Hi all,
After many days of browsing, I recently got hold of a recipe for Romanian telemea de vaca (soft white cheese from cow's milk). A few experiments later (I found quite varying recipes), I am now making a lovely cheese similar to feta, but with a saltier, more intense flavor. I begin with 10L of fresh pasteurized milk, then add CaCl and MAO11 culture, followed an hour later by liquid rennet. This then sits quietly for an hour and a half, after which I cut the curds into roughly 1 - 2cm pieces, which then rests for 10 minutes. I then ladle the curds into a cheesecloth and allow it to drain for another hour and a half. The curds then go into smallish round molds (± 300gm each), and placed in Dutch-type presses under for 12 hours (using ± 3Kg of pressure). The resulting cheese is then refrigerated in a 10 - 15% brine solution (I'm still experimenting with this) for a week, after which it is ready for consumption. I have not yet determined the shelf life of the end-product, as it normally does not last more than a week before being completely consumed - I am, however, conservatively assuming a shelf life of two weeks after release.
I am enjoying making these cheeses immensely, and am quite happy with the end-result of my labors. However, is this real telemea, or something similar / quite different? Any ideas from the crowd will be greatly appreciated.
Kind regards
Fred