Today's a very wild, wet and woolly day in Adelaide. Not fit for doing anything much ... except making cheese.
Sage Derby was apparently made originally for Christmas and other celebrations, so i decided that it would be a good one to make for this Christmas.
The recipe was adapted mostly from the Cheesemaking.com recipe with some reference to Gavin Webber's video. The make went as follows:
• 8 L Fleurieu Full Cream unhomogenised milk P=3.3%, F=3.8% (P:F = 0.87), brought to 30C
• 1/6 tsp (tad) MTR4 starter
• 2.5ml CaCl2 in 50 ml water
• 1.8 ml 200 ICMU animal rennet in 40 ml water
• ¾ cup of Sage and Spinach leaves
Preparation of Sage and Spinach:
Soaked leaves in water for 15 min.
Chopped coarsely.
Steeped in 1 cup boiling water
Chopped finely in blender
Warmed the milk to 30 C.
Added the starter, rehydrated for 2 minutes and stirred for 3 min.
Left for 45 min.
Stirred in the CaCl2 5 min. before renneting.
Stirred in the rennet for 2 min, covered and left. Flocculation time 13½ min x 3.5 = 48 min.
Cut the curd into 15mm cubes and stirred gently. Rested for 5 min.
Stirred gently for 15 min.
Gradually raised the temperature to 37 C over a period of 15 minutes, stirring gently, then maintained at this temperature for 15 minutes with stirring (until curds knit under pressure).
Allowed to settle for 10 min.
Drained in cloth-lined colander for 15 min.
Pressed lightly into a slab.
Drain the slab for 15 min. and then turn.
Turned every 15 min for a total of 5 drainings. Kept warm during this process.
Milled the curds into small pieces and sprinkled with salt in two stages with 10 min between. (2% of the weight of the curds; salt = 25 g )
Left for 10 min. to absorb salt.
Mixed the Herbs and water into the curds and leave another 10 min.
Put in a cloth-lined mould and currently in the press.
