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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => RENNET COAGULATED - Hard Other => Topic started by: Tiarella on January 09, 2013, 04:39:39 AM
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Thought I'd share the stages these cheeses seem to go through just in case anyone tried this at home.
I like doing these Caerphilly Adorned cheeses so far. My first one turned out so beautiful that I had to see if I could replicate it whenever I want. I use the leaves from the Scented Cranesbill plants that grow in my gardens. They are evergreen to a large extent although I'm not sure what they're up to now under a couple of feet of snow.
Soooooooo, first I make a Caerphilly cheese and let it dry a day or so. Then I smear raw honey all over it. The leaves have been vacuum bagged flat then frozen and then thawed. This makes them quite limp which makes this adornment process easier. The leaves will adhere to the cheese because of the honey. The honey however mostly drips off. During the summer humidity the leaves stuck fine but in the winter dryness there have been some challenges.
The rind care of the first one involved a couple of honey applications and a couple of olive oil applications and a lot of careful wiping down with a salt, white wine and water brine. With the leaves there it's not possible to do a simple brushing off because the leaves would get lost.
I get a fair amount of blue mold that returns again and again on this cheese but it does wash off and eventually is not an issue.
This cheese was made about December 6th and I dab away the blue mold every few days. I've done 2 (or was it 3) honey applications so far. The cheese stays in a cake caddy that is pictured also. There is a grid and mat to keep it up off the bottom of the platter. In this winter air the cheese has experienced some drying out. The honey helps with this. I'm learning to look at this cheese and assess what it needs in order to keep heading in a good direction of rind health. This batch had initial trouble with the leaves not sticking well. This has shifted and now they are doing okay but the leaves are not holding up as well. Last batch I did an olive oil application and I haven't done that yet on this one but it's my next option to try. Notice how dry the rind is after the mold is washed off. I think I should have oiled this a week ago. :-\ And this is different than the last one because this one has some B linens appearing on the bottom as well as some geo or PC.
Note before and after photos of the blue mold. Frightening but fine.....and I hope that seeing these photos will help you move through the process of rind care with your cheese if you want to try this.
The first one I made like this is almost all eaten and it was tasty and beautiful. Hope to repeat it with this one. Wish me luck!!! :-\
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I really do need some of those leaves!!! ;)
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When the snow melts I'll send you a small bit of plant that you can tuck in somewhere. they are a nice underplanting for roses or shrubs although they are beautiful on their own. Nice flowers, no care. low ground cover except during bloom. If you still want some in the spring, send me a message with your address and I'll send some out.
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what's really cool about these leaf adornments i think, is the way they turn all black and skeletonlike when they age out. It gives the cheese a nice and visual "old" appearance.
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Yes, and the background rind becomes like antique parchment paper. I really do like the visuals and flavor of this batch. I'm considering using some Meyer Lemon infused olive oil on this next. Still thinking about the flavors colliding and how that might work out.
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The cheese stays in a cake caddy that is pictured also.
Does the caddy with cheese then go into the cave?
I'm learning to look at this cheese and assess what it needs in order to keep heading in a good direction of rind health.
Simply amazing. A cheese for your inventiveness, audacity to delve into untrod territory, and willingness to divulge "trade secrets". 8)
Wish me luck!!! :-\
Good Luck!
-Boofer-
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The cheese stays in a cake caddy that is pictured also.
Does the caddy with cheese then go into the cave?
I'm learning to look at this cheese and assess what it needs in order to keep heading in a good direction of rind health.
Simply amazing. A cheese for your inventiveness, audacity to delve into untrod territory, and willingness to divulge "trade secrets". 8)
Wish me luck!!! :-\
Good Luck!
-Boofer-
Thank you, Boofer! No, the whole caddy doesn't fit in my small wine fridge but it does fit into the entire cold room of the cellar that I've taken over. Summer will be a rude awakening when I am back to the wine fridge at the same time as more goats being in milk. I'm hoping for some kind of miracle before then. Not sure what kind of miracle, I'm open to any that solve this space problem! :)
You're always welcome to any trade Blunders secrets. I'm not sure if it's audacity to delve into untrod territory or lack of ability/coordination to step in others' footprints. ;D. I learn by watching the amazing things that others are doing and then getting creative. it's because I learn from others and benefit from their shared stories that I can step out even a little further and still have some traction. (except with slippery cheese)
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When the snow melts I'll send you a small bit of plant that you can tuck in somewhere. they are a nice underplanting for roses or shrubs although they are beautiful on their own. Nice flowers, no care. low ground cover except during bloom. If you still want some in the spring, send me a message with your address and I'll send some out.
Thanks a million Tiarella. I'll check locally as we may already have them here. We have rain forests and bigfoot here so there's no telling what all grows here. :o
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Update on this cheese. It went through a bunch of stages with B. linens showing up, me allowing it, washing it at times, lots of baby blue molds or yeasts (not sure which), then some olive oil rubs, some salt and then finally (and wait, this run-on sentence WILL actually end within your lifetime!) I annointed it with olive oil infused with Meyer lemon as I mentioned I might. It looks a bit gnarly and it certainly has that antique look! It's 2 months old, or would have been in a few more days.
Soooooo, I opened it and the paste is creamy, tight textured, luscious and has an amazing flavor from that Meyer lemon infused oil!!! ;D It's a winner! The first hint was that I couldn't stop tasting it. :-* It's got a different texture than any of my others. It tastes like a cheddar with a bit more lemony bite. The rind looks like crusty.....I had done a pretty, and maybe too thorough, washing job to knock the B. linens down a bit. I am happy and relieved. I'm very tired and don't feel like dragging the vac sealer out from under the daybed to seal the rest of this baby up but I'm going to. It's got a lot going for it and I'm thinking of all the places this will go....family, friends, the bakery where I barter, etc.
Thanks for the company on the journey!
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Freakin' awesome cheese, Kathrin! 8) Pure art.
Congratulations on a beautiful piece of dairy delight. A cheese to you for inventive leaf adornment, superb rind maintenance, and cultured affinage!
-Boofer-
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Awww, thank you, Boofer! I wish you could taste it and give me your opinion. My Sweetie is off dairy right now and living in the middle of nowhere has it's disadvantages when I want someone else's taste buds to weigh in on a cheese. ;) I'm going to try some other infused olive oils in time......not sure what yet. The taste needs to be strong enough to show up in the cheese yet not so strong as to beat out the original cheese flavor. This one worked out well.....
Thanks again!
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Very nice cheese! I think of caerphilly as a nice plain cheese for snacking and nibbling on for a treat, but you've taken it to new heights and got it all gussied up. A cheese to your efforts and excellent outcome.
- Jeff
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Beautiful cheese Ms. T
And another cheese for you ;D
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Thank you, Jeff and HKJ! This one looks a bit strange and that's because when the B. linens got a bit out of control I did a thorough, perhaps too thorough wash and the outer later of rind came off although unevenly. It is lovely to taste. I need to get a recipe for quinoa savory muffins from my friend. She says it's perfect for cheeses that don't come out well but I bet it'd be wonderful for those that do taste good too.
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gorgeous! a cheese for you for your.... art :)
I just can't wait to see how quinoa muffins turn out
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Thank you again, Vina! ;D. I promise to post the quinoa muffin recipe when I get it. I just made another Caerphilly last night. it's still in the press as I write. I'm wondering what to do with it. Will I do another leaf adornment or perhaps a smoked paprika and olive oil coating? Or leave it plain to make the care easy? Or maybe I could do a natural rind on it. Hmmmmm. I also have some fig flavored balsamic vinegar. I wonder what that might do for flavor! :). Thank you for the cheese! Check back here for a link to the Quinoa muffin recipe.
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Tiarella, I'm not an expert with different funcy rinds, I do love them but still learning how-to's. smoked paprika sounds interesting, and balsamic vinegar as well. Do you mean rubbing with fig balsamico? Or prepare some special brine using it?
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I did a montasio with regular balsamic vinegar soaked rind that was great. I can only imagine the fig flavored balsamic sounds good. Send me a piece when its ready. ;)
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Tiarella, I'm not an expert with different funcy rinds, I do love them but still learning how-to's. smoked paprika sounds interesting, and balsamic vinegar as well. Do you mean rubbing with fig balsamico? Or prepare some special brine using it?
Vina, I haven't done any vinegar rinds so I'm going to ask Bob what he did. The Smoked Paprika was easy. I mixed smoked paprika with just enough olive oil to make it into a paste and then smeared it on the cheese. (I had dried the cheese for a while first.....can't remember if it was a couple of weeks or what.) I let it dry some and put it in my wine fridge) It did get some molds and I patted them down. I had hoped the paprika would prove to keep molds away but it didn't. Once I rubbed it with coarse salt and then I wished I hadn't done this because it attracted moisture to the cheese and then I had a wet cheese! Took ages for it to dry back out. I will post a couple of photos of it here since I'm not sure where or if there are photos of it elsewhere. Okay....found the photos. First is as soon as I put the coating on it. Next photo is how nice it was looking but I had rubbed it with salt....you can see the salt all around the tray in the photo. Third photo is the impact of the salt making it too moist and causing some more mold but I was able to rub it and keep it under control. Last photo shows it cut and how the rind looked then. It all worked out fine! :D You can see I had it in a container to control the moisture. I wiped the inside of the container almost every day. Try this type of rind treatment and don't worry about the phases it goes through. It will be okay....maybe even the moisture from the salt was a good thing. I will maybe do an experiment and do two, one with a salt application partway through and one without.
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Once I rubbed it with coarse salt and then I wished I hadn't done this because it attracted moisture to the cheese and then I had a wet cheese! Took ages for it to dry back out.
Doesn't attract moisture...draws it out of the cheese. Waaay back, the Native Americans would salt their freshly-caught fish to dry them out quickly. See, I was paying attention in history class! ;)
I too have done this mistake, transforming an otherwise decent rind into a moist problem. Live & learn. ::)
So how did this artful cheese taste?
-Boofer-
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So how did this artful cheese taste?
-Boofer-
Yes inquiring mind's HAVE to know :o
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OH, general consensus was that it was awesome! It really was amazing. Gave wedges to a vet friend, Cheesemaking friend, the butcher who did our farm slaughtering, etc, etc. My Cheesemaking friend saved a small piece of rind, having trouble parting with it, and finally used it in some dish....can't remember what but she said it was great.
Boofer, I don't think the salt only draws moisture from the cheese because in our humid season I can put plain salt on a plate and it draws moisture from the air. That's the season this happened in. The texture of the cheese was perfect, not dried out. But I am very relieved to know you stayed awake in history class! ;D. I'll rest a lot easier now. >:D. Seriously, weren't those the best parts of history class? Old time food preservation of older cultures?
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I did a montasio with regular balsamic vinegar soaked rind that was great. I can only imagine the fig flavored balsamic sounds good. Send me a piece when its ready. ;)
Bob,
Can you tell us how you did that? I have no idea how I'd use the fig balsamic vinegar but I'd like to try it. What exactly and when did you use it? Thanks in advance! :D
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Tiarella, your smoked paprika cheese also loks great! How long did you age it with paprika covering?
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I put the smoked paprika coating on 10/8 and opened the cheese 11/18 so not very long. I thought it had been longer but when I check the dates on my photos, this is the amount of time. The cheese was likely Caerphilly although it may possibly have been a tomme that I didn't label. I had too many cheeses then. I'm pretty sure from the taste that it was Caerphilly......but if so I have no idea where the September Tomme went to. ;D I think you should try this cheese style and post photos if you have questions but also because of course we all want to see what cheese is being made. :D
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Sorry I missed this for so long. I put the cheese in a zip top bag, dumped in enough balsmic to allow the entire surface to be covered when I squeezed the air out. Let it sit in the balsamic overnight then air dried before returning to the container. A week or so later I repeated, having saved the vinegar in the fridge. Don't remember why I chose a couple shortish dips, but it was before I read Yoav's comments on wine treating rinds with multiple thin coats. ;)
Ironically, I went with balsamic rather than wine thinking I'd save money. I accidentally grabbed the good bottle of balsamic vinegar instead of the regular service bottle and ended up spending more on that than a nice Barbera would have cost. There's a Barbera rind montasio in my future.
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Ironically, I went with balsamic rather than wine thinking I'd save money. I accidentally grabbed the good bottle of balsamic vinegar instead of the regular service bottle and ended up spending more on that than a nice Barbera would have cost. There's a Barbera rind montasio in my future.
;-)
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I am way late to this party but that cheese is effin gorgeous. I will have to try such a thing. AC4U