Thank you guys! So nice to hear!
Boofer, how is the paper working out for you thus far? The point of this paper by the way is that once the cheese is ripe it can be retailed in it without a box and it will keep very stable in its ripe state. It's also good that you can see the cheese color without opening the paper!
How close were you to my recipe? I can't remember now. It looks like it's taking a bit long to ripen this one, doesn't it? I wonder if it's just different acidity curve during cheesemaking or different cultures.
It looks like the two papers I used perform about equally. Yours is a little smaller, which could be good, and it does allow you to see the rind color much better.
This Reb is probably taking extra time because of the added whipping cream I added. In hindsight, it doesn't need it. It was good as an experiment, but it's overkill with the richness (is that possible?
). There's enough cream in the raw and creamline milk.
This version is also a little thicker than Reb #3 because of the extra milk & cream. That might also account for the longer ripening time required. My version was fairly close to yours. Here's the makeup:
1 gallon Pride & Joy Creamery whole raw milk
1.5 gallons Twin Brook Creamery whole creamline milk
.5 gallon Twin Brook Creamery 2% creamline milk
1 pint Twin Brook Creamery whipping cream
This culture mix has done well for me in the past.
1/8 tsp MM100
1/16 tsp TA61
1/16 tsp LH100
1/16 tsp Geo13
1/16 tsp SR3
1/32 tsp KL71
1/2 tsp CACL, in 1/4c distilled water
1/32 tsp Renco dry calf rennet, dissolved in 1/4c cool distilled water
I had moved the two cut wheels from the fridge @38F back into the cave @51F to accelerate the ripening. I'm expecting this to finish ripening by the end of the month. The remaining two wheels are still in the fridge where they will continue their ripening at a slower pace. Patience....
Thanks for your encouragement and cheeses, guys. You know that just drives me to focus more sharply
.
Sailor, I belatedly took your advice about the
trier. I wrestled with the decision to use a potato peeler or buy a real trier. It was clear that I may get to the point where one actually makes sense. It would have saved me the pain of opening both these Reblochons too early. I also see it getting some use with the
Creamy Blueberry Delight,
Tilsit #4,
Tomme #6...you get the idea. I ordered the 5-inch (127mm) tool from
The Cheesemaker. Okay, this should be interesting. Wait 'til the wife finds out
.
-Boofer-