Hi all,
I will formally introduce myself. I'm Paula and new to cheese making. I have many peculiar hobbies, and making cheese is my newest. Among them is baking (I have quite a mean award winning scone recipe.), Making truffles for my boyfriends son, Dancing Ballet (Advanced and Pointe), Photography, Reading, Plucking out some pretty bad guitar (I'm not so good at that one), and involvement in a local young adult cancer survivors group. I try to eat good wholesome foods and detox my body, which led me to Barbra Kingsolver's book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and that introduced me to the idea of cheese making at home. I was intrigued by the complexity of cheese making and the rewarding part of eating it at the end...It's not nearly as rewarding to make soap, and this I know from experience!
So far I've made about 20+ lbs of 30 minute mozzarella in 1 or 2 gallon batches, and as soon as Ricki Carrol's book arrived I planned my attack on the hard cheeses. So far to date I've made 15 hard cheese wheels in 3, 4 or 7 gallon batches. Stirred curd cheddar, white cheddar cranberry, Colby jack (my first disaster, which taught me to press cheese on the floor as I broke my parents granite sink when the weights shifted at night and 50 lbs of weigh fell into the sink...oops $300+ to the cost of that cheese), Gouda, pepper jack, Parmesan, Romano, Farmhouse cheddar, Cedarburg Spice farmhouse cheddar (curds soaked in spiced red wine before pressing), 2 wheels of muenster (still waiting for the b linens to get colorful), Havarti, dill Havarti, Swiss (Carrol's recipe), and Gruyere (this is my new favorite), along with a batch of mascarpone (I can't wait to be off my diet so I can make tiramisu) and whey ricotta.
I think I might have a little side business going selling fresh mozzarella to my coworkers. My basil mozzarella, and jalapeno mozzarella are good sellers. Last week I sent out an email and within 10 minutes all my cheese was sold.
p.s. I've learned the secret to making good sting cheese, that actually pulls apart correctly. (2% milk and extra heating and pulling.)
So I think that's about it for me. I of course made all the longer aging cheeses first, so nothing will be ready until about the middle of November or later...then my mom got curious and wondered if there was something I could make that would be ready faster..thus the farmhouse cheddar. which we are going to crack into for my birthday at the end of October.