An other Stiltonesque aka Bleu d' Armand

[hoeklijn]

Last Saturday I decided to remake my Bleu d' Armand aka Herman's Blue aka Stiltonesque aka etc etc.....

Used again about 22 liters of raw milk and, since I found a German supplier for Danisco cultures, I used MM101 as culture.
The PR was still the somewhat milder strain that was advised for Fourme d' Ambert.
Here the pictures so far:

Curd pressed draining for 6 hours


Curds milled and salted


In the mould


After the first turn


Out of the mould on Wednesday evening


Smoothened with some preserved curd

[Tiarella]

Herman, you make it look so easy!!   ^-^  A cheese to you for a photo essay that tempts me to actually use a recipe and try a blue.  Can you remind me of the flavor of your last one?  I do have a mild PR I could use. 

[hoeklijn]

Hi Kathrin, thanks for the cheese. Flavor of the previous was creamy and salty where blue, but without being too sharp, but of course it's all a matter of taste....
Had a piece of curd yesterday when I was smoothening the rind and  the creamyness is already promising....

[H-K-J]

Nice cheese Herman, it came out of the mold looking very nice and an excellent smoothing job.
I am sure you will love this one after ageing, as always it will be interesting to see how the bluing goes 8)

[hoeklijn]

Blue developed nicely, so after one and a half week I decided it was time for the first wash and piercing:

Just like the first make I don't want the rind to get fully Stiltonesque so I'll wash it twice a week with a 20% brine...


a total of 36 piercings all the way through, made with a 4mm knitting needle...
Nice thing is that there will be crumbs of cheese left on top of the cheese, which you can collect and taste :P

[H-K-J]

How did this turn out Herman??

[hoeklijn]

Yesterday evening my Christmas holiday started and I openend my Bleu d'Armand. A bit less creamy then expected (and wished for) and more matured then my first one. Needed some time to get to room temperature and that softened the texture really nice.
Good balance of blue, just the way I like it, which is not too overwhelming. Tried it with a sip of medium dry sherry and that turned out to be a nice combination!

 

[jwalker]

Wow , what a beautiful cheese ! :o

As for the texture , I kind of like them a little drier and crumbly , so that one is perfect in my opinion.

A cheese to you for that !

[H-K-J]

Boy, everything looks like it turned out very well ^-^
yes a cheese to you ;D

[JeffHamm]

Great looking blue!  A cheese to you.  Sounds like you got pretty much of what you asked for, which is nice for the start of the holidays.  Well done.

- Jeff

[Geodyne]

It looks fabulous. Well done! A cheese to you.

[Boofer]

Herman, that is one beautiful cheese! :P

I figured I would blow that pic up to poster size so I'd know how it should look if and when I decide to craft something akin to a "Stiltonesque aka Bleu d' Armand". ;)

Blue on a hard or semi-hard cheese is on my "schedule" for 2014. I'm leaning towards a Tomme or Beaufort with a touch of Blue.

Of course, another cheese for your collection, sir.

-Boofer-

[hoeklijn]

Thank you all for the cheeses guys, and I'm going to enjoy this one, probably together with a Cranberry-cheese or one of my beer-cheeses...
And of course all of you: "Marry Christmas and Happy Holidays"