Beginners luck, a success.
Make date Feb: 27, 2015 Eat date May 26, 2015
4.5 liters 3.25% homogenized milk
A few drops of cheese coloring in ¼ cup water
Half a cap full of CaCl2 in ¼ cup water
¼ tsp double strength Rennet in ¼ cup water.
Starter culture, 4 ice cubes sized Flora Danica
A few sprinkles of Brevibacterium linens.
Bring milk at 86F, add bacteria, mold, coloring and diluted rennet, stir 10 minutes and ripen 30 minutes.
Cut ¼ inch cubes and stir 10 minutes.
Increase temperature to 92F in 15 minutes and maintain for 20 minutes more, stirring occasionally.
Remove some of the whey, let sit 5 minutes more.
Add curds in the mold and let sit 2 hours. Then flip the mold every hour for six hours. Leave in mold for the next 17 hours (24 hours total) flipping occasionally.
Brine for eight hours.
Spray on some Brevibacterium linens dissolved in brine from a spray bottle.
Age at 60F 90% R.H. for 10 days washing every day with brine (smearing).
Store at 60F smearing every 3-4 days for a week.
Wrap with parchment paper then wrap in foil and age for 4 more weeks at 40-50F.
Then I took it out of the fridge and placed it in the cave at 60F for another few weeks. The cheese split, so I decided to eat it.
It’s very nice, tastes aged. A bit dry and crumbly in the middle in a nice way. I would purchase this cheese for its taste, I will make it again.
