My rendition of Montasio (#1)

[Boofer]

Following Jeff Hamm's makes of this style along with the recipes from 200 Easy (p.272), Mary Karlin (p.130), Gianaclis (p.294), I jumped in to give this a try yesterday.

This marks my first use of goat milk. The cost is fairly prohibitive @ $7.95 per half gallon (64 oz). I had purchased milk for two makes (What is wrong with just making one cheese in a day?!!)

The make went fairly well with no hiccups.

Initial pH: 6.71

1 gallon Dungeness Valley whole raw milk
1 gallon Twin Brooks whole creamline milk
1 gallon Grace Harbor Farms pasteurized creamline goat milk
1/2 tsp Thermo C (TA + LH)
1/2 tsp CACL, mixed in 1/4 cup distilled water
1/32 tsp dry calf rennet, dissolved in cold 1/4 cup distilled water

-I raised the milk to 95F, added the Thermo C and CACL, and ripened for 30 minutes, and then added the rennet.
-I used a floc multiplier of 3. It floc'd in 12 minutes.
-After waiting for the curd to gel (another 24 minutes), I cut and whisked it down to corn kernel size.
-Heated and stirred the curds to 114F over 40 minutes, and then gently stirred for an additional 30 minutes.
-Drained whey and saved for whey-brine, hand-packed the curds into a standard Tomme mould lined with Plyban.
-Pressed with 21 pounds for 15 minutes under whey to knit the rind.
-Flipped & rewrapped and pressed under whey for 30 minutes.
-Drained whey, flipped & rewrapped, and pressed @ 3.5psi overnight.
-Checked this morning and pH 5.48...decided to go ahead and brine it at 6AM.
-This will be flipped at 6 hours and brined for an additional 6 hours.

And yes, there are nubbins on the wheel because I pressed naked in the final pressing. They will disappear in time and with the rubbing that follows.

-Boofer-

[Sailor Con Queso]

Boof - FYI, almost all store bought goat's milk is ultra-pasteurized, and they are not required to state that on the label. However, since you can legally buy raw milk, the rules may be different where you are.

[JeffHamm]

Hi Boofer!  Nice.  The only goats milk I can get is high heat pasteurized.  I've made one lactic goat cheese from it, and a lot drained off through the mould, but I didn't use any cheesecloth.  I would bag and drain it first if I were to do it again.  Anyway, nice looking cheese.  Will be interesting to see how it turns out, but that could be a while.

- Jeff

[Boofer]

Boof - FYI, almost all store bought goat's milk is ultra-pasteurized, and they are not required to state that on the label. However, since you can legally buy raw milk, the rules may be different where you are.

Well, that's a problem too, I guess. Raw goat's milk was available right next to it. Everything seemed to gel okay. Maybe I can pull it out of the fire. Won't know until next year.

-Boofer-

[Boofer]

On July 30th I rubbed honey into the wheel. Surprise! The rind resists the honey and behaves like water off a duck's back, especially around the circumference.

I did my best to massage it in and then returned it to its minicave and back to the cave.

July 31: I wiped away excess honey and again did my best to massage the honey in. At this point, it appears that some honey has been absorbed. I evenly spread the residual honey into the cheese. In a week or two I will try to massage more honey into the cheese.

-Boofer-

[JeffHamm]

Hi Boofer,

Neat idea.  Maybe if you dissolve the honey in some water you could rub it on over a few days like a brine and as it evaporates it would leave a honey shell that might later absorb?

[Spoons]

This is the first time I've heard of a honey rub. This is pretty cool!

Nice one Boofer!

[Boofer]

This is the first time I've heard of a honey rub. This is pretty cool!

Nice one Boofer!

Oh, Eric, when I went to massage the honey into this cheese this morning...the aroma was heavenly! Might be the goat milk influence. Just...wow! 

-Boofer-

[scasnerkay]

What will the honey do? Does it help prevent growth of unwanted molds? And why waiting that long after the make?

[Boofer]

What will the honey do? Does it help prevent growth of unwanted molds? And why waiting that long after the make?

This is fashioned after Mary Karlin's recipe. It may help prevent incursions, but I see it as something that builds character in the rind, much the same as cinnamon, cocoa, etc., rubbed into the rind.

I waited so long into the make because

• I wanted the rind to be fairly developed before introducing the honey.
• I had briefly forgotten about the honey element. Hey, I was distracted.

-Boofer-

[Spoons]

So, I was kind of excited of trying something new and do this honey-rubbed montasio (thanks Boofer!). I went on to look in the pantry to see if I had enough honey. I didn't. Then I saw the Aunt Jemima bottle and I started laughing, but then I saw an unopened can of maple syrup. Adding a sugary rub never crossed my mind, would maple syrup be a good alternate choice? I always thought you couldn't ad sugar to an aging cheese, but I suppose that doesn't apply to a rind rub?

And yes, the myth is true. All Canadians have at least 1 can of maple syrup in their pantry 

[OzzieCheese]

Awww thats not fair. I only get real maple syrup when I can wrangle a trip the US.  Dennis farms don't export to Oz and I have to place the 1oz bottles of the Grade A Dark Amber under lock and key.  The stuff we get here is made from only 5% syrup - the real stuff only for me !!  Check'em out
http://www.dennisfarmsmaple.com/

I'm thinking that the Maple Mustard as a rind rub would be the most amazing thing EVER !  I just can't get any.. 

CheeseOn 

[Boofer]

I had added more honey several days ago. Today I smeared that honey around again.

I would like to get to the point where the rind has assimilated the honey and is approaching a drier character. At that point, I will vacuum-seal this cheese for longer term affinage. This is a relatively small wheel and it promises to be a hard, grating cheese.

-Boofer-

[Boofer]

Smeared the residual honey around the wheel this morning. I then decided it was time to vacuum-seal the wheel.

I'm thinking this will age for 6-12 months @ 53F.

-Boofer-

[Spoons]

Beautiful colour! I don't see any addition of annatto. Is that all beta-carotene in the milk?