Author Topic: Chived Feta with Kalamata Olives  (Read 3005 times)

9mmruger

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Chived Feta with Kalamata Olives
« on: July 22, 2010, 01:48:37 PM »
Planning to make a Feta this weekend with chives and K-olives.  Wondering about the need to sterilize the olives, or do you think that they are salty enough to prevent spoilage.  The Feta will be kept in a whey brine.  Using Fias Farms recipe.  I plan to boil the dried chives to rehydrate and set them aside with the olives.  Pour the chive liquid into the milk and mix prior to the cheese making process.   Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks all, great forum.

mtncheesemaker

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Re: Chived Feta with Kalamata Olives
« Reply #1 on: July 22, 2010, 03:52:19 PM »
Are you planning on incorporating the olives into the cheese? I love feta with olives but don't know about mixing in the make.
Let us know how it turns out!

Oberhasli

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Re: Chived Feta with Kalamata Olives
« Reply #2 on: July 22, 2010, 04:03:11 PM »
I make a sun-dried tomato, basil and black olives feta that is really good.  I have used kalamata olives but they are a bit pricey to buy pitted.  I don't reconstitute the dried herbs I put in or the sun-dried tomatoes which are dehydrated.  I mix in the herbs, tomatoes  and olives when I have ladled the curds into the baskets I drain  them in.  There is enough whey draining that it softens up the dried herbs.  I wouldn't worry about sterilizing the olives.  Are these store bought that are in a brine?  If so, I would just rinse them off to get any oil off and chop them up and mix them into your feta.  Just my suggestion :-)

Bonnie

9mmruger

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Re: Chived Feta with Kalamata Olives
« Reply #3 on: July 22, 2010, 04:09:53 PM »
I had read somewhere that by hydrating the dried chives the chive water would impart a more substantial chive flavor to the cheese.  I would add the solids (chives and olives) to the curd and mix before putting into the drain bag.  I will hang the bag with all the curd for about 5 hours and then turn the curd mass in the bag to make the cheese ball uniform and hang and additional 19 hours to firm up.  Then cut into blocks and into the brine.  Will keep all posted on how it turns out.

Thanks for the replies.

9mmruger

  • Guest
Re: Chived Feta with Kalamata Olives
« Reply #4 on: July 26, 2010, 01:38:24 PM »
Follow up:

I made my Feta this weekend and ran into some difficulties during the process.  Here is what transpired.

I prepped the chives by boiling them in about a cup of water to rehydrate them, and added the water to the milk. I reserved the chives to add to the curd.  I chopped up the calamata olives and set them aside.

I used 3 gallons of store milk, not ultra pasteurized and added ¼ tsp of Meso culture and a large ¼ tsp of Lipase.  Let the mixture set the required 60 minutes and then added the CaCl2 and a tad more than 1/16 of a tsp of dry calf rennet in ¼ cup of cool distilled water.  I waited the 45 minutes for set and to my surprise, NO CURD.  The milk was just a liquid as it was when I poured it into my canner.  I had purchased the rennet from the Cheese Maker and followed his instructions very carefully, so I was amazed at not having a curd set.  The only thing that I could surmise is that I had not added enough rennet, so I added a bit more and waited another 30 minutes.  Still NO CURD!   By now I am really frustrated, and for the life of me cannot understand why. 

I knew that the rennet could no longer be the issue, so it had to be something else.  I double checked the milk cartons to make sure that I had the correct milk, and I was okay there.  That only left the CaCl2.  I added another tsp and the mix began to thicken as I stirred it in.  From there on, things went as normal and the feta is now in my holding box at room temp for a couple of days to toughen up and then I will add the whey brine.

I had purchase my CaCl2 from Leener’s in 2008 in pint jars.  I moved last year, and they got left in the shed over the winter, so I am assuming that they lost their potency due to freezing.  So I know that I have to use twice as much to get a curd.  I really don’t want to do that, so I made a trip to Grand Rapids, MI and bought some dry Calcium Chloride and it won’t go bad.

I made cheddar yesterday, and all went according to plan, so I feel that the CaCl2 was the problem all along.  Cheddar is in the press and will come out to dry tomorrow morning.

Long story, but I wanted to share!

mtncheesemaker

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Re: Chived Feta with Kalamata Olives
« Reply #5 on: July 26, 2010, 05:09:13 PM »
Glad it worked out in the end. It's very frustrating when I can't pinpoint the cause of a failure!

tnsven

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Re: Chived Feta with Kalamata Olives
« Reply #6 on: July 28, 2010, 08:03:20 PM »
Mr. Kim

This is the exact problem I've had with the powdered rennet. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. And I end up adding more rennet. I honestly think it is finicky. And I use raw milk from my own cows. No CaCl needed. Personally, I've switched back to liquid calf rennet and have had NO problems with coagulation since, even though my liquid rennet is old.

Kristin

9mmruger

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Re: Chived Feta with Kalamata Olives
« Reply #7 on: July 29, 2010, 12:33:21 PM »
This is my 1st using of dry calf rennet that I got from the Cheese Maker.  I bought enough for over 400 gallons of milk so I will have to figure it out.  Here is a pix of my Feta hanging to drain.  It is in the whey brine now for a month or so to age.  Smells wonderful.