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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => ADJUNCT - Blue Mold (Penicillium roqueforti) Ripened => Topic started by: Sailor Con Queso on February 21, 2010, 10:40:19 PM
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My Blueberry Emmental from a few months back was a huge failure so I was absolutely thrilled with a 103 day old Blueberry Stilton that I cut on February 13th.
My wife prefers a mild blue flavor, so I let the blue mold do it's thing for about 3 weeks and then vac-bag to cut off oxygen to the mold. The surface mold dies off quickly and creates the look that you see on the rind - VERY edible by the way. I do puncture the cheese while the mold is active, so there is plenty of blue flavor inside.
I used the same brand of dehydrated blueberries as I used on the Emmental. So from observation, I would suggest that dehydrated fruits should only be used with cheeses that are salted prior to pressing. Without the salt, the fruit is simply going to rehydrate and ferment. It MAY be possible to brine the fruit itself before adding to a non-salted cheese like an Emmental. I'll have to try that sometime.
Can't wait to see how the Raspberry Stilton and Crystallized Ginger Stilton in the cave turn out. ;D
Anyway, here are some pics.
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Oh!
This looks So Good!!! I love Stilton!
Sue
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Sailor,
I just asked you how these turned out on your original post before seeing this. I am glad to see it worked out well. I am interested in the ginger one because I am thinking of using candied and dried orange peel. Not sure how that will go over but I think it sounds good. Have you posted this recipe anywhere? If not would you put it here?
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I'd love to try making this on Saturday -- so the recipe and/or any additional tips/pointers would really be appreciated! Yours looks great -- hope mine turns out similar!
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Sailor, this is a very professional looking cheese. I hope it tastes at least as it looks. Bon Apetit.
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Sailor, you should be a proud Papa, gorgeous looking cheese.
I was in local SamsClub Store tonight and to my surprise, snap, Blueberry Stilton! Already too much cheese in fridges and didn't have a camera but the Dairy was called Clawson (http://www.clawson.co.uk/products/fruit-blends/white-stilton-with-blueberry/) and the package said Dried Sweetened Blueberries, didn't mention Wild Blueberries like in the attached PDF downloaded from their website.
Again, beautiful cheese!
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Sailor that is one great looking cheese!
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John, I could be wrong, but that looks like a reprocessed cheese because the blueberries haven't "bled" very much into the body of the cheese. If you look at mine, the blueberries bled almost 2 inches in several spots during rehydration. I suspect that many, if not most fruity cheeses are made by mixing an aged cheese with fruit and then repressing. If you look at their label, it has added fructose. Because of fermentation problems, I can't imagine that they would add fructose prior to aging.
WHITE Stilton - what a waste. A Blue that could have been. ;)
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I've been waiting for you to crack this cheese! Just a check to make certain--did you make this as a white stilton or blue?
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Definitely Blue.
To me, a Stilton is blue by definition. A White Stilton, with no blue mold should be called something else.
Yes, Alex, the flavor is superb. Can;t wait to try the cranberry & the ginger.\
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Ben & Dee,
There are several Stilton recipes that work just fine, but the whole point of a Stilton is the way that you treat it after the initial make.
Here is a fairly good explanation from Ricki Carroll's website :
Making Stilton (http://www.cheesemaking.com/store/pg/26.html)
The real difference is the addition of the dehydrated blueberries. With Stilton, you do a VERY light pressing overnight, mill into 1" cubes and then salt. THAT's when you add the fruit, not before. I believe the salt is critical to inhibiting fermentation, which produces alcohol and ruins the cheese.
I used 3.5 ounces of dehydrated blueberries in a 4 gallon batch. Next time, I will double that amount. Fresh blueberries MIGHT work in the salted environment, but I would definitely blanch them first. Or you could do a vinegar (acidic) wash to help preserve the skins. I have even thought about a quick dip in Star San to kill off any surface yeast. I am going to try all 3 techniques in the next few weeks.
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Sailor, whenever I have tried fresh fruit, it's never worked out. The fruit would dry up a little and leave pools of liquid around it, or separate from the curd, or cause off flavors. My solution to fresh fruit in cheese is to soak in a solution of heavy citric acid (8-10 TBsp per gallon) and a little metabisulfite (Kmeta, 10-20 PPM, just very little, maybe 1/8 tsp per gallon), then dehydrate at a lower temp in the Excalibur, around 110F. I watch the dehydration and stop it when the fruit is dry, but still has moisture inside. For blueberries, it produces this fruit that still has juice inside, and a slightly leathery skin. Then I use that in the cheese, same as you, after/at salting. The cheese will rehydrate the fruit a little and when you slice the cheese, it all works together.
Curious to see how your experiments come out. I haven't really tried any other ways because I'm paranoid about moisture and yeasts/acetobacter contaminating the fruit.
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Just thinking out loud.
Technically, the interior of fruit is sterile (just like a hen's egg is sterile). And dehydrating at 110F is not hot enough to kill off microbial contaminants (especially spore formers) inside the fruit. So it seems that a thorough surface decontamination should do the trick. Citric Acid with MetaB makes much more sense than vinegar. I do believe that a Star San soaking and brine rinse might work well too.
Another problem is mechanical, not microbial. Whole blueberries will probably just burst under even modest pressure. So a Cheddar or Emmental made with fresh blueberries is probably impossible. An unpressed Stilton with pretreated fruit might work.
Even with dehydrated fruit, my Blueberry Emmental was a disaster. I attribute that to the fact that Emmental is not a curd salted cheese. So I'm thinking why not presoak the dehydrated blueberries in a pH balanced saturated brine? Don't want them to rehydrate though.
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Thanks, Sailor--I am definitely interested in making this cheese. I've seen white stiltons with blueberries in the market; yet not blue stilton with blueberries--you definitely have the blues down--you are the BB King of the cheese world!
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I have a question. You said White Stilton does not have mold? Does that mean none at all or just no blue mold? I can apparently eat/touch the white Geo molds and the red smear molds but the greens and molds itch me to death.
I am wondering if I could handle a white stilton and if so how is it made?
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A White Stilton uses exactly the same recipe as a regular Stilton except the White does not have blue mold (or any other mold). Stilton (and White Stilton) recipes call for little or no pressing. That makes sense with a blue to create an open texture that provides oxygen to the interior of the cheese. However, if you look at a commercial White Stilton, they generally have a much tighter texture. So, if I were making a White I would give it a light to moderate pressing to discourage natural mold growth.
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So I could use any stilon recipe and just omit the mold and it would be white Stilton? Hmm I may try this. Did made a few gorgonzolas but even with gloves I can't keep from getttin a rash so I gave that up years ago. This may be an option.
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Debi - I saw a white stilton recipe recently. I think it may have been in 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes by Debra Amrein-Boyes. I can't get to the book right now but I'll try to remember to check later.
Sailor - that cheese is awesome looking. I need to find more time for cheese, this one is definately going on the list to try.
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Ah thanks Deb I have that book somehwere. I think I skipped over that recipe thinking it would have blue mold and get me sick. I will review it now that it may be a safe bet.
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As promised, here's the Ginger Stilton made on 11/1/2009. Had it with smoked salmon tonight. Just 1 word to describe this cheese ... WOW.
My wife Nancy says to tell everyone that this cheese is amazing. She has already asked me to make several more so they can start aging. THAT'S when I know I've got a good cheese. ;)
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Looks amazing, Sailor--please provide stats--did you use crystalized or fresh ginger? I adore stiltons--the different molds that accumulate throughout the process amaze me.
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Impressive.
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Very pretty Sailor. Did you grate the ginger?
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For a 4 gallon make I added 2 tablespoons of crystallized (candied) ginger after milling and salting. I will increase that to 3 tablespoons next time. (I really like ginger). I am also thinking about trying pickled ginger (ala sushi).
Tim Smith has a different procedure in his book "Making Artisan Cheese". He suggests steaming the ginger for 15 minutes in a vegetable steamer. He adds the ginger water to the milk BEFORE adding starter cultures. The actual ginger is added at the same time I did, after milling and salting.
He uses a similar procedure for dehydrated blueberries. That means the blueberries are actually rehydrated before adding to the cheese curds.
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John, I could be wrong, but that looks like a reprocessed cheese
I do a bit of work with Clawsons and I'm fairly sure the fruit is added at milling.
A works audit around there is what started me making cheese, I'm still using a 'sample' from there as a blue mould starter. :)
Also to answer a question from a totally different thread about freezing, these guys freeze lots of portioned cheese for the run up to Christmas. If the packs are sealed and over wrapped correctly freezing has no effect on the final outcome. My starter 'sample' is in the freezer crumbled up.