Author Topic: Experimenting very Caerphilly...  (Read 2081 times)

JimSteel

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Experimenting very Caerphilly...
« on: October 11, 2013, 01:54:23 PM »
Yes, I know it's CAR-fill-ee, but I couldn't resist the opportunity for a pun.

I've been making cheese for a year now and I finally ordered some aroma cultures.  Seems like caerphilly has a pretty good reputation on these forums and matures fast, so I had to give it a shot.  Since I plan on making some more of these in the future, I had to run the vac-bag vs. waxing test run to see how I was going to treat my wheels.
I followed the standard recipe from 200 Easy, not going to get into the nitty gritty, but I did brine this cheese, it wasn't milled and salted as I've seen some recipes call for.  I'll be trying that next time.
If you are familiar with the few cheeses I've posted you'd know that I generally make them quite small (1lb).  These daughter cheeses are really quite small after going through mitosis.

Information related to experiment:
They have been air drying for a week. (I don't have the facilities to do long term natural rind ripening before bagging them.)
They are firm and dry on the surface.
They have just been kept in ambient temp (60-70F) and humidity (varies depending on day)

Now, we must wait until halloween to see the results. (is 3 weeks in the cave after 1 week air drying long enough?)

gjfarm

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Re: Experimenting very Caerphilly...
« Reply #1 on: October 11, 2013, 02:51:54 PM »
Your post on the Caerphilly got me laughing over an incident that happened in the last few days.  Last November I made this cheese using my raw goats milk and the recipe from 200 Easy Cheeses as you did.  Brined, waxed and aged per the instructions.  As I recall, it tasted pretty good at the time.  Well, with the holidays coming, and a husband who isn't that fond of some of my 'experiments',  I vaccuum wrapped the cheese and and put in the frig.  I've been seeing it sitting there since then, but never had the incllination to open it.  Well, I did the other day and wow, is it good.  Tastes like a white cheddar, and my husband stated that it is now his favorite homemade cheese!  Now if I can get that reaction on some of my soft/moldy cheeses --yeh!  He is starting come around on those.

Offline Tiarella

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Re: Experimenting very Caerphilly...
« Reply #2 on: October 11, 2013, 04:07:50 PM »
Great posts, you two!  I eagerly look forward to your vacuum bag versus wax results and I too love a long-aged Caerphilly.  I'm making one today with a new array of cultures.....or at least 1 new culture and I'm curious how it will come out tasting. I do think I'll age it quite long in order to harvest the sweetness production of the FLAV54 adjunct culture I used.  Might also do a raw honey and leaves adornment. 

I do like playing with the name of this cheese.  I've named some of my makes things like "Caerphilly Adorned", Caerphilly Chived" ad "Caerphilly Spiced" because it really is just too good a pun opportunity to pass up on.

JeffHamm

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Re: Experimenting very Caerphilly...
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2013, 07:16:47 PM »
I believe the pronunciation is car-FILL-ee, like Car and female horse, emphasis on the horse bit, rather than emphasis on the CAR bit, but, pendentry aside, both are appropriate given the speed of maturation of this cheese.  Still one of my favorites! And the pun potential is very versatile, just like the cheese :)

- Jeff

JimSteel

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Re: Experimenting very Caerphilly...
« Reply #4 on: November 04, 2013, 09:48:34 PM »
So, I've eaten my first Caerphilly and I have the results as per my November 1st tasting.  Part way through I had to open the vac bag and collect the released whey.

Waxed: Texture - a weird mixture of pasty, and crumbly.  Sticks to knife a bit. It retained more moisture than vac bag.
              Taste - Rather acidic and sharp, very mild cheddarish flavour
              Appearance - Stained bright pink and splotchy in many sections from the wax.

Vacced:  Texture - Drier and harder, just slightly crumbly.  Cuts into slices well, no stick.
              Taste - tasted much saltier than the other and much less acidic.
              Appearance - looked like a piece of plastic with vacuum bag lines pressed into it.

Out of 3 tasters, one like vac bag on all categories, one liked waxed on all categories and the third favoured the texture of the waxed rind, but the flavour of the vac rind.

So, there ye have the results of a cheese treated identically up to the sealing point (other than the whey leakage and draining).  I have another Caerphilly drying right now which I will attempt to make a natural rind.

Spoons

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Re: Experimenting very Caerphilly...
« Reply #5 on: November 05, 2013, 12:04:36 AM »
A cheese for you for your caerphilly thought out experiment! I never would have guessed there'd be such differences on the same cheese but one vac-sealed and the other one waxed.

Jim, Being both from Ontario, what milk do you use, and are you satisfied with it?

JeffHamm

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Re: Experimenting very Caerphilly...
« Reply #6 on: November 05, 2013, 02:44:18 AM »
Yes, a cheese to you for your experiment.  Interesting results.  It can be harder to notice whey leakage under the wax.  I've never waxed or bagged a caerphilly, as they usually get eaten well before then! :)  But, I could age one out, at which point I'll have to consider it.

- Jeff

JimSteel

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Re: Experimenting very Caerphilly...
« Reply #7 on: November 05, 2013, 03:39:58 AM »
Spoons, I just use store bought pasteurized homogenized.  Usually 3.25% homo milk, though I have been experimenting with skim milk and heavy cream and am finding a tremendous difference.  Haven't tried to find a local source or anything yet, I don't take it seriously enough to warrant that... for now.

Jeff, my facilities for naturally aging rinds have historically been dismal, but have recently improved with the reception of some new hardware.  I'm aiming to age this latest cheese in a more "Jeff-like" manner.