 PM »
Yes I put the liquid back into the curds. For me it is not a noticeable color change.

I knew that you aren't using PR, but I mentioned it because of the Forme recipe that you have been using.

JeffHamm

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Re: Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux
« Reply #5 on: October 08, 2012, 05:44:00 PM »
Although I followed the process for my FdA #2, there is no PR involved here. Not a blue cheese.

Yah, I know, but the berries are blue and that makes it blue too!

- Jeff

bbracken677

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Re: Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux
« Reply #6 on: October 08, 2012, 07:00:20 PM »
Looks great Boof! Will be watching this one closely...my wife is big on blueberries so if this works out well I will have to give it a shot for her   :)

Offline Boofer

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Re: Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux
« Reply #7 on: October 09, 2012, 02:02:28 PM »
Too late for this make, but if this finally works out, the next effort would have the rehydrated liquid put back in and the cheese really would be a blue cheese!  8)

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Offline Boofer

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Re: Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux
« Reply #8 on: October 22, 2012, 01:21:49 AM »
The Geo is still working its magic. The aroma is cheesy with a slight whiff of blueberry.

I have been taking it out every other day to flip and pat the Geo down. The cheese has a bit of "give" to the rind when handled so I'm being careful not to poke it.

-Boofer-
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Offline H-K-J

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Re: Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux
« Reply #9 on: October 27, 2012, 09:13:48 PM »
GO Boofer looks great so far am anticipating a wonderful blueberries and cream delight :P
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Offline Boofer

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Re: Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux
« Reply #10 on: October 30, 2012, 02:48:37 PM »
Just turning, checking, and rubbing Geo as per usual. There's something going on under the "skin".

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Offline H-K-J

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Re: Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux
« Reply #11 on: October 30, 2012, 04:09:55 PM »
That does look scary  :-\ hope nothing bad is going on
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beechercreature

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Re: Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux
« Reply #12 on: October 30, 2012, 04:11:44 PM »
it looks like texas!

Offline Boofer

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Re: Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux
« Reply #13 on: December 01, 2012, 05:06:33 PM »
This cheese continues to develop linens coloring as well as Geo. The trier sample was taken three weeks ago. I'm being patient and hoping that the crumbly character that I saw then will develop into a creamier paste.

The inside walls of the minicave continue to bead up with the perspiration (condensation) from the effort that this cheese is working up in trying to be decent. :P

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Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.

Offline Tiarella

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Re: Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux
« Reply #14 on: December 01, 2012, 05:29:23 PM »
Wow, thanks for the story, the photos and the effort!!  A cheese for you!