Hi all -
So as promised, I'm going to try to to put together this recipe for VMD which is heavily (almost completely) taken from Al Lewis' great work and then sprinkled with some other sources (including Alpkaserei's input and link to the German standards of VMD page). Please help me edit it/ correct it so that we can together come up with a great Vacherin-style recipe. Let me know what needs to be added/removed/changed and then we'll have our hack.
Standards Of VMD (from Alpkaserei's link) Specifications for Vacherin Mont-d'Or (PDO) (provided by Alpkaserei
http://www.aop-igp.ch/_upl/files/VMO_Pflichtenheft_14.pdf)
Gross: 20 to 32 cm
Chemical PropertiesWater content: 500-575 g / kg
Water content in the de-fatted cheese: at least 650g / kg
Fat: 490-549 g / kg dry matter
Salinity: 10 to 20 g / kg
Special equipment: Spruce bark straps (
http://artisangeek.com/spruce-bark-straps/). I don't know if there are other sources to get these.
Begin with Camembert recipe to make wheels (traditionally Vacherin is made with winter milk in Alpine production)
or Al's recipe from 200 Easy Homemade Cheese recipes, page 239 with some modification:
3 gallons of milk with 3 pints of heavy cream
1/4 tsp meso
3/8 tsp penicillium candidum
1/32 tsp of geotrichum
3/8 tsp calcium chloride in water
1/2 tsp vegetable rennet[/li][/list]
Milk to 86° F
Add cultures
Wait 15 minutes and add calcium chloride,
Wait 15 minutes and add rennet, wait 50 minutes and check for clean break.
Cut the curd to pea size pieces
(German standard says "cherry" size) Let stand for 10 minutes
Slowly warm curd to 100° F while stirring continuously for 35 minutes
Hold for 10 minutes while curds settle
Pour contents into cheese cloth lined colander and drain
Divide curd into 6 equal segments and put into prepared mold
Press with 20 pounds of weight for 30 minutes (
German standard says "lightly pressed"),
Flip over and press for a further 30 minutes.
Wrap with the prepared spruce bark (keep in a pan of steeping hot water prior to use to make soft).
Brine in 18% saturated brine for 12 hours turning over after 6 hours.
Dry at room temperature and place in cave
Flip every 12 hours for one week.
After one week flip and wash the top side of the cheese with brine solution leaving a good layer of brine on the surface
When flipping, the bottom side gets washed and then left up every two days
Continue until the cheeses soften
German standard: aged 17 to 25 days between 9 and 16 C 85% RHAl's Tips: "I keep these on a glass cutting board as the PC tends to grow quite a bit on the down side and wold easily attach itself to a mat. I used 5.1" diameter camembert molds which give you a cheese a little thicker than the spruce bark. About 2 inches thick."
From Alpkaseiri:
So the young cheese is put in the cave, and you turn it every day until stuff starts to grow. Then it is simply washed with salt water.
When it is done, you take the bark off and stuff the thing into a round box that is slightly smaller than your cheese. then you wash the rind off once more.
Some other tips I saw:
Boil spruce straps prior to use.
How long? German standard is " 90 ° C for 30 minutes" Wrap straps around cheese and secure in place with toothpick as shown i picture, or with string around periphery (
http://muchtodoaboutcheese.com/2014/05/19/the-cheese-gets-the-strap/)
Note: cheese may be initially loose in the strap, but will conform to size as it ages
Al's version:
http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=13797.0;attach=33877;image
