My Crottin has an identity crisis (first attempt at a 'proper' cheese)

[KindofBleu]

Total newbie here – as in – got into this hobby about a month ago. Made a bunch of fresh cheeses and yoghurt and a horrendously wrong Bulgarian feta and decided to go for the real deal: Camembert and Crottin. The camembert is looking good, as in looking the way it’s supposed to look, which is encouraging (but this is a lactic set forum, so forget about the cams).

However, with the crottin, what I have is a cheese that was supposed to be three crottins (aged 8 days, 21 days, and a couple of months, as a learning experiment), but my crottin molds didn’t arrive in time, and it was late in the day, and I had a camembert mold, and long story short here is the result on day 10 (it’s 4x1.5 inches in size, just fyi):




Meaning, it’s essentially a mini Humbolt Fog without the ash layer. And no way to experiment with different aging times.

So – what do I do? There’s lots of mold growth and even though I’ve been tapping it down, I fear I might get toad skin if I leave it in my little plastic container any longer. I don’t want to eat it as a sort of fresh cheese, since it seems like a waste of effort already put in. Should I treat it like an ash-less Humbolt and wrap it and put it in the fridge for a couple of weeks? More than a couple of weeks?

P.S. The recipe was the basic lactic-set bloomy rind from Caldwell’s book (though she gives no directions as to aging times). I used raw goat’s milk, MA4001, PC + GEO, a drop of rennet, about 24 hrs of ripening, no cutting of the curd, no pre-draining, just careful ladling into a camembert form (so it was a pretty wet cheese at first and a trip to the local store was needed to grab a tiny usb-powered fan to facilitate drying).

Also – just to underline what a newbie I am – I totally missed the fact that most proper cheeses will require at least some time at 52-55F, so my poor cheese had to do with a cooler + freezer packs (60F) and the bottom part of the fridge (48F). I got a mini-fridge yesterday that I’m converting into an aging chamber, but this particular cheese had a hell of a childhood.

[Kern]

Aw, but the ugly duckling grew into a beautiful swan.   

Since you used PC + Geo I'd treat it as a Cam and get it into the cold fridge for six weeks or so until it starts to get soft at the edges.  Then I'd move it the the cheese cave for an overnight sojourn at 55F, move it to the counter at 70F and eat it when it gets to RT.  It still might not be all that pretty but it will taste good and be swan-like.  You can share it with a significant other who, since they love you, will overlook any small warts and tell you how good it tastes thus pumping up your cheesemaking self-exteem.    Speaking of which, I am awarding you with your first cheese for both your valiant efforts and youthful desire to make cheese without waiting for the proper molds to arrive.  I like your pluck!   

[KindofBleu]

Aw, but the ugly duckling grew into a beautiful swan.   

Will move the swan  to the fridge then – especially since I just got some fancy wrapping paper.

Didn’t know you get cheeses awarded to ya – who does the awarding? And how many pity awards do you get before people expect you to make perfect mont d'ors? 

As far as that significant other – she’s currently going through a … erm … adjustment period, especially since being introduced to the new mini-fridge of which she knew nothing about. 

[Kern]

Cheeses are awarded using the "Thumbs Up" hotlink below the posters name, etc.  Most members are rightfully stingy and only award them for extraordinary posts, pictures, comments, etc.  I award them to "virgins" who make valiant efforts on their first cheese makes.  Kind of takes the goose egg off the board.

As far as your mini-fridge goes I like your style.  What if your wife had said "no"?  Where would you be then?  It is far better to act and then beg for forgiveness than wait for permission - especially for equipment used to make cheese.  (I once bought a van conversion motorhome and my wife didn't know about it until it was time to pick it up.  It took about a week for her to start liking it and now she's the one who always wants to take trips and go camping in it!)   

[KindofBleu]

A surprise motorhome purchase is in another league of marital relations – I’m talking about a 1.7 sqft Danby here

I’ve modified the Danby, incidentally, by ripping off all that stuff that’s on the door and replacing it with a flat piece of aluminum – that almost doubles the interior space. Still nothing like what I see on this here forum, but good enough for now.

Anyway, thanks for the encouragement, I’ll post the results in a couple of weeks.

P.S. Is it OK to stack my little wheels (wrapped) in the fridge or will that extra bit of pressure be too much? (they’re around 260-300 grams each)

[Kern]

I've never tried stacking them.  The wrapping paper is designed to allow some 'breathing".  The contact areas on stacked wheels would not breathe well.  I don't think that the weight is the problem.

[KindofBleu]

Got my crottin forms and thought I'd go for a second, more proper, attempt. These were draining at room temperature overnight, and now have been flipped and are in a 63-ish degree cave, will unmold and salt them shortly.



Two cams (second attempt, first attempt is wrapped in kitchen fridge) drying on the top shelf. I had a jar with a saturated salt solution and a jar of water in the cave before and humidity spiked to 95%, which I assume is too high for the drying stage, so I got rid of them for now.

[KindofBleu]

Well, here's the somewhat disappointing result of that first crottin with an identity crisis. This is at around 21 days. Lots of slip skin, lots of liquification underneath the rind, and generally a disaster. Tastes rather good, but not what I had hoped for. Have taken notes and think second batch (with proper forms) will turn out better.

Wife finished the whole thing with a bottle of cotes du roussillon and a bowl of grapes, but I suspect that was just hunger + compassion.

[H-K-J]

Wife finished the whole thing with a bottle of cotes du roussillon and a bowl of grapes, but I suspect that was just hunger + compassion.

YUP sounds like it really sucked!

[KindofBleu]

YUP sounds like it really sucked!

Hey, look, I mean I'm just under two months into this hobby, so on one hand I'm happy to come up with anything that even remotely looks or smells or tastes like a cheese. At the same time, I've had a whole lot of good lactic set goat cheese over the years, and this wasn't it. And frankly, I don't know what to do with my expectations at this point -- use them to better myself, or shove 'em and enjoy the product, regardless of whether it's good or decent or just edible.

Still at a point where I think this cheese business is mostly magic, but the techie in me wants to be critical.

Also -- my wife might just be a lush and an unrepentant turophile, so I don't use her as a measuring stick.

[H-K-J]

I'll bet she still enjoyed eating your hand made artisan cheese
My better half has become my best sounding board, she knows what we like and has learned right along with me as to what each culture and process does to the cheeses we like to eat.
She is right there with me (albeit, at times reluctantly ) when I get a wild hair to make something she hasn't tried or heard of before.
We do have fun with it, ain't that what it's all about

[Kern]

Hey, look, I mean I'm just under two months into this hobby, so on one hand I'm happy to come up with anything that even remotely looks or smells or tastes like a cheese. At the same time, I've had a whole lot of good lactic set goat cheese over the years, and this wasn't it. And frankly, I don't know what to do with my expectations at this point -- use them to better myself, or shove 'em and enjoy the product, regardless of whether it's good or decent or just edible.

Around here we all start crawling before we walk and then it takes some walking before we learn how to run.  The key to becoming a descent cheesemaker is to stick with it knowing that you'll get better the more you do it.  Finally, one day we make a cheese that greatly resembles what the recipe promised we could make.  Only thing is we know in our hearts that we actually made something extraordinarily better that what we remembered once buying.  For me, it was when my wife, who spent a year in France long before I met her, said regarding some Camembert I made, "This takes me back to some of the best Camembert I ever ate in France." 

[Boofer]

Hey, look, I mean I'm just under two months into this hobby, so on one hand I'm happy to come up with anything that even remotely looks or smells or tastes like a cheese. At the same time, I've had a whole lot of good lactic set goat cheese over the years, and this wasn't it. And frankly, I don't know what to do with my expectations at this point -- use them to better myself, or shove 'em and enjoy the product, regardless of whether it's good or decent or just edible.

Around here we all start crawling before we walk and then it takes some walking before we learn how to run.  The key to becoming a descent cheesemaker is to stick with it knowing that you'll get better the more you do it.  Finally, one day we make a cheese that greatly resembles what the recipe promised we could make.  Only thing is we know in our hearts that we actually made something extraordinarily better that what we remembered once buying.  For me, it was when my wife, who spent a year in France long before I met her, said regarding some Camembert I made, "This takes me back to some of the best Camembert I ever ate in France." 

Practice, practice, practice....

Nothing builds confidence more than continued improved successes.

-Boofer-

[KindofBleu]

Can't resist posting a link to this Sparks "masterpiece"   

https://youtu.be/DCQ-yHzn-Nc

Practice, man, practice...

[john H]

Can't resist posting a link to this Sparks "masterpiece"   

https://youtu.be/DCQ-yHzn-Nc

Practice, man, practice...

WOW now there is a blast from the past.