Greetings from Finland

[riha]

Hello all!

I'm a newbie cheesemaker from Helsinki, Finland. Bought a nice book about cheesemaking a couple years ago, but didn't really get going until recently. Have made lots of paneer for indian cooking, and now I have made some leipäjuusto (Finnish fried cheese), whole cream ricotta, halloumi and my first two batches of Feta are ripening in my cellar.

Next I would like to venture to the world of hard ripened cheeses, but unfortunately I lack some equipment (mainly wax), since there's just no shops in Finland that would sell cheesemaking stuff. Luckily I found out that there is a farm nearby that sells raw cow milk at reasonable prices.

Mold-ripened cheeses would be awesome too, but I'm afraid to get started since I don't have a cave of any kind, just my over-stuffed fridge.

I've been reading this forum for a while now, lurking and absorbing good info. Thought I might as well join and participate since people here seem to be nice and equally (or even more, delightful) cheeseheady than I am.

So greetings everybody!

--Jari Haavisto

[Cheese Head]

Hi riha/Jari and welcome to the forum, I believe you are first member in Finland so I've just added Finland to our Geographic Boards in case you have any local type stuff you want to post. Also, I could add a Finish language option for this forum's shell language (accessable via top right drop down language menu, default is English), but your English is perfect!

Congrats on your cheeses and looking forward to your input. FYI in our Cheese Making Suppliers list there are several from Europe that could ship you some wax, although sadly none in Finland!

[DeejayDebi]

Welcome Jair. It will be fun to have ideas comming from Finland.

[Aquarabbit]

Hello Jari!

There is a cheesemaking supply company in the USA called the New England Cheesemaking Supply Co. (www.cheesemaking.com) and they ship anywhere in the world.  They sell red, yellow, and black cheese wax in 1-, 5-, and 10-lb. sizes.

Wow, it sounds like you are much more than a "newbie"!  I have only made ricotta and mozzarella so far (and the ricottas were actually failed attempts at mozza  )...  next I am going to try paneer.

I don't think I've ever heard of leipajuusto, but I pretty much love anything fried.     Would you consider posting your recipe and/or a photo? 

[DeejayDebi]

I just googled Leipäjuusto it sounds very interesting!

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leip%C3%A4juusto

[riha]

Thanks for the tip Aquarabbit. I had checked NEC already, but I'm still searching for cheaper postage. 2 pounds of wax costs $11 and the postage is $20 which is a bit bad ratio. I already ordered some from Homestead Farm Supplies (UK) but they frankly f**ked me with the delivery. Excuse the language, I'm pretty angry with them. Aftermath is still on.

There seemed to be a leipäjuusto recipe on NEC website, but it's a bit weird since it uses cornstarch and sugar. Neither is used in traditional Finnish version as far as I know. I'll try to get some photos and put up a decent recipe next time I'm making some. There's one on my blog, but it's in Finnish It's pretty simple cheese to do and edible immediately so it's also very rewarding.

DeejayDebi, interesting info on leipäjuusto from Wikipedia. The Finnish version of the page does not mention anything about beestings (ternimaito in Finnish) and I didn't know that it is used for cheese. I haven't ever eaten leipäjuusto made from beestings. Perhaps I shall try to make some if I can afford it.

John, no need to put Finnish language for me, I prefer my desktop English What kind of stuff would go to Geographic Boards? Pretty quiet there overall.

[Cheese Head]

riha, yep quieter than I expected on the Geographic Boards, they are just in acse you have anything local, then again I think you are the only Finn here!

[Zoey]

Another Finn reporting here. Nice to see there's another one around!

[Alex]

Hello all!

Mold-ripened cheeses would be awesome too, but I'm afraid to get started since I don't have a cave of any kind, just my over-stuffed fridge.

So greetings everybody!

--Jari Haavisto

Wellcome Jari,

Don't worry about the cave. You can alter an old fridge (or a new one ) into a perfect cave. You need an external thermostat through it you connect the fridge. About humidity, there are plenty of solutions. You can put some plastic box or anything else filled with water, the bigger the surface area, the better, or hang a kitchen towel dipped in a water tank. I went one step further, I bought a second hand ultrasonic cold vapor device, the kind used in baby's' rooms. Connected it through a 24 hour cycle timer, it works 15 minutes, rests 30 minutes on medium intensity. To control temp and humidity, you'll need a temp and humidity meter, it costs about $10 at www.dealextreme.com, shipping free all over the world.

[zenith1]

Welcome Jari- glad to see that you can get fresh milk in Finland also. I don't know what kinds of hard cheese you are going to make. I will suggest to you that you do have options other than waxing. You can do a natural rind of different types, and also you can bandage the wheel to age. Search in the forum here for those subjects. A lot is up to your personal likes as to how you will age the wheels you make.

[riha]

After some light emailing Homestead Farm Supplies delivered what they promised and all is good. I have 1,5 kilos of cheese wax so I won't be running out any time soon. But I would like to try some other methods as well. Especially bandaging.

As for the cave, I have not found a thermostat that'd work with local 230V electric systems. Plus the darn things are expensive (more expensive than used fridges). I'm working on a zero budget being only part-time employed. Luckily I noticed that my cold basement is about 9.5 to 10 degrees celsius (50F) so I use that at the moment. I have a humidometer/thermometer that was cheap enough and some plastic boxes to get the humidity higher. So looking good.

Also, I just got my press finished. Pictures to come soon!

Zoey, hello, good to hear I'm not alone. We are going to have to teach these people how to make leipäjuusto and munajuusto, yes?

[Alex]

After some light emailing Homestead Farm Supplies delivered what they promised and all is good. I have 1,5 kilos of cheese wax so I won't be running out any time soon. But I would like to try some other methods as well. Especially bandaging.

You can recycle used wax, 1.5 kilos will keep for ages

The temp in your basement is good, there are cheeses that will not develope flavors (because of the type of culture and making) in the 4 deg home fridge.
I wish you to find some full time job.

[lionel]

Thanks for the tip Aquarabbit. I had checked NEC already, but I'm still searching for cheaper postage. 2 pounds of wax costs $11 and the postage is $20 which is a bit bad ratio. I already ordered some from Homestead Farm Supplies (UK) but they frankly f**ked me with the delivery. Excuse the language, I'm pretty angry with them. Aftermath is still on.

There seemed to be a leipäjuusto recipe on NEC website, but it's a bit weird since it uses cornstarch and sugar. Neither is used in traditional Finnish version as far as I know. I'll try to get some photos and put up a decent recipe next time I'm making some. There's one on my blog, but it's in Finnish It's pretty simple cheese to do and edible immediately so it's also very rewarding.

DeejayDebi, interesting info on leipäjuusto from Wikipedia. The Finnish version of the page does not mention anything about beestings (ternimaito in Finnish) and I didn't know that it is used for cheese. I haven't ever eaten leipäjuusto made from beestings. Perhaps I shall try to make some if I can afford it.

John, no need to put Finnish language for me, I prefer my desktop English What kind of stuff would go to Geographic Boards? Pretty quiet there overall.

Hi
 Just saw this and thought Id try and clear up some confusion, Leipäjuusto is made from beestings/beastings its an old english word for colostrum which is ternimaito  ; )

[DeejayDebi]

Ah ... not bee stings. It did sound rather difficult to obtain and I am alergic to bee-stings. Sometimes you get interesting translations don't you? 

[riha]

Still more about leipäjuusto

All the leipäjuusto I have eaten has been made out of regular milk. I don't think any commercial brand is made out of colostrum / beestings / ternimaito. Simple reason being that it's so bloody expensive because it's so difficult to come by. Costs about 10 euros per liter, which would make the cheese something like 100euros/kilo. And I don't think there'd be much buyers with that price.

I make leipäjuusto out of regular shop-bought milk (1,5-3,5%) or fresh milk, using rennet. Also all the traditional recipes I have seen have used regular milk. Uunijuusto (Oven cheese) is often made out of colostrum, but it's completely different cheese.