Author Topic: New from Wisconsin  (Read 2876 times)

MrsKK

  • Guest
New from Wisconsin
« on: February 20, 2009, 12:00:20 PM »
My name is Karen and I found this forum when searching for a cheese recipe.  Great site and I look forward to being a contributing member.

I live in west central Wisconsin, about an hour from the Minnesota border.  I have a husband and one daughter still at home, with two sons - one married with a child, and one on his own.  We own a 2 acre hobby farm, with one cow, two calves, two horses, two pygmy goats, about 30 chickens and 3 gilts that we are raising to sell as bred in the summer.  Also an assortment of house cats and dogs.

I started making cheese about a year ago from raw milk that I bought from a dairy.  I was preparing for my own cow to be in milk (didn't want to learn everything at once).  I'm rather frugal, so it was hard for me to make cheese that didn't turn out quite right and having to wait for 2-3 months to try the product was pretty painful, too, but I'm glad that I had that time to get familiar with ingredients and methods.

Now I make cheese about once a week, as my cow is still producing 2-3 gallons of milk a day.  I make it in 5 gallon batches and will usually keep some of the curds for fresh eating.  My favorite recipe lately is Derby cheese, the fresh curds are excellent and the whey produces lots of really good ricotta, too.  The whey gets fed to my pigs and chickens.

I also make a gallon of yogurt a week.  I eat some of it, but most of it is used to supplement commercial dog and cat food.  I have noticed that our pets are much healthier since this addition.

Glad to be a member and I look forward to learning and sharing.

Cheese Head

  • Guest
Re: New from Wisconsin
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2009, 12:24:23 PM »
Good Morning Karen (here in US, I'm in Houston) and welcome to this forum!

Very nice intro, sounds very romantic as I live in massive suburbia, what's a gilt?

Great to hear you've been making cheese for a while, hoping you'll have some good advice and also would like to hear and see more about your Derby Cheese making tricks and traps as I don't think anyone has here has made that. I just did a quick search of the forum and no-one, but there is I think a recipe in this very old book posted here.

I also make yogurt, albeit with store bought milk, and like your pets, I think I'm healthier for it ;D.

MrsKK

  • Guest
Re: New from Wisconsin
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2009, 12:43:35 PM »
Good morning, John.  I've never been to Houston, but was in San Antonio for my son's graduation from Air Force basic training.  I don't care how dry the heat is, 115 degrees is sickly HOT!

A gilt is a female pig that hasn't had a litter of piglets yet.  We are just about a year into pig raising and after these girls are gone we plan on just raising 3 each summer for meat (one for us, two to sell and help cover the costs of raising our own meat).

The recipe for Derby cheese came from a member of the Keeping a Family Cow forum.  It makes good, edible cheese within a couple of weeks.  I am copying Tammy's entire post, so that it will include her explanations.  I bump up my amounts so that I use 5 gallons of milk, then I take off about a pound of the curds for fresh eating, pressing the rest.
(If I should post the recipe somewhere else, please let me know and I will do so.)

Derby Cheese

I made this cheese last winter and we enjoyed it but it wasn't spectacular. In fact, most of my cheese was good, but not spectacular. This year, I started using my clabber/buttermilk in place of mesophilic starter culture. This cheese went from mediocre to great. In fact, since I am terrible at letting cheese age, I tested it at two weeks and it was really good. I can't wait to see what it tastes like with a little age on it. Well, that's assuming I can actually get some age on wheel before eating it all! 


The recipe comes from the book CHEESE MAKING AT HOME.  (Tammy on KFC)

DERBY

Preparation time: 4 Hours
Pressing Time: 26 Hours
Aging Time: 1-2 Months
Makes 4 pounds

This cheese, pronounced "Darby" originated in the country of Derbyshire, England. It is similar to cheddar but has higher moisture content and ages more quickly.

4 gallons of whole milk
2 cubes or 1/4 c mesophilic starter culture (I use buttermilk/clabber)
1/2 tablet rennet, dissolved in 1/2 cup cool water
1/4 cup salt

1. Heat milk to 84 degrees F. Add starter culture, mixing well. Cover and let ripen 30 minutes.

2. Add dissolved rennet, stirring well. cover and let sit 45 minutes.

3. Cut the curd into 1/2" cubes.

4. Heat slowly to 94 degrees, stirring the curds by hand. This should take 30 minutes.

5. Let the curds settle for 30 minutes.

6. Drain the whey and allow curds to sit in colander for 30 minutes.

7. Cut into four slabs. Stack slabs on top of each other, reversing their order every 20 minutes for one hour.

8. Tear slabs into pea sized pieces. Sprinkle 1/4 cup salt over curds. Mix well.

9. Pack curds into a cheesecloth lined mold.

10. Apply 10 pounds pressure for one hour. Flip and repack. Apply 10 pounds pressure for one hour. Flip and repack. Apply 50 pounds pressure for 24 hours.

11. Air dry cheese on a mat for several days until dry to the touch. Turn twice a day.

12. Wax cheese and age it for 1-2 months at 50-55 degrees turning it twice a week.

wharris

  • Guest
Re: New from Wisconsin
« Reply #3 on: February 20, 2009, 12:51:24 PM »
Welcome to the forum!

I have some relatives from Menomonie Wisconsin.  Its a great place.  You all take you cheese very seriously up there.

MrsKK

  • Guest
Re: New from Wisconsin
« Reply #4 on: February 20, 2009, 01:30:20 PM »
Hey, Wayne, I live right outside of Menomonie.  What a small world!

I love my cheese, but I am not a "cheesehead" - as in a Packer's fan.  I grew up in Minnesota and still have to be faithful to the Vikings.  It's been a tough go for several years now, but faith is faith.

wharris

  • Guest
Re: New from Wisconsin
« Reply #5 on: February 20, 2009, 01:37:42 PM »
Thats funny because my relative (brother in law) that live just north of Menomonie, (SR25 and 700th), grew up in Minn.  Edina to be specific.  Most of the family still lives in various parts of Minn.  St. Cloud, Hutchinson.

chilipepper

  • Guest
Re: New from Wisconsin
« Reply #6 on: February 20, 2009, 02:37:44 PM »
Good morning Karen and welcome to the forum as well.   Thank you so much for the Derby recipe as that is one of the styles that I've been looking for and will likely try this in the very near future.   Sounds like you have a really nice little farm there with some nice variety.  I look forward to hearing from you here.

Ryan

Offline Cartierusm

  • Old Cheese
  • *****
  • Posts: 1,874
  • Cheeses: 21
Re: New from Wisconsin
« Reply #7 on: February 20, 2009, 05:27:33 PM »
Welcome, now because of the type of farm would they be known as Hobby Horses? ;D

Cheese Head

  • Guest
Re: New from Wisconsin
« Reply #8 on: February 20, 2009, 05:53:34 PM »
Carter thanks for the mid Friday afternoon smile, especially with the stock market tanking . . . again.

Karen, thanks for the recipe, just so it doesn't get lost here in the Introductions Board, I've just copied and posted it into a more appropriate place here with credit to you ;D.

Next time you make it, any pictures tips and tricks would be wonderful . . . John

Likesspace

  • Guest
Re: New from Wisconsin
« Reply #9 on: February 21, 2009, 12:06:15 AM »
Karen,
Welcome to the forum. Glad to have you aboard.
I've been negligent concerning my welcomes to the newer members but it's always great to see new "faces" here.
Looking forward to hearing of your success and reading your input.

Dave

MrsKK

  • Guest
Re: New from Wisconsin
« Reply #10 on: February 21, 2009, 04:24:25 PM »
Thank you all for the warm welcome!  I feel really comfortable here already.

While you have given me credit for the recipe, John, the credit really goes to Tammy, as she passed it along to me in another forum.  She has some really good pictures already.

As I have just hooked up to satellite internet service, I'm just catching up on uploading of pictures (they took about an hour on dial-up).

I look forward to getting to know you all better.

Tea

  • Guest
Re: New from Wisconsin
« Reply #11 on: February 21, 2009, 09:30:56 PM »
Good morning Karen and welcome to the forum.