Author Topic: Cotswold Cheese  (Read 8784 times)

Offline DeejayDebi

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Cotswold Cheese
« on: May 25, 2009, 06:46:59 AM »
Cotswold Cheese is a Double Gloucester cheese with chives and Onion added.

I've only had once but it sure smells good! The fresh curds were pretty good so I have high expectations.

I kind of winged this one as I could really find a recipe.

Ingredients:
4.5 gallons raw milk
1/4 teaspoon MA11 culture
6 drops ammatto coloring
1/2 teaspoon double strength vegetable rennet
1 tablespoon dried chives
1 tablespoon dried onions
3 tablespoons cheese salt
 
Procedure:
Heat milk to 90°F
Add culture and ripen for 45 minutes.
Add ammatto coloring to 1/4 cup pure water and mix well.
Add ammatto to milk and mix well.
Add rennet mixed in 1/4 cup of pure water.
Cover and set for about 45 minutes or until a clean break is achieved.
Cut curds into 1/4 inch pieces, rest for 5 minutes then stir with whisk for about 20 minutes breaking up any larger curds.
Scald curds by raising the temperature to 104°F in about 35 minutes stirring to prevent matting.
Maintain  temperature for  30 minutes stirring to prevent matting.
Rest curds for 5 minutes.
Drain curds in cheesecloth lined colander add salt, onion and chives and mix well.
Place curds in molds and press mold for 15 minutes using 10 pounds of weight.
Flip cheese then press with 20 pounds of weight for 15 minutes.
Flip cheese then press with 40 pounds of weight for 24 hours.
Remove from mold and air dry for at room temperature flipping at least twice until dry to the touch. This can be from 2 to 5 days.
You could wax once dry or I prefer to allow cheeses to develop a natural rind by aging and then brushing with a salt brine consisting of about 1-1/2 cups of salt to 1 quart of water to remove unwanted mold every few days
Age for 1 to 3 months at 55°F and 80 to 85% humidity turning weekly.

Here's the process pix and the cheeses after an hour in the presses.

zenith1

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Re: Cotswold Cheese
« Reply #1 on: May 26, 2009, 03:37:19 AM »
That's a very interesting looking cheese. I have a mess of fresh chives growing-any Ideas on how to treat them before adding to the curds? I would not want to ruin the wheel by introducing it to any uninvited guests!

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Cotswold Cheese
« Reply #2 on: May 27, 2009, 03:23:44 AM »
Soak them in cold salted water - that'll get the buggies out! I love chives in cheese. It's a very underrated veggie.

Rich

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Re: Cotswold Cheese
« Reply #3 on: May 27, 2009, 09:07:48 AM »
Interesting that this post should appear just now; I had just heard of this cheese a few days ago and was going to make it my next endeavor.  Someone sent me a recipe that came from Tim Smith's book; but there was no mention of salt - which I questioned.  And thanks for the pix.  Question:  do you prefer making smaller cheeses for a particular reason?  It would seem that a larger wheel would have more mass to develop flavor and less rind loss.

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Cotswold Cheese
« Reply #4 on: May 29, 2009, 04:19:10 AM »
Actually this recipe was adapted from a Tim Smith recipe I think. I got his book about 5 or 6 years ago for Christmas and this was the only recipe I didn't already have. I would have to go find the book but I am almost sure that's were it started from. I just made a few changes to it to make it taste the way I think it should taste. I keep all my recipes in an excel spreadsheet so it's hard to tell sometimes. I didn't think I'd ever find other cheese makers out there to share with.

As far as the small wheels I like them because I give most of it away. It gives me cute little 1 pound wheels to give away when I vistit frineds and family. I hate to visit empty handed.

The rinds are actually very very thin and don't really detract from the cheeses. I rub my cheeses alternating between just salt and brine - almost like polishing the outside if you can understand what I mean. It makes them more mold resistant and self contained so to speak.

Gina

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Re: Cotswold Cheese
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2010, 11:30:43 PM »
I made this cheese today, mostly following the recipe Debi gave in the intial post. (Thanks for the recipe and the photos.) I used 2 gallons of grocery store milk, and adjusted ingredient amounts to conform.

The only changes I made were to add CaCl and no annatto, and a different herb mix. Mine was 1 tsp dry Italian seasoning, 1/2 tsp cayenne (in part for the color), and 2 tsp dry onion bits.

The curd, though smaller than in the photos, tasted very good. I am making one cheese from this which is currently in the mold. When it's dry, I plan to wax it.  :)

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Cotswold Cheese
« Reply #6 on: May 11, 2010, 02:56:52 AM »
Annatto isn't necessaey I just did it so I would be able to tell it from others in the cave. Does have nice taste fresh curds doesn't it. Makes a nice squeeky cheese. Good luck let us know how it comes out for you.

Gina

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Re: Cotswold Cheese
« Reply #7 on: May 11, 2010, 04:08:35 AM »
I would have put the annatto in if I had had it, although the cayenne did give the curds a nice warm glow, lol. I do like a wee bit of color in some cheeses.

I looked in the regular grocery today, but it was not in either the spice section, nor the 'ethnic' area. We have a couple small Mexican groceries and that probably will be my best bet to find it locally. It also can be sold as 'achiote'.  :)

 
« Last Edit: May 17, 2010, 05:15:46 PM by Gina »

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Cotswold Cheese
« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2010, 07:57:04 AM »
Hmmm cheyanne sounds good ...

PollyG

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Re: Cotswold Cheese
« Reply #9 on: May 07, 2011, 11:16:31 PM »
Hi Debi and others,
I'm pretty new to this amazing forum, so I don't know if it's okay to start up a post that's this old or not - but I just made Cotswold cheese today and the curds tasted kind of different - kind of mealy for lack of any other description.  I'm wondering if that's an indication that I did something wrong and that the cheese will be bad.
My recipe was photocopied for me from Making Artisan Cheese - I think that's the Tim Smith book that you mention, Debi, and the recipe was very similar to yours.  I used raw cow milk, left out the annatto, and added salt to the curds at the end, correcting the recipe's omission.
I've only tried Cotswold once before, and it was a miserable failure (my thermometer was about 10° off! I've since learned to calibrate before each batch of cheese).  This is my favorite cheese in the whole world, so I'd really like to be able to make it!
Thanks for any advice you might have,
Polly

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Cotswold Cheese
« Reply #10 on: June 27, 2011, 11:24:22 PM »
Polly -


Mealy is a good description and it is caused by lack of moisture or Milk-Fat or both, produced by one or more of the following:
1. Removing part of the fat from the milk.
2. To high heat in the whey.
3. Heating to long.
4. To much stirring at the time of whey removal.
5. Using to much salt.
6. Curing cheese in an environment that is to dry or to hot.
7. “High cooked” cheese is rubbery or corky.
8. Stirring to dry make cheese sandy or mealy.
9. To much salt make cheese salty and dry.


To prevent this:
1. All milk fat should be retained as much as possible.
2. Lower temperatures when firming curds will produce better texture.
3. Double check the temperatures on your thermometers.
4. Stir curds as needed and use the proper amount of salt.

Hope this helps!

Rizzo

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Re: Cotswold Cheese
« Reply #11 on: May 30, 2014, 09:02:40 PM »
Hi Debbie, I realise this is a very old thread, but how did this cheese turn out? I want to make it today. I like the recipe, nice and simple, and doesn't seem to take too long. thanks