Hi Kiwi cheesemaking fans.
I am new to this forum but have been making cheese for a few years now, on a very small scale. I've had some great successes with Haloumi, Ricotta, Feta, Camembert and Mozarella. I made a Farmhouse blue on Friday but it's a little early to tell if that's going to be a success. I've also had some horrible failures but I'm hoping that now I have a cheese cave, they will be few and far between.
Let me know if you'd like more details about my Wine Cellar, which I purchased in NZ, new for NZD$395.00 and so far seems very reliable. It's got dual temperature zones and presently it's working very well with 10C below for the Farmhouse blue (it's in an airtight container so I'm hoping not everything else will turn blue) and 14C at the top for my wrapped camemberts.
I recently purchased a good magazine style book called How to make Cheese & other dairy products by Jean Mansfield. It has quickly become my "go to book" for all my queries and has some lovely recipes too. It's nice that it has weights and measurements in metric so we don't have to always be doing the conversions from imperial.
Jean has a farm in Waihi, near Tauranga, and if you ever have a chance to go to one of her classes, (held throughout the North Island) it's a real treat. Her style is really well suited to our kiwi way of life. I think she also has a DVD and a website.
Happy cheesemaking