Salutations from Sacramento, Ca!

[Catie Pie]

Hello fellow cheesemakers! I'm Cate, I live in lovely Sacramento, Ca. I've been making fresh cheese for almost a year now and have recently leaped into aged cheese making, last Sunday . I have a newly set up mini fridge ready to be filled with more aged cheese as soon as possible. I love making fresh cheese, but I think I love making the aged cheese even more. I just want to sit and watch it age.

I am lucky enough to have fairly regular access to raw milk, I have been pasteurizing it myself, but now that I'm going to be aging some, I think I'll try some straight raw milk.

Thanks to whoever maintains this website, and to all the advice givers on here. It's indispensable information, I could read it all day! I can't believe all the information there is to absorb about cheese making. I am excited to try the flocculation multiplier method on my next batch, Caerphilly. And I'm also fascinated by the idea of making rennet from ficus and cardoon! I'm in the process of trying to figure out the best press to build. I have a (hokey) set up that frankly, looks a little dangerous and I really don't want to crush one of my tiny dogs with a 45 lb weight plate.

Thanks again, happy cheesemaking!

-Cate

[anutcanfly]

Hi Catie Pie,

Welcome to the forum.  Be sure to post the results of your rennet making--way cool! 

Anut 

[Crystal]

hi Cate,
Im going to do a first Caerphilly next and use the flocc multiplier so we can both make sure we post our results!

congrats on joining us and hope you keep enjoying your cheese journey!

[Catie Pie]

Thank you Anut! I have seen you in lots of the forums. I was especially interested in your Port Salut making. It's one of my absolute favorite cheeses and one of the first ones I looked up recipes for. How did they turn out?

Thank you Crystal! I will be interested to see how they compare! Too bad California and Sydney are so far away from one another, I wish we could taste test too I think I'm going to have to use store bought milk (my milk connection is going away for a bit) I'll post pics when they're finished. I was hoping to have some in time for New Year's Eve (maybe a bit on the young side) but Christmas has me pretty tied up. I'm going to use the recipe from a blog called Chickens in the Road. I used her farmhouse cheddar recipe too.

[Crystal]

Theres a few great recipes on here which i was looking at. Do you have the link to the one your using? I posted over in your other thread too but ill post here from now on so we dont get lost in two conversations!

[george]

Cate, your sig is one of the funniest quotes I've seen in a long time.  A cheese to you for making me crack up first thing in the morning.   

[Crystal]

Yeah, i wish we could taste all the cheeses too. And get a feel for the textures and smells, but we all we can do is post photos and kinda figure if they look the same they might tastes the same too!

[Catie Pie]

Thanks George (Mary)! My first cheese! I do love Julia. She was my kinda gal!

The blog post for Farmhouse Cheddar is here-

http://chickensintheroad.com/cooking/the-making-of-farmhouse-cheddar/

She has a lot of simple cheese recipes and some aged ones. She makes it very accessable. I over did it with info and got really confused so I tossed the other recipes and did this one. I am having difficulty getting the top to dry. I used a farm fresh milk and there was a lot of cream on it. I skimmed some off but I think the fat content is pretty high still. I think a few more days and it will be ready I think. It's pretty cool in the house.

I am going to try to do the Caerphilly Monday. My friend is coming over to learn how to do moz, so I may as well do the Caerphilly. I'm using store bought organic for that though. No farm fresh this week I'm aiming for a double batch this time. I like your idea for finishing the same cheese differently.

I'm so excited to find cheesemaking friends on here! I have pretty food minded friends, but I don't think they want to hear about the renneting, flocculation multipliers or raw milk all the time. 

[Crystal]

Haha, Catie, my friends dont want to know either! Neither does DH... his only concern 'how much will that cost?'

I love the whole variable relationship with cheese, how minute changes affect the end result.

On drying though, i really wasnt sure how dry 'dry' was. Mine were turning yellow but not all over when i waxed. Plus i know im not ageing properly as i have no where to do it!

I think ill go start a question on alternatives to a cheese cave, which i dont have~

[Catie Pie]

I think you can use a cooler if you adjust the ice right. I ended up finding a good deal on a mini fridge and I got a thermostat regulator thingy, so I'm all set know. Although the air drying thing I think just takes practice.

Will keep you posted on Caerphilly!