Author Topic: Aged Chevre - Where to from here?  (Read 11729 times)

iratherfly

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Re: Aged Chevre - Where to from here?
« Reply #15 on: July 11, 2010, 11:11:00 PM »
Looks perfect!  The tiny ones I age 14 days or so. It's funny that they still need the same time for anzymatic activity as a large cheese but they do dry out (and gets covered with mold all around) much faster, so try to ladle them without cutting the curd to keep as much moisture as possible inside. I decided to drop the curd leftover from the tiny ones last time in a larger Pont-l'Évêque mold and was blown away - this accidental leftover curd cheese turned out to be this super-moist heaven; one of my best cheeses ever. (I added yeast that made it airy and fluffy with this rustic bready note). Trying to repeat that success now. I have to add that this was a fully lactic cheese, not semi lactic like Crottin, Valençay or St. Maure

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Aged Chevre - Where to from here?
« Reply #16 on: July 12, 2010, 02:07:25 AM »
Looks really good Pam! Creamy!

Minamyna

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Re: Aged Chevre - Where to from here?
« Reply #17 on: July 12, 2010, 04:10:14 AM »
I made some like a st maure, think thats how it spelled, the curds are not right. They need to be cut, I used a little rennet. I have one more that needs to be molded.

MrsMarbles

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Re: Aged Chevre - Where to from here?
« Reply #18 on: September 20, 2010, 11:06:26 PM »
Here are some pix of the St. Maure cheeses I made, as they ripen.  One gallon of goat's milk made 4 cheeses ~8 oz each when they were fresh.  I just used the Ricki Carroll recipe for Soft Goat Cheese using Flora Danica, and sprayed with P. Candidum & Geotrichum Candidum (4 to 1) in a weak brine solution that I stored in the fridge.  I didn't innoculate the milk with the mold because I hadn't completely decided on herbs or mold  :o   I didn't cut the curds after it set overnight -- I just ladled and drained for a few days before spraying & flipping daily until the mold covered the cheeses.

Also, I wrapped the cheeses in cheese paper after a couple of weeks, because I had to go out of town.  But they seem to have continued ripening just fine.  They were aged in a mini-fridge set to 50 degrees.

Anyway, the pix show the progression of the ripening.  The first pix is at 3 weeks, then 4, then 5 weeks.  This week we'll eat the last one, and I hope the ripe part will have moved to the center.  I really like how little work this cheese was to make!



MrsMarbles

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Re: Aged Chevre - Where to from here?
« Reply #19 on: September 20, 2010, 11:10:23 PM »
I forgot to mention that they have each been completely delicious!

Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Aged Chevre - Where to from here?
« Reply #20 on: September 21, 2010, 12:39:16 AM »
That is the most important detail! Congrats!

Brie

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Re: Aged Chevre - Where to from here?
« Reply #21 on: September 21, 2010, 05:02:48 AM »
They look absolutely wonderful--congratulations!

Offline WhiteSageFarms

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Re: Aged Chevre - Where to from here?
« Reply #22 on: September 21, 2010, 07:26:55 AM »
MrsMarbles,

Your cheese looks divine! Very beautiful, and it's making my mouth water. I'm going to look again after I post this LOL.

~Laurie
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iratherfly

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Re: Aged Chevre - Where to from here?
« Reply #23 on: September 23, 2010, 07:19:55 PM »
Seems a bit more like a giant crottin; not so much a Saint Maure. Saint Maure is a log cheese with a straw running through it, its rind is ashed.  Heck, add some ash to it and an ash streak in the center and you got yourself a Humboldt Fog : 8)

MrsMarbles

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Re: Aged Chevre - Where to from here?
« Reply #24 on: September 24, 2010, 09:19:20 PM »
Hm, well that's the name of the recipe in Carroll's book, though not necessarily historically accurate.

Anyway, we had the last cheese last night, and it was wonderfully gooey.  Really tasty.  I highly recommend the recipe, whatever you want to call it, both for its ease and its wonderful taste.  A great way to make extra soft goat cheese last a few weeks longer.



Offline DeejayDebi

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Re: Aged Chevre - Where to from here?
« Reply #25 on: September 25, 2010, 03:08:22 AM »
Looks like really Good St. Maure cheeses !

Brie

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Re: Aged Chevre - Where to from here?
« Reply #26 on: September 25, 2010, 04:25:01 AM »
The final one looks wonderful--how long was the aging time at the last pic?

iratherfly

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Re: Aged Chevre - Where to from here?
« Reply #27 on: September 25, 2010, 05:45:45 AM »
Yea, how long did you age that last one? How come it's turning gooey from the inside out? Interesting!  I hope my comment about the Saint Maure wasn't annoying... you actually kind of made your own cheese which I think is awesome. Give it a name!

MrsMarbles

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Re: Aged Chevre - Where to from here?
« Reply #28 on: September 25, 2010, 06:16:15 AM »
t's just the cheese recipe on page 184 of Ricki Carroll's book, as a variant of soft goat cheese.  She calls it Saint Maure, but... "white mold ripened soft goat cheese" is kind of a long name to say over and over.  A few pages earlier she mentions using Flora Danica for goat cheeses, so I was just trying to follow her instructions. 

The recipe says that the cheese is ready in two weeks, but really it took about 6 weeks for the ripe part to reach the center.  I think the pictures show a line where the ripe part is moving further inside with each week.  Good thing we had four cheeses, so we could taste about one a week.  Next time we'll know to wait longer... but it was very much worth the wait.

iratherfly

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Re: Aged Chevre - Where to from here?
« Reply #29 on: September 25, 2010, 06:39:56 AM »
Well, what's interesting is that this is a mold ripened cheese but the center has ripened for you first (liquid). Surface ripened cheese would mature from the outside-in not from the inside out. As a matter of fact, most people find it challenging to stop the outside from over ripening too quickly before reaching the inside (AKA skin slip), so I wonder what happened there that your inside turned softer than the outside.

The shape of these semi-lactic cheeses tend to change the speed and matter in which they ripen. Valency, Crottin and Saint Maure are essentially almost the same cheese but their shape and maturation is different. 6 days are enough to develop initial rind but not enough to develop character in the paste. 14 days is optimal and no less than 10 days. 21 days and up is ripe and then they begin to get hard and crumbly, eventually ending up as grating cheese