Author Topic: first white mold cheese attempt  (Read 10317 times)

hoeklijn

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Re: first white mold cheese attempt
« Reply #15 on: April 08, 2012, 12:49:32 PM »
Hi Brandnetel, living in New York but a Dutch alias? As far as I can see a very good result for a first attempt. I'm used to add some cream to the milk to give Brie or Cambozola an extra rich taste.

OudeKaas

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Re: first white mold cheese attempt
« Reply #16 on: April 10, 2012, 04:11:32 AM »




Photos from the first tasting. Had some more with my folks on Saturday and it got good reviews. The bitterness did not seem so prominent, and the texture even seemed a little softer. The rest of them still seem quite firm though. You can see a line of dry rind below the white mold - I don't recall seeing that in commercial cams or similar?

Hoeklijn, my moniker comes from a fond recollection of cheese with nettles in Amsterdam many years ago. My first choice was "Oude Kaas", but . .. we've already got one here!

OudeKaas

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Re: first white mold cheese attempt
« Reply #17 on: April 18, 2012, 08:08:04 PM »
Quick update as we tasted a second cheese last weekend. Will post more pics soon too.

Tried the second of the smallest "basket/hockey puck" cheeses, and it was just kinda OK. Smooth silky mouthfeel and neutral to mildly buttery flavor. A bit of bitterness, but not nearly as much as the other batch. I think this is the all-cow part of the make. The paste is drier, getting into more of a flexible semi-firm cheese kind of mode, and it even cracked and split in one location when bent.

Tasted along with this the remaining piece of the first cheese, which we opened two weeks back. It seemed to have softened up a bit since first cut, and at room temp the edges were even getting a little translucent and bulgy. Still has a long, lasting bitter aftertaste, especially in the rind. Not necessarily unpleasant per se, but with an assertive peppery quality that I did not anticipate in the flavor profile.

In brief, I really don't think the paste is softening in the way that is anticipated. If anything, it is slowly drying out. I am thinking of opening one of the larger ones (2"-3" thick or so) and just enjoying them as is. Liquid runniness does not seem to be on the horizon for these!

hoeklijn

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Re: first white mold cheese attempt
« Reply #18 on: April 19, 2012, 03:53:14 PM »
Ah, good old Amsterdam, they do have a lot more weeds there than "brandnetel", however, as far as I know, not in cheeses. Would be a nice experiment maybe?
But the cheeses look lovely! Ever tried Cambozola? With cheeses like on your pics you're just a small step away from that: Follow the same recipe, fill half of  the moulds, sprinkle some PR on the curds and fill the moulds completely. When the first PC shows up, pierce the wheels horizontally... I couldn't resist to add a pic.

OudeKaas

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Re: first white mold cheese attempt
« Reply #19 on: May 02, 2012, 11:27:19 PM »
Hoeklijn, the Cambozola looks fabulous. Love the consistent thin PC rind and slight runniness. How old was that at the time of the pic?

hoeklijn

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Re: first white mold cheese attempt
« Reply #20 on: May 04, 2012, 09:27:21 AM »
This one was just over 5 weeks. I wrapped them in cheese paper (1 layer of paper with 1 layer of "plastic", as it is used here in the cheese shops) when they were completely covered with PC and aged them at about 13C. Turned them every day, so I could feel them becoming softer in the middle.

Offline Boofer

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Re: first white mold cheese attempt
« Reply #21 on: May 04, 2012, 01:27:37 PM »
Looks pretty tasty, hoeklijn.

In brief, I really don't think the paste is softening in the way that is anticipated. If anything, it is slowly drying out. I am thinking of opening one of the larger ones (2"-3" thick or so) and just enjoying them as is. Liquid runniness does not seem to be on the horizon for these!
Any idea as to what in your make may have given this result? Floc factor, cut size, etc.?

They look like they would be good table cheese candidates. Perhaps the bitterness will fade if given enough time.

-Boofer-
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OudeKaas

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Re: first white mold cheese attempt
« Reply #22 on: June 01, 2012, 04:09:04 AM »
I'm not sure, Boofer, but I think my time and temp control are still far from optimal. I've been using direct heat on the milk, and that can't be helping. I'm looking to set up a double-boiler type arrangement for the next one.

And . . . . .the remaining cheeses now appear to have a significant cheese mite infestation, believe it or not. Classic signs, little perforations and mounds of 'dust'. Will take some pics soon . . . . .

OudeKaas

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Brandnetel's second white mold cheese attempt
« Reply #23 on: October 07, 2012, 11:45:36 AM »
Giving this recipe another try this weekend. Using 4 gallons of milk total this time, and a "double boiler" method to control heat to the milk instead of direct firing. Results look promising so far, with temps spot on at 88-90 degrees. Four firm, plump cheeses are moving into the 'cave' fridge this morning after 12 hours of periodic flipping in the molds.

Also, I acquired a pH meter. Decided I did not want to change my times or methods for this first run out, but at least gather some data. Will post more detail soon.

Offline Tiarella

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Re: first white mold cheese attempt
« Reply #24 on: October 07, 2012, 04:13:58 PM »
Hi Brandnetel......I usually just put the Geo and PC in with the milk because my sprayer always clogged.  it's worked well for me.  Also, I dry mine at room temp for a couple of days before putting them in the wine fridge.  They are a dry before I start their chilling.  I'll post a link sometime to the method I first used.  I don't know how to do that on my iPad....

Did you check out Peter Dixon's recipe? He drains at 75 degrees and  he says to dry them at 58-62 for 24 hours the next day and then to move to cooler aging temp.  I just dry at room temp for 2 days......    He also mentions lowering temp slowly to avoid " shocking the curds"!  His recipe is the AOC recipe.  I have found that all batches of this cheese have been good except for the ones I made that were "Briefs" instead od "Bries" because I had made mostly hard cheeses for a while and didn't fill the molds high enough to allow for all that shrinkage.

Offline Boofer

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Re: first white mold cheese attempt
« Reply #25 on: October 07, 2012, 05:45:01 PM »
I'll post a link sometime to the method I first used.  I don't know how to do that on my iPad....
Ordinarily, you can Copy the link (in Windows, it's to the "clipboard"), highlight a word or phrase that will reference or point to your previous method, click on the "Insert Hyperlink" icon to the left (just under the I for italics). Your highlighted word or phrase will be bracketed by an open URL at the beginning, and a close URL at the end. Type an equals sign just after the open url, but inside the bracket. Paste ("Control-V" in Windows) the link you Copied earlier right behind the equals sign. If you then Preview your posting, you should see that highlighted word or phrase now underlined as a clickable link.

Hope this helps.

-Boofer-
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Offline Tiarella

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Re: first white mold cheese attempt
« Reply #26 on: October 07, 2012, 11:08:11 PM »
I'll post a link sometime to the method I first used.  I don't know how to do that on my iPad....
Ordinarily, you can Copy the link (in Windows, it's to the "clipboard"), highlight a word or phrase that will reference or point to your previous method, click on the "Insert Hyperlink" icon to the left (just under the I for italics). Your highlighted word or phrase will be bracketed by an open URL at the beginning, and a close URL at the end. Type an equals sign just after the open url, but inside the bracket. Paste ("Control-V" in Windows) the link you Copied earlier right behind the equals sign. If you then Preview your posting, you should see that highlighted word or phrase now underlined as a clickable link.

Hope this helps.

-Boofer-

Boofer, this is an iPad so it's not Windows.  I'm sure there's a way to do this but I don't know it yet so when I have to put a link in I work from my desktop computer.  Not a total computer dummy, just an iPad dummy here.  But thanks for your helpfulness.  You are a wonderfully and very appreciatedly helpful person!

Offline Boofer

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Re: first white mold cheese attempt
« Reply #27 on: October 07, 2012, 11:53:52 PM »
Boofer, this is an iPad so it's not Windows.  I'm sure there's a way to do this but I don't know it yet so when I have to put a link in I work from my desktop computer.  Not a total computer dummy, just an iPad dummy here.  But thanks for your helpfulness.  You are a wonderfully and very appreciatedly helpful person!
Sorry, didn't mean to imply anything. I thought something would be comparable. Don't have clue about iPad.

-Boofer-
Let's ferment something!
Bread, beer, wine, cheese...it's all good.