Author Topic: Greetings from the Pee Dee  (Read 2341 times)

John@PC

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Greetings from the Pee Dee
« on: June 21, 2013, 04:31:40 PM »
...  area of South Carolina, that is.  My name is John and I started my cheesemaking journey a little over a year ago and fell in love with the first curds I cut.  My only regret is that I didn't find this forum sooner, but I hope to catch up with your posts over the summer.  I've made over a hundred pounds of cheese of many varieties but still consider myself a newbie because there is so much to learn and cheesemaking is so nuanced (compared to beer making, as any beer is a good beer :)

Being a recently retired engineer I got frustrated with some of the rigor making cheese and started experimenting with different methods and equipment.  Messed up more cheese that way but it helped me to learn.  I've made maybe a third of the cheeses in Mary Karlin's book Artisan Cheesemaking at Home, and just read Gianiclis Caldwell's Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking. 

I don't really have a favorite cheese - love them all and like to keep a variety in the cave.  If my picture attached correctly (do the pics not preview??)  these are some of my recent ones.  Generally make 2 gal batchs but did my first 4 gal. yesterday

Thanks to those of you who set up and maintain this forum.  It is excellent, and I look forward to learning a whole lot more about making cheese.

Offline Spike

  • Medium Cheese
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  • Location: Texas
  • Posts: 39
  • Cheeses: 10
  • Time to turn the cheese
Re: Greetings from the Pee Dee
« Reply #1 on: June 21, 2013, 04:42:26 PM »
Welcome to the forum. I am new here as well, and a new cheese maker. The group here is very helpful. I look forward to seeing your new engineering innovation's.
I had the same concerns with the pictures being right on my first post as well. As you have now seen, they came out fine.

John@PC

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Re: Greetings from the Pee Dee
« Reply #2 on: June 21, 2013, 07:00:33 PM »
Thanks Spike.  I did read your intro before I posted mine and was going to congratulate you on your neat "Eurythmics" signature.  I take it South Texas is a hotbed for cheesemaking like central SC is? ^-^  Like I told someone we're known here a lot more for our Frogmore stew and boiled peanuts than cheese.  Luckily we have local access to good milk now (low temp. pasturazied and raw) for a reasonable price.

Offline Spike

  • Medium Cheese
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  • Location: Texas
  • Posts: 39
  • Cheeses: 10
  • Time to turn the cheese
Re: Greetings from the Pee Dee
« Reply #3 on: June 21, 2013, 11:14:32 PM »
Can't take much credit for the Sig, stolen from somewhere on the internet. I am not that clever. South Texas is hot. Hotbed of cheese making, not likely. I have only been at this for a few months, and have not sampled much of what I have made yet. Have not graduated to raw milk yet, but I think it can be obtained here at a price. Lots of goats in this part of Mexico the US. I see you are asking about the proper height of a blue cheese on another thread. I only made my first blue 6 days ago. I have no advice. I am sure someone will give you an answer.

Smurfmacaw

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Re: Greetings from the Pee Dee
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2013, 02:31:02 AM »
MMMMMM,

boiled peanuts.  My wife thinks I've lost my mind.  I can only get canned ones here in SOCAL but any port in a storm.  I remember when I was a kid in Savannah, we could get bags of them from a guy that made them and they were awesome.  Three, four and sometimes five peanuts in each one.  Memories of childhood......Raw milk in San Diego costs 15.99 per gallon.  Sucked it up and made a Tomme today but geez!  I'll trade you Jerry Brown for 3 bags of good boiled peanuts!

Mike

John@PC

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Re: Greetings from the Pee Dee
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2013, 11:52:18 AM »
MMMMMM,

boiled peanuts.  My wife thinks I've lost my mind.  I can only get canned ones here in SOCAL but any port in a storm.  I remember when I was a kid in Savannah, we could get bags of them from a guy that made them and they were awesome.  Three, four and sometimes five peanuts in each one.  Memories of childhood......Raw milk in San Diego costs 15.99 per gallon.  Sucked it up and made a Tomme today but geez!  I'll trade you Jerry Brown for 3 bags of good boiled peanuts!

Mike

Thanks for the "Jerry (Moonbeam) Brown" offer but I politely decline.  Do you have a source for raw peanuts there?  If so you can boil your own and they will be just as good as you remember.  Let me know if you want to try and I'll get you the recipe.  Love San Diego but $16 for milk :P??  It's half of that here, but I use a non-homiginized low temp pasturized I purchase right up the road for $4.75, less than a dollar more than store-bought here.

sigurdur

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Re: Greetings from the Pee Dee
« Reply #6 on: July 07, 2013, 11:27:36 AM »
Hi John .. and welcome :)

I also consider myself a newbie .. even though if I've been making cheese for years!!
I just find that the more I learn, the more I have to learn .. ;)

Anyway .. we enjoy cheese pics (or at least .. I do) :)

John@PC

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Re: Greetings from the Pee Dee
« Reply #7 on: July 07, 2013, 10:20:25 PM »
Quote
I also consider myself a newbie .. even though if I've been making cheese for years!!
I just find that the more I learn, the more I have to learn .. ;)

Boy, isn't that the truth!  Can't speak for the Old Cheese's but my guess is that they learn something new every day too.  The only difference is they are fed with the eyedropper of knowledge and for us newbies it's a firehose!  Anyway, thanks for the nice welcome.