How difficult are these cheeses

[steffb503]

I have been dieing to try a blue type but I am a little apprehensive.
Are they tricky or do I just need to be very specific with everything?

[MarkShelton]

Blue cheeses aren't very tricky at all. In fact, I find it harder sometimes to keep the blue out of my cheeses!

Blue mold is very aggressive, and will grow in many different conditions, and on many different types of cheeses. As long as you add the blue culture to the milk during the make, you will eventually come out with a blue cheese, and depending on how you make the cheese, you can get very different styles. Blue mold just grows best at cool temperatures, high humidity, and still air.

Are you looking to make a generic blue, or something specific like Stilton or Gorganzola?

[Groves]

Does it work equally well (instead of adding culture to the milk) to add some store bought blue cheese blended with water after the curds have formed?

[linuxboy]

You will get a little blue doing it that way, but it will be very mild. Best approach is to add the slurry to the milk.

[Gina]

I'm also a beginning cheesemaker. The photo below is of a small roquefort-type, cut in half yesterday. It was made just over a month ago and tastes extremely good already. The blue spores were added to the milk as a slurry made from a store-bought blue (Valdeon).

Although I consider my first Stilton to be a failure taste-wise, I've got 2 other stiltons aging and just made a Fourme d'Ambert a few days ago. I really enjoy making (and eating) the blues.

[Groves]

Which recipe did you use for your blues, Gina? Looks great.

[Gina]

Thanks. I used the recipe on pg 138 in 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes. The changes I made: I used 2 gallons of supermarket cow's milk, plus a bit of extra cream I had, used homemade mold powder slurry and added that slurry to the milk in the beginning - not as the recipe says by sprinkling the spores onto the curd layers when filling the hoops.

For that batch, I filled 4 small hoops, but next time I'll use 2 larger ones to decrease the surface area because I prefer less salt.

Add: During aging, I started getting some other molds growing on the surface so ended up washing them off with brine. Next time I think I'd wait longer before doing that. But in the end they taste good.

Here is another photo of them taken a week or so ago-
 http://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,4259.0.html

[steffb503]

I am looking to start with something basic and tweak from there. I will be using raw goat milk. I am in the beginning stages of starting a cheese processing room for commercial sales. I currently make a very nice soft molded goat cheese, yogurt and  a fantastic, at least thats what they tell me, feta.
I am looking to branch out and make a cheese that will be aged so I can use the milk raw legally.
I have tried a few different hard pressed cheese but I am not happy with the taste, it is too strong in my opinion.  So I wish to try a blue, any blue.
Steff

[Gina]

I have tried a few different hard pressed cheese but I am not happy with the taste, it is too strong in my opinion.  So I wish to try a blue, any blue.

Have others who have tasted them said they are too strong too? If not, are you by any chance a 'super-taster'? I am. Are the tastes of grapefruit, arugula, coffee, licorice, beer, dark chocolate, etc (including some strong cheeses)not to your liking? This is just a short list of some things we supertasters can be more taste sensitive to than most people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supertaster

A supertaster is a person who experiences the sense of taste with far greater intensity than average. Women are more likely to be supertasters,[1] as are Asians and Africans.[1] Among individuals of European descent, it is estimated that about 25% of the population are supertasters.

As to trying making blue cheeses, I'd suggest looking over several recipes and then just making one you think looks do-able. Most likely the first try wont turn out to be perfect, but you will learn a lot in the making so the second one will be much better. At least that's my learning curve.

I personally find gorgonzola to be too strong flavored a blue for me, and one of the reasons I just made a Fourme d'Ambert is because I've read it is one of the milder (but good) tasting of the blue cheeses. It is also one of the few blues that is actually pressed. The version I made is also brined, dried, then pierced. Too soon to tell if it is going to turn out. There is a video of making it on youtube, but it's in French IIRC. I think the aging would be OK for a raw milk cheese - 60 days?

Add: the cheese-making part starts about 2:50 into the video.

 

Fourme d'ambert

[steffb503]

I actually love strong cheese, the stinkier the slimier the better. The ones I have made just are not pleasing.
Love dark chocolate, grapefruit and coffee.
I will give the blues a try.
I tried my hand at Camembert but I think they are a bit too dry . I will try those again paying more attention to humidity.

[MarkShelton]

As a side note, I am torn on the concept of supertasting. As an enthusiastic home chef and food lover, in a way I sort of feel left out or gypped that I am not a supertaster. It's as if in some way I am missing out on some flavors.
On the other hand, I'm glad that I am either a mild taster or non-taster, as I enjoy all types of food, especially strong-flavored coffee, cheese, chocolate, greens, etc.
I think I still need to get over the fact that being a supertaster actually would be counter-productive to my passions for food and drink, and that it would limit or even have deterred me from it.

[Gina]

I've known I'm a supertaster for many years. In that time, I've talked to several other strong supertasters (more like 10% of the population) and my conclusion is not that things taste better, but rather somethings taste stronger- and that does not necessarily bring greater eating pleasure.

I too have felt cheated by not being able to enjoy what so many others can -  the array of coffees and beers, many salad greens and so forth. It took a long time to get used to drinking red wines - a task worth the reward. 

As to cheese, sniff, I am often jealous of the cheeses some here make, knowing they would not taste good to me if I were lucky enough to successfully make one. I purchased some tomme to try a few weeks ago, thought the taste repulsive, and gave it to others.

That said, I do really, really enjoy food and eating, but I see no benefits to being a supertaster (other than perhaps my tribal ancestors having been instrumental in identifying the poison berries). I think the goal is to place in our mouths things that we each think are especially good, regardless of what anyone else finds. Personal taste, so to speak.  And fortunatley there is more than enough good stuff to go around.

The only taste state I would not want to be is a 'non-taster' who might not have much interest in food beyond survival. That would be very sad.