Feta class

[scasnerkay]

I had fun today teaching 6 eager people to make feta cheese! It took 4 hours start to finish, and they each took home some cheese to finish ripening and then dry salt! During ripening and coagulation we had time to talk cheese making concepts. They got to see flocculation and clean break, and they got to taste and feel curds at different stages. Hopefully there will be some new cheese makers in my area now! I used plastic strawberry baskets lined with cheesecloth as forms for them! Here is the recipe I used...

Feta

Ingredients:
1 gallon non-homogenized, pasteurized whole milk
1/8 scant tsp Flora Danica
1/4 tsp calcium chloride (in ¼ cup water)
0.7 ml calf rennet (in 1/4 cup water)
Flocculation multiplier of 4
2 Tablespoons kosher flake salt

Targets:
Starter in and ripen 90 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes
Stir in calcium and then rennet
Check for time to flocculation and multiply x 4 to know when to cut
Cut curd in about 2 inch vertical squares, rest 10 mins
Cut horizontally with knife or spoon, rest 5 minutes
“Cook” /gently stir at 90 degrees for 20 mins
Rest 5 mins after cooking, then scoop into forms
Turn after 1 hour of draining
Drain 6 to 12 hours.
Salting will stop the acidification process. Without a way to test pH the best way to know when to salt is to taste a bit of the cheese. It should smell and taste a tangy, but not necessarily sour.
Sprinkle all over with 1 T salt and let drain 12 hours. Repeat the salting and again let it rest in the liquid that collects.
You can then eat the cheese. If it is too salty, soak it in a bit of milk. This is fresh feta rather than aged.

[Al Lewis]

If I made to this recipe what would I have to do to age/store in oil Susan?  Would love to put a bunch of this up.  Have a lot of jars sitting empty.

[scasnerkay]

Al, I have never tried oil packing the feta. Normally I put the whole wheel in saturated brine for 8 hours per pound, then let it air dry in the cave for 2 or 3 days, then I put it into very light brine (8%) made from the reserved refrigerated whey. I have kept cheese this way for about 6 months in the house frig.

[Al Lewis]

Cool!  That would work for me! Thanks a million!

[Danbo]

Al: I sometimes age/store Feta in oil. I just put the Feta in the oil (to the left in the image) after salting together with some garlic and dried bay leafes (be fareful to avoid bacteria). I usually cut the Feta into small squares but I think that I will just use bigger chunks next time.

[Al Lewis]

This is the sort of thing I had in mind.  I can a lot of pickled stuff and would like to do some feta in the same manner using good olive oil.

[Danbo]

Use an olive oil that stats liquid in the fridge...

[Kern]

I sometimes age/store Feta in oil. I just put the Feta in the oil (to the left in the image) after salting together with some garlic and dried bay leafes (be fareful to avoid bacteria). I usually cut the Feta into small squares but I think that I will just use bigger chunks next time.

You should always be very careful about storing garlic in oil since this essentially puts it in anaerobic conditions conducive to developing botulism spores (Clostridium botulism).  It won't develop in acidic conditions but putting garlic in oil with acidic cheese may be problematic since it is not an aqueous system.  Garlic is always suspect since it was grown underground.  Clostridium botulism is commonly found in soil.   See the following for more information:   

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botulism   

[Danbo]

Kern: Good point! Would a short dip in boiling water prevent this?

[Al Lewis]

The wife buys jars of minced garlic already in their own juices so I would think that if you used that instead of fresh, did I really say that?, you would be fairly safe.

[Kern]

Good point! Would a short dip in boiling water prevent this?

I grow garlic (about 80 heads per year).  One of the challenges growing garlic is preserving it.  We harvest in late July and cure the heads by drying.  When dry we bag them and store in a cool dark place like the vegetable drawer of our 38F fridge.  Regardless, about January the heads start showing signs of sprouting.  The now green centers are a bit bitter and best discarded.  Still, it is a race against time.  For Christmas my lovely wife bought me a book on making pickled vegetables using a brine solution.  I tried this with garlic and it seems to work very well.  The garlic retains its flavor but drops the sharp bite.  Furthermore, it becomes a little salty/acidic and botulism can't survive in acidic conditions.  So, my GUESS is that the now acidic garlic would not develop botulism in anaerobic conditions such as under olive oil.  Here is how you pickle garlic or for that matter any other vegetable:

Loosely pack the husked garlic cloves in a jar.
Fill the jar with a salt brine made from 150 grams of salt per gallon of water.  (use non-chlorinated water.  cheese salt is OK but sea salt is better)
Rig a "hold-down" to keep the garlic submerged.
Loosely cover to keep out dust and allow the carbon dioxide produced to escape.
Place is a dark room temperature (68-72F) place for about 2 weeks until the pH drops to 4.5 or below.

You don't need to add any culture to this.  The air is full of spores that operate on sugars in anaerobic conditions (under the brine) to produce our old friend lactic acid with CO2 as the by-product.  When the desired pH is achieved you can refrigerate and the reaction stops as it is too cold.  Keep the lid loose until the contents chill to prevent developing pressure.

Sauerkraut is made in a similar fashion but instead of brine about 1.5-2.0% salt is added to the shredded cabbage, which will give off enough water to make its own brine.  Knead the cabbage and salt together a half dozen times over an hour in a large bowl and then pack the jars as above.

[Al Lewis]

Interesting recipe.  So you don't use any vinegar when pickling your garlic?

[Danbo]

I use a "Gärtopf" for cabbage...

[Kern]

Interesting recipe.  So you don't use any vinegar when pickling your garlic?

No.  It is not necessary.  The anaerobic bacteria in the air and on the garlic eats sugar and creates lactic acid and carbon dioxide as a by product.  The lactic creates the required acidity.

[Kern]

I use a "Gärtopf" for cabbage...

Precisely!  Note the weights to hold the cabbage down under the brine.  You could just as easily use this on garlic and other veggies using my brine recipe above.  The Gartopf is available in the US but costs about $125-$175.