Author Topic: Hi from Alberta  (Read 1128 times)

pfarms

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Hi from Alberta
« on: November 09, 2013, 01:22:04 AM »
Hi, I am very new to making cheese.  We have a dairy cow and I have been making very very small batches of soft cheeses.  I have yet to try aged cheeses.  I am hoping to get ideas, help, and just be able to move forward.  I hope to learn a lot.

Offline Tiarella

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Re: Hi from Alberta
« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2013, 12:03:42 PM »
Welcome!  very glad to have you here.  I think you'll find that following basic recipes will have you creating cheese and that it's not an exacting science at the very same time that it IS an exacting science.  I guess I'm trying to say that you'll find there's a lot of leeway AND that over time, and with the help of experienced folks (not me) on this forum, you'll start to understand why sometimes you've ended up with a result different than your goal.  This will help you gain some mastery in your cheese quest.

I recommend the artisan cheese book by Gianaclis Caldwell for all the techniques and science behind cheese and the website of Gavin for some "making it look simple" recipes, photo-tutorials and videos of cheese making.  His site is www.littlegreencheese.com. Of course this forum is the absolute best when you need an answer to a particular question.

I got less nervous making hard cheese when I realized the huge variation of instructions for supposedly making the very same type of cheese depending upon whose book I was reading!  Now I follow guidelines more loosely, paying more attention to the texture of the curd along the way and letting that tell me what to do next and when.  My favorite resource is the amazingly generous and knowledgable group of folks on this forum who reply when I post a "HELP!" plea in the "Questions/Problems" board of this forum!   :)

Geodyne

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Re: Hi from Alberta
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2013, 09:05:57 PM »
Hi pfarms, and welcome! I envy you, having a dairy cow to hand.

I'd like to echo everything Tiarella has said. Reading Caldwell's book and this forum has vastly improved my understanding of what goes on in the cheese vat.

I would like to add a small warning however: making hard cheeses is addictive!

Tobiasrer

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Re: Hi from Alberta
« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2013, 05:05:44 AM »
Welcome!!
Where in alberta do you live?
We live in Central AB near red deer. As Geo said, a bit jealous of your cow... though hopefully this spring we will be adding one!!

I have not made any 'fresh' cheese yet, just wanst that interested so jumped right in, I have tried mozza 4 times with one success (batch 3) lol, but I have done a gouda a grueyer that worked really well and some feta!

Its been great, the information and help on here is amazing! everyone is soo great, and have so many great ideas and help.

I like the book 200 easy home made cheese recipes by debra amerien-boyes. Easy to follow, so far good success and she is a fellow canadian ;-)


pfarms

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Re: Hi from Alberta
« Reply #4 on: December 02, 2013, 06:09:36 PM »
Sorry, been so busy as of late getting the goats bred for spring and our holiday baskets for the farmer's market ready. 

As for where, we are north east of Peace River, by about 30 min. 

My children I swear live off fresh cheese.  My 1 yr old eats her weight in cottage cheese every week (not really, but seems that way). 

We actually have four dairy cows.  Two Jersey's and two Holstein's.  One Holstein is a nurse cow and definitely not hand tame.  Got her from a local dairy to help raise the bull calves for beef.  We bottle raise our heifer's though.  The other three, both Jersey's and one Holstein is all halter broke and milking able by hand or machine and all love being brushed. 

We have a mixed farm, so nothing here goes to waste.  We alternate our breeding cycles so that we never are out of milk.  It may seem sack-religious to some, but the whey from soft cheeses usually goes to the pigs.  Failed batches of cheese goes to chickens and pigs. 

Thank you for the warm welcome.  I look forward to being on here much more often to read and learn as the snow is finally too deep to do fencing.