Introduction

[RRR]

Greetings: I am a small sustainable farmer growing organic vegetables. I also bake artisan bread in a wood fired stone oven. I sell these products to locals and to tourists visiting Capitol Reef National Park, located in south central Utah.

I have added goats to my operation. Last December I purchased 4 does, and to make a long story short, I now have 27 does, 12 of them producing milk. Very soon I will have 30 producers.

I have a commercial kitchen. In these uncertain economic times I do not want to invest 10,000 + dollars on a commercial pasteurizer. So....... I am looking for cheeses that can be aged a minimum of 60 days.

I am familiar with feta and have been fairly successful with it. I am excited to see the various herbs and vegetables added to the feta. I have been making cheddar and have much to learn regarding the process. Trail and error seems to be one of the best learning tools. And I believe I will learn a lot from you all.

Today I am working on a white mold ripened St. Maure type. Can you tell me what forms you find to be the most suited to building a bloomy cheese that can last 60 + days. And also if you have any suggestions as to a good recipe.

[Tea]

Welcome RRR, and glad that you found us.  I envy you your supply of goats milk, or for that matter, raw fresh milk of any kind.
Would love to see some of the bread that you make also.  A brick/stone bread oven has been one of my requests for many a year now.  Still waiting.

I also have a St Maure on the go.  Hoping to see some mould start developing soon.
As for cheeses that ripen in 60 days, there are quite a few, depending on what you are looking for.  Were you only wanting something with a mould?  Mozz, boccocini and provolone are some with out mould.  Haloumi and feta are brine cheese, and most brie and camembert are ready by the 4-6 weeks mark.
Not sure if this answers your questions.

[RRR]

Tea, thanks for the welcome, and perhaps I should move these questions to another portion of the forum.

There seem to be several problems associated with aging a bloomy cheese 60 days. Formost is the tendency of the cheese to dry out and crack. I was thinking that by increasing the size of the finished cheese to say, 8" round by 2" tall, one might be able to eliminate some of these problems. So I am trying a tome mold without any weight. I am about to remove it from the form today.

I was wondering if you have any experience with aging bloomy cheese more than 60 days.

[Tea]

Hi RRR, I find that the main problem I have is the cheese sticking to the mat, and the mould tearing off while trying to turn over, and other moulds being introduced either through touching, or cave getting too warm.  Most of mine are wrapped at the two week age, and the matured for another 2-4 weeks after that, so the longest that I have aged for would be around the 8 week mark, but I haven't aged one longer than that.
What were you hoping to achieve by aging for longer that 60 days?
Just wondering.

[Cheese Head]

Welcome RRR in Utah to the forum.

Tea, I think there is a law in the US that unpasteurized milk based cheese has to be aged 60 days before it can be sold, which I think is the reason for RRR's question. Which is why we can't buy great Camembert/Brie cheeses here like those available in France etc. Probably in Oz you luckily don't have that law.

RRR, I've also had excessive cheese drying and cracking which I think is primarily due to not enough humidity while aging being too low, if you have external cracks or fissures then it is because the cheese is drying way too quickly from the outside in. This problem is exacerbated by small cheeses and can be overcome by very tight humidity control or more often by sealing a cheese. For mold ripened cheeses like Camembert/Brie or St Maure, often people use a wrap. Some of the cheese making supply stores have some details on this.

On aging 60 days, most pressed cheeses preffer >60 days, most soft cheeses go off by then. As Tea said, most mold ripened like Brie/Camembert have an optimal point that is less than 60 days. Sounds like with that much milk you are going to need to get a couple of recipes down pat and go into production!

Have fun and let us know!

[RRR]

Indeed we need a few good product recipes until we have enough cash to buy a commercial pasteurizer. Fetta is good, cheddar is coming along. If I can get a max 60 day bloomy cheese that would be great. And maybe a gouda.

I have increased humidity in the aging process. And we will see if the larger size makes a difference.

thanks for the help.