Common wild oat for straw mats?

[kkey]

Curious to know if anyone else has tried using Wild Oat (Avena fatua) straw for their aging mats? I harvested a bunch today while out in the chaparral.  In the US its a non-native and considered a nuisance weed, but it is closely related to the cultivated oat Avena sativa.  It also smells better than the straw bales I saw at the tack and feed store.

[iratherfly]

The ones I use have mixed straw in them which includes some wheat and buckwheat and other things. They are not from a tack store but rather made especially in France for cheesemaking, cheese caves, cheese shipping and cheese displays in stores. I have a feeling yours would work very well! Will you let me know?

[kkey]

Will do. Tomorrow night I get to learn to weave (looks like its just a series of clove hitches):

Reed Placemat Green-It-Yourself Project

[iratherfly]

That's cool!

[linuxboy]

I've used this, along with many local grasses for aging. The trick IMHO is to harvest them after they drop their seed, so you're harvesting the cellulose shell that makes up the stem. And let it dry out properly to a low moisture level. Works great!

You don't even need to make it into a mat, you can just rest the cheese on top and flip repeatedly. If you have fines, they tend to stick to the cheese. Easiest is to pick out the long stems and use those.

If you're aging in small quantities, you can also bury the cheese inside. Put a layer on the bottom, and then put a loose layer on top, and then check back in a few weeks. Makes for a lovely approach to aging lactic cheeses, and gives a great taste note, especially when you're using fresh cut stems.

[kkey]

Just wanted to post a follow up noting that the oat grass has worked out really great.  The mats were too tedious to assemble in large quantities but i've found its effective to simply lay them down in a plastic container, cutting them to size as needed.  They are also easy to clean by tossing in boil water every so often.  Here's a shot of my collection from a few weeks ago. Counter clockwise from the upper right: stilton, chaource, chaource, chaource, valencay.

[Tomer1]

" They are not from a tack store but rather made especially in France for cheesemaking"

Did you pay a premium for that?


Do you wash the PC ressidues off them,keep using them or just throw them away after each aging batch?

[iratherfly]

Kkey, the cheese looks fantastic. The Chaource and Valençay can easily age together in the same box. I would suggest however to watch out for blue contamination if you put the stilton in the same box (or geo contamination on the Stilton from the other 3 cheeses).  One more thing I do when I use straw in boxes is I also put a bit of it on top of the cheese, not just the bottom. Play with different straws to discover new aromas. Also straws bring their own bacterium and yeasts so different straws can chenge the cheese quality very much.  I recently had a straw yeast contamination that wasn't very friendly to the cheese (not dangerous but took over the rind that I was building up in several unrelated cheeses) so these things could happen too. Overall, straw is traditional method and can bring great character to the cheese but just be very vigilant of unwanted changes to the cheese and re-lace it from time to time, every cheese or a few cheeses.

" They are not from a tack store but rather made especially in France for cheesemaking"

Did you pay a premium for that?


Do you wash the PC ressidues off them,keep using them or just throw them away after each aging batch?

No Tomer, I didn't pay premium, they are inexpensive and I got them from an affinieur at a major cheese importer in NYC.  I don't wash off the residue! Part of the idea is to build up some heirloom of bacterium ON the straw so that it helps age the next cheese better! This is similar to the idea of using the same cave and shelves over and over again without washing and sanitizing them ever.  You just want to keep track on what you age in it so that the next cheese to go on the used straw will benefit from the same type of flora and you won't introduce a competing mold.  It doesn't last as long as wooden shelves of course. After 2,3,4 or 5 cheeses it may show signs of rotting or growing foreign molds. That's a good time to get rid of it...

I am now moving on to find interesting soil and stone to age cheese in.  I am finding my local flora. I feel more and more that my local NYC cheese should not be a platform to grow flora that comes from the French Savoie but rather my local New York stuff that belongs with my milk and terroir. I'm on a quest...

[Tomer1]

Good for you

[iratherfly]

Could be good for you too ...if you want me to bring you some the next time I'm in Israel

[ellenspn]

Ah making mats. Now here is something I can speak of. If I was to go to make mats with the straw I would first warp a loom with a light but strong cotton or linen with at least 3 sets of 4-6 warp threads. I would probably do 4 sets of threads. Then I would weave a "fabric" using the oat straw for weft and lightly place them without much beating of the weft in so it doesn't crush the straw. This will also produce a good bit of flexibility as well. 

[Tomer1]

Oh yeah!
Barter me for my wines?   

[iratherfly]

Hmmm... would love to see your wines! I just got back from Cava country in Catalonia Spain and had an amazing time with some of the best winemakers of the region.  I really want to make Cava or Champagne style wine now!  I just feel that the 2 year commitment on something I know nothing about it a bit silly... I would go for it if I would have at least have access to the right grapes!