dear EILEEN,,,,,,,,,,greetings from TASMANIA ,,,,,,,appropo to the first paragraph in your post , no doubt you will read this
when you return from the meeting of cheese makers anonymous [ sic ]
to assist you with your intended creativeness here are a few additions iv'e used over the last circa 3 x years
mainly talking hard cheeses here
to every 8 x litres of milk i add 1200 ml of cream,,,cumin , black and green crushed peppercorns , chives , paprika , onion
powder , ginger powder , sage , chilli flakes , minced garlic powder,,,,,,,,,,,and sometimes a couple of drops of annatto
with the herbs and spices i started sterilising them by boiling for 5 x minutes and applying them to cheese, but soon found that boiling for 15 minutes and applying tincture ONLY , was much more acceptable
we smoke most of our cheddar's with apple and cherry wood and either wax or rind wash with a mixture of salt to
saturation , port , sherry , muscat , vinegar and olive oil,,,,,,,,,,have even used whey at times but try not to let our dogs
catch me , if you get my drift ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,gave cloth bandaging with lard a go the other day,,and no need to guess what i do
to cheese i'm making on ST. PATRICK's day
apart from this brilliant website another is LITTLEGREENCHEESE.COM ,,an AUSSIE bloke who has instructional
videos on this site,,,,,,,,,free of course,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,you will also find him on YOUTUBE.COM
all the best and don't worry if the cheeses misfire occasionally ,,i spent my life in grog laboratories or on the production
floor and still come unstuck now and again with cheese ,,,,,,,,usually caused by operator error
many regards ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,brian