Author Topic: I have become a cheese making addict...lol  (Read 4522 times)

blakee741

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I have become a cheese making addict...lol
« on: June 30, 2009, 02:29:39 AM »
Well i tried my hand at a small 1lb wheel of pepper jack, and a 3lb wheel of cheddar....I tried waxing it but wax peeled off..i have to store it in my fridge due to animals and no place else right now to keep it.  Well anyhow i vacuum wrapped the 3lb and when i went to vacuum wrap the pepper jack it was a big too tall..(make shift cheese press)..lol  anyhow i sliced it in half in order for it to fit in the remaining bag and it smelled sooooooo good.  i wanted to eat it right then and there but i use raw cows milk from a local dairy and want to be sure to age it for at least 90 days.  I can honestly say....

I'm addicted.......Yummmmmmm!

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: I have become a cheese making addict...lol
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2009, 03:10:44 AM »
Funny how that happens! Did you try a few curds or save any for cheese curds? They make a great quick snack and they squeak for about 12 hours when you chew them!

MrsKK

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Re: I have become a cheese making addict...lol
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2009, 11:15:24 AM »
Congratulations on catching the bug!

Incentive to buy your own cow or goat, perhaps?  I milk my own cow and have no qualms about drinking raw milk or eating fresh, fresh, fresh cheese curds.

Okay, fine, I'll stop gloating...

blakee741

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Re: I have become a cheese making addict...lol
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2009, 12:58:07 PM »
I have been homesteading for several years now and try and make most things.  We currently have pigs, chickens, and 4 cows (two female).  We are waiting for our bull to service our heifers and then we will have our own milk..YA!  I currently get my milk from a farmer down the road in which i worked a year milking. So now he give me a gallon or two when i want it.  I am still nervous about drinking and eating it raw...may change with having my own cow...i hope so but....this cheese thing I LOVE....

I also am trying my hand at homemade wine.  What two better things to learn..wine and cheese.

MrsKK

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Re: I have become a cheese making addict...lol
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2009, 01:53:00 PM »
I had a lot of trouble with wax peeling off, or having it crack and then getting moldy, so I went to using lard to coat my cheese.  Since we raise our own pigs for butchering, we have plenty of it around, too.

I make wine now and again when I have extra fruit.  My favorite so far is raspberry-rhubarb wine.  Unfortunately, my raspberry patch is old and dying out.  I'm trying to revive it, but our hard winters and now drought this last few years is really tough to battle against.

A good reference I found for wine making is "Home Wine Making Without Failures" by H. E. Bravery.  It is an old book and out of print, but I originally found it at the library.  I then ordered a copy through Abebooks.com, since I wanted to have it for my own reference.

Good luck!

wharris

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Re: I have become a cheese making addict...lol
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2009, 02:15:43 PM »
What I find nice about winemaking, is that cheesemaking and and winemaking seem to share much of the same equipement. 
For example:
My wine punchdown tool also serves to top-stir my cheese milk.
My cheese vat also serves as a primary fermenter.
Cheese cave is also my wine cave.


blakee741

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Re: I have become a cheese making addict...lol
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2009, 03:57:31 PM »
I would love your rhubarb wine recipe if you are willing to share.  We pick grapes in the fall near us for 1/8th of the cost and while making jam, jelly, and pie filling we also make wine.  I have wild blueberries that will be ready to pick next week and would love to try a wine with them.  I am sure i will have to mix another type of juice with it but sounds yummy to me.  I am also trying my hand at wine vinegar...mine has been sitting for over a month now but has yet to start the "mother" forming.  I have hopes.  Does anyone know of a Blueberry Cheese recipe? I have posted a request for it in another area on this site.  I would like to make it for my mom.  It is her favorite type of cheese.  It is an aged cheese with a swirl of blueberries through it.  thanks again...

wharris

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Re: I have become a cheese making addict...lol
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2009, 04:53:28 PM »
Blakee,
I was going to refer you to Jack Keller's website, but his site seems to be a bit flakey due a fire and some data loss at his ISP.
So here is a copy/paste of the relevant recipes:

BlueBerry

BLUEBERRY WINE (1) [Full Bodied]
2 lb. blueberries
1 lb. raisins
2 lb. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. pectic enzyme
1-1/2 tsp. acid blend
1/2 tsp. yeast energizer
1 gallon water
crushed Campden tablet
wine yeast
Bring water to boil, then set aside. Wash and crush blueberries and put in primary fermentation vessel with all ingredients except yeast. Add hot water and stir to dissolve sugar. Cover well and allow to cool to 70-75 degrees F., then add yeast. Stir daily for 5-6 days or until specific gravity is 1.040. Strain out fruit pulp and press. Siphon into secondary fermentation vessel and fit fermentation trap. Rack in three weeks and again in three months. When wine is clear and stable, rack again and bottle. Allow a year to mature. Improves with age. [Adapted from Stanley F. Anderson and Raymond Hull's The Art of Making Wine]

BLUEBERRY WINE (2) [Full Bodied Semi Sec]
2 lb. blueberries
1/2 pt. red grape concentrate
1-3/4 lb. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. pectic enzyme
1-1/2 tsp. acid blend
1/2 tsp. yeast energizer
1/2 tsp. wine stabilizer
7 pt. water
crushed Campden tablet
wine yeast
Wash and crush blueberries in nylon straining bag and strain juice into primary fermentation vessel. Tie top of nylon bag and place in primary fermentation vessel. Stir in all other ingredients except yeast and red grape concentrate. Stir well to dissolve sugar, cover well, and set aside for 24 hours. Add yeast, cover, and daily stir ingredients and press pulp in nylon bag to extract flavor. When specific gravity is 1.030 (about 5 days), strain juice from bag and siphon liquor off sediments into glass secondary fermentation vessel. Fit fermentation trap. Rack in three weeks and again in two months. When wine is clear and stable, rack again, add stabilizer and red grape concentrate, and bottle. Allow a year to mature. [Adapted from Raymond Massaccesi's Winemaker's Recipe Handbook]

BLUEBERRY PORT WINE
6 lb. blueberries
1/2 pt. red grape concentrate
1/2 c. light dry malt
1-3/4 lb. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. pectic enzyme
1-1/2 tsp. acid blend
1/2 tsp. yeast energizer
1/2 tsp. wine stabilizer
4 pt. water
crushed Campden tablet
wine yeast
Wash and crush blueberries in nylon straining bag and strain juice into primary fermentation vessel. Tie top of nylon bag and place in primary fermentation vessel. Stir in all other ingredients except yeast and red grape concentrate. Stir well to dissolve sugar, cover well, and set aside for 24 hours. Add yeast, cover, and daily stir ingredients and press pulp in nylon bag to extract flavor. When specific gravity is 1.030 (about 5 days), strain juice from bag and siphon liquor off sediments into glass secondary fermentation vessel. Fit fermentation trap. Rack in three weeks and again in two months. When wine is clear and stable, add red grape concentrate and wine stabilizer, rack again and bottle. Allow a year to mature.

Rhubarb wine

Rhubarb wine is one of those wines you either love or hate. My wife doesn't like the taste of rhubarb in any form, but I do. As a result, I don't make it often and only make a gallon at a time when I do.

Rhubarb contains an excess of oxalic acid, which is what gives it the taste some people find unpleasant. But oxalic acid can be easily removed (as in the recipe below) and the wine will be better for it. Although rhubarb wine has its own taste, it is excellent for blending because it will take up the flavor of whatever it is blended with and in the process will lose most of its own flavor.

If you're not sure you'll like it, you can always make a one-gallon batch and freeze enough rhubarb for another batch or two later. You can save space by crushing the rhubarb and freezing the juice.

Rhubarb Wine
6-7 lbs red rhubarb
2-1/2 lbs finely granulated sugar
2 large lemons (juice only)
water to make up one gallon
1 crushed Campden tablet
1 oz precipitated chalk
1-1/2 tsp yeast nutrient
Sauterne wine yeast
Wash the rhubarb and cut into 1/2-inch lengths. Crush with a piece of sterilized hardwood (the end of a baseball bat is perfect) and put into primary. Dissolve crushed Campden tablet in gallon of cold water and pour over rhubarb. Cover primary and let set for three days, stirring daily. Strain through a nylon straining bag and squeeze as much liquid as possible from the pulp. Discard pulp and return liquor to primary. Add the precipitated chalk (obtainable at winemaking shop). The liquor will fizz, but then settle down. Wait 3 hours and taste. If oxalic acid taste is still too strong, add another 1/2 oz of precipitated chalk. Stir in all remaining ingredients, making sure the sugar dissolves completely. (NOTE: You may want to hold back one pound of the sugar and add it after fermentation is well on its way.) Cover and set aside overnight. Transfer to secondary and fit airlock, but to allow for foaming during fermentation hold back a pint or so in a small bottle plugged with cotton. When ferment settles down (5-7 days), top up with reserved liquor and refit airlock. Set aside in cool place until wine begins to clear. Rack, refit airlock and top up. Allow at least another two months, making sure fermentation has ceased, and rack again. If possible, cold stabilize wine for 30 days. If you can't cold stabilize, at least allow the wine the additional 30 days. Rack into bottles or blend with another wine.

If you bottle the rhubarb wine pure, it is drinkable right away. If you blend it, age it according to instructions for the wine you are blending with. If you make a 3-5-gallon batch, add 1/8 tsp tannin per gallon when you add the other dry ingredients to extend the life of the wine. [Author's own recipe]




blakee741

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Re: I have become a cheese making addict...lol
« Reply #8 on: July 02, 2009, 01:19:37 AM »
thanks so much...!  all sound yummy

FRANCOIS

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Re: I have become a cheese making addict...lol
« Reply #9 on: July 02, 2009, 02:04:17 AM »
mmmmm....i love wine.  i have always wanted to give it a try but never had the time.  i've gotten as close as pressing juice but always end up just drinking the juice.

during college i lived in the black forest in germany.  one of my flat mates was from the area and his father had an orchard on their pig farm.  he used to make their own kirschwasser and other various things that were probably illegal.  once in a while he'd come over, after a weekend back at the farm, with a sissal wrapped glass carboy, probably 4-5 gallons in size.  all of his liquor was gin clear, sort of tasted like fruit but mostly seemed like it should have been dunk from a mason jar.  it just tasted like burning.   incidently we don't keep in touch.

wharris

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Re: I have become a cheese making addict...lol
« Reply #10 on: July 02, 2009, 02:32:10 AM »
You certainly do get around Francois!

Wine, like cheese making, is an exercise in delayed gratification.
You definately need the time!

blakee741

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Re: I have become a cheese making addict...lol
« Reply #11 on: July 04, 2009, 02:44:30 PM »
While currently i am on vacation...when i get back home I am going to try to make some Blueberry wine with some Blueberry Cheddar....I will try to take photos of my progress and let you all know how it turns out.  I tried a bite of my homemade motz..and it was fantastic.  The longer it sets the better it smells and its flavor is amazing

wharris

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Re: I have become a cheese making addict...lol
« Reply #12 on: July 04, 2009, 02:53:23 PM »
New Avatar for you?

Sedona

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Re: I have become a cheese making addict...lol
« Reply #13 on: July 04, 2009, 03:56:26 PM »
 :) That picture is just too funny Wayne  ;D

Tea

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Re: I have become a cheese making addict...lol
« Reply #14 on: July 05, 2009, 12:46:05 AM »
A rhubarb mead would be interesting to try also.