Author Topic: First blues  (Read 4858 times)

StuartDunstan

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First blues
« on: August 27, 2014, 10:18:12 PM »
Hi folks. This is my first attempt at making blue cheeses, and in this case they are of the soft variety.  They're about 12 days old now, and were pierced on the 8th day. I must say, it's pretty exciting to see that first bloom of blue mould, and watch as it grows so quickly all over the cheese.

Anyway, the first photo below is of the standard soft blues. The second photo is of the two cheeses that I thought I might try spraying with a mix of Geo, white mould, and salt, to see if I could get a blue brie type thing happening. Well, it hasn't seemed to had much of an effect, as you can see. The blue mould is just taking over everything, and both batches look pretty much the same.

So a question I have: Should I re-pierce the cheese to make sure the blue mould inside the cheese is getting enough oxygen? And if so, should I try and re-pierce through the holes I've already made, or make new ones?


hoeklijn

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Re: First blues
« Reply #1 on: August 28, 2014, 05:38:42 AM »
Using the same holes or not also depends on what result you want to get: Creating more veins with blue will make the taste stronger. Since you have more than one cheese, try both methods :)

Offline H-K-J

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Re: First blues
« Reply #2 on: August 28, 2014, 02:28:07 PM »
So a question I have: Should I re-pierce the cheese to make sure the blue mould inside the cheese is getting enough oxygen? And if so, should I try and re-pierce through the holes I've already made, or make new ones?

as hoeklijn has said try it both way , my preference, I try to pierce in the same holes but I make a lot of holes ::)
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janij

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Re: First blues
« Reply #3 on: August 31, 2014, 08:29:35 PM »
The last blues I made I should have pierced more!  Is it possible to pierce too much?  They look great!

StuartDunstan

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Re: First blues
« Reply #4 on: September 19, 2014, 10:03:51 PM »
Well here are my first blues after 6 weeks. I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out, and most importantly they taste really delicious.

They're a lot more gooey than I thought they would be, and I probably could have opened them a week or two ago. But I do love a gooey cheese.

Thanks everyone for the advice on piercing! I ended up piercing twice, and it seems to have given me some good patches of blue inside.

In this batch there were four cheeses, with two of them being slightly larger than the other two. The smaller ones seem to be more advanced in their ripeness, and I gather this is a general rule with cheese: smaller cheeses mature faster.

Oh yeah, I've started naming my cheeses too, as you can see from the photo below. These are Winter Sky Blue, named after the glorious clear blue skies we get here in Brisbane in winter.

Cheers!


John@PC

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Re: First blues
« Reply #5 on: September 19, 2014, 11:35:30 PM »
Holy dairy cow Stuart, they are beautiful!!  A cheese for you making me want to try another soft blue :).

Offline Boofer

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Re: First blues
« Reply #6 on: September 20, 2014, 04:34:56 AM »
Nice & creamy! Good job, Stuart. A cheese for your efforts.

How does it taste? Any bitterness?

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StuartDunstan

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Re: First blues
« Reply #7 on: September 20, 2014, 09:19:25 PM »
Hi Boofer. No, no bitterness at all. Just super creamy with a nice saltiness, and the lovely blue flavour.

To be honest, I wasn't sure if I was supposed to let it get a blue rind, but the flavour is not overpowering at all. I'm super happy with these. :)

I might try my hand at a slightly harder blue next time!

janij

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Re: First blues
« Reply #8 on: September 20, 2014, 09:35:56 PM »
Those are beautiful!  Any info on the make or what recipe you followed?

StuartDunstan

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Re: First blues
« Reply #9 on: September 22, 2014, 10:33:34 PM »
Thanks Janij. I've attached the recipe I followed, which is from Graham Redhead, who teaches cheesemaking courses in most of the east coast states here in Australia. (To any Aussies, I totally recommend attending one of his courses: http://www.cheesemaking.com.au/).

I used unhomogenised Jersey milk (local Cooloola Milk, from the Sunshine Coast), and ended up adding about 200ml of extra cream too. So it's a pretty high fat, creamy cheese. :)

Offline OzzieCheese

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Re: First blues
« Reply #10 on: September 23, 2014, 02:49:55 AM »
Crackin' Blue Cheese and a Cheese for your efforts.  Going camping in a couple of weeks but will be doing this one when we get back.

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janij

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Re: First blues
« Reply #11 on: September 23, 2014, 09:03:23 PM »
Stuart, THank you thank you!!  It looks similar to the one I made last time but I am calf sharing so mine was probably lacking in the cream department.  I wanted a cheese that was nice and creamy like the one you made.  I have the calves sharing one momma now and am milking the otehr so I am getting cream now.  I will try this recipe!  YAY!  I am excited now! :)

Offline Andrew Marshallsay

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Re: First blues
« Reply #12 on: September 24, 2014, 10:06:53 AM »
Absolutely stunning looking blues. I can well believe that they taste fantastic.
Thanks for the recipe too. I've been contemplating a blue in the near future.
Please accept another cheese.
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amiriliano

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Re: First blues
« Reply #13 on: October 01, 2014, 02:56:09 PM »
Wow! A cheese for you!

Beans

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Re: First blues
« Reply #14 on: November 22, 2014, 04:47:54 AM »
You've inspired me, I'm going to make a blue tomorrow.

Thx