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CHEESE TYPE BOARDS (for Cheese Lovers and Cheese Makers) => ADJUNCT - Blue Mold (Penicillium roqueforti) Ripened => Topic started by: hoeklijn on February 17, 2013, 08:25:15 PM

Title: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: hoeklijn on February 17, 2013, 08:25:15 PM
a WHAT? A Bleu d'Armand, which is French for something like "Herman's blue". It's a sort of TOOKAS (The Original Officially Known As Stilton), but since that has a POD I can't called it by that name. Officially.
For the make I used just over 6 gallons of fresh raw and still warm milk, fresh from the cow, with a fat percentage of 4.5% according to the farmer.
I followed LinuxBoy's recipe on wacheese.com and used a culture that has 2/3 Lactococcus Cremoris and Lactococcus Lactis and 1/3 aroma forming cultures Lactococcus Diacetilactis and Leuconostoc Cremoris. For the PR I used Sigma 17 which is adviced by my supplier for less sharp results like in Fourme d'Ambert.
I started early which resulted that around 8PM I was able to mill the curd and fill the mould.
The mould I'm using is 16cm in diameter and 26 cm high and was completely filled at first.
I must say, it's quite an adventure to flip something like that... But I managed and have been flipping the whole night.
Today also several times and from tomorrow on twice a day. Top and bottom are nicely formed, but I've got some curd in the fridge for when I am going to smoothen the outside Tuesday night. The bit of whey that's still dripping down is smelling nice and buttery.
Tuesday I will make pictures. I still don't know if I'm going to allow the rind to develop like a TOOKAS of that I give it a more Booferish treat like he does with his Fourme d'Ambert....
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: Tiarella on February 17, 2013, 11:01:38 PM
Wow, Herman!!  That sounds very cool!!  I do want to watch it ripen so do post lots of photos please.   :)
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: hoeklijn on February 20, 2013, 09:08:00 PM
Tonight I removed the cheese from it's mould. It's about 2750 gram at the moment, but probably it will loose some wheight while maturing.
It's quite a big cheese, to compare I made 1 picture with a 0.33 ltr beer bottle.
I filled the biggest cracks and craters with some warmed up curd that I had saved in the fridge and then it was ready to be moved into its container for the cave. So far I'am happy  :D...
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: Tiarella on February 20, 2013, 10:24:45 PM
That is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!  Ummm, I hope you like this cheese a LOT because that is a LOT of cheese!  it does have a very cool name.   ;D. Does your box have a raised lid or will you have to drape plastic over the top with this very tall cheese?  It's nice to see you cheesing and posting again! 
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: hoeklijn on February 21, 2013, 07:19:07 AM
I like the cheese and I like to share. My box doesn't have a lid as the moment, the cheese is too tall, but I'm trying to raise the RH in the cave. At the moment it's about 80% as I noticed when I  flipped the cheese early this morning. And yes, I hope I can pick up the pace again with cheesing and posting...
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: Boofer on February 21, 2013, 04:03:41 PM
Yea!! Herman's back!!  :D

...and he's expanding our cheese lexicon: Bleu d'Armand...TOOKAS.

Wow, 6 gallons of warm raw milk. That's a big cheese. Looks really good so far. I'm looking forward to watching its development. With the cultures and blue mold you put into this cheese, it really is your cheese. That's nice.

-Boofer-
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: hoeklijn on February 21, 2013, 06:12:12 PM
Thanks Boofer! I'm still in doubt how I'm going to treat the rind, but at the moment regular cleaning with salt water = 60%, creating a real TOOKAS-rind = 40%...
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: hoeklijn on February 23, 2013, 03:26:45 PM
Today is discovered the first blue, together with some white mould (Geo? PC? Not added to the milk, so some other contamination). After seeing the white I decided to go for a regular maintenance of the rind with salt water, so it received it's first treatment right away.

(http://flexiprogram-public.s3.amazonaws.com/IMG_1546_BleuArmand_firstBlue.jpg)

After that is was time for the first piercing of the cheese.
Fun part of piercing is that small crumbles of cheese will come on top of the cheese, so you can TASTE how it is developing and yes, I'm still happy!

(http://flexiprogram-public.s3.amazonaws.com/IMG_1549_BleuArmand_Pierced.jpg)

cheers,
Herman
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: hoeklijn on March 03, 2013, 12:42:21 PM
Update on the development of my "Bleu d'Armand":
It's 2 weeks old now and I'm still pretty pleased. Some Geo is developing in the lower parts of the rind and I'm cleaning the rind once a week with a water and salt solution. The other days I let the cheese out of the cave for about an hour and rub the rind with a clean dry cloth.
Because the holes I pierced last week are closed with PR, I pierced the cheese again with a knitting needle of 4 mm I bought for this purpose.
I promised myself to let it age for at least 3 month but I already expect that won't be easy....
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: H-K-J on March 03, 2013, 03:42:33 PM
Looks Like it has come along nicely Herman (Yuummmm :P)
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: Boofer on March 03, 2013, 08:50:54 PM
Oooh, I like that rind treatment you have going, Herman. Looking good!

Kind of looks like a strange type of radio with that antenna sticking up there. :P

-Boofer-
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: hoeklijn on March 04, 2013, 07:16:07 AM
Kind of looks like a strange type of radio with that antenna sticking up there. :P

-Boofer-

Yeah, somehow the antenna is only receiving blues  O0
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: Boofer on March 04, 2013, 02:23:18 PM
Kind of looks like a strange type of radio with that antenna sticking up there. :P

-Boofer-

Yeah, somehow the antenna is only receiving blues  O0
ROFL  ;D

I set that up really good for you. :)

-Boofer-
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: CWREBEL on March 05, 2013, 06:08:45 PM
Yeah, you served a softball for him Boofer, and Herman hit over the fence!  ;D
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: hoeklijn on March 06, 2013, 07:25:56 AM
Well, to be honest, when posting that picture I already suspected some reaction from some members  ;D
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: Tiarella on March 06, 2013, 12:17:12 PM
I was half surprised you didn't put two knitting needles in it to make it look insect antennae!   :D
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: hoeklijn on April 21, 2013, 06:57:06 PM
Today it was a nice warm spring day (out of the wind). We in the garden, neighbours in the garden. Neighbour openend a bottle of red wine, Herman openend his Bleu d'Armand.
I guess it's in the top 3 of all the cheeses I made, if not the number one.
Firm texture, slightly crumbly under the knife, but a creamy taste. Not as sharp as a Stilton, but a bit sharper than a Fourme d'Ambert and not so soft as a FdA. Very nice after taste without becoming overwhelming and a very good combination with a firm red wine like a Rioja.
I love it. And the neighbours loved it too, even my 9 years old daughter...
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: bbracken677 on April 21, 2013, 07:04:29 PM
Very nice!  Looks really good and tasty!
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: JeffHamm on April 21, 2013, 08:15:33 PM
That looks great.  A cheese to you.  It's great when the little ones like it too.  My daughter, who is only 5, has a very sophisticated cheese palette and likes sharp cheddars, blues (not too spicy though), camemberts/bries, gouda, washed rinds, etc.  I think it's great that she can enjoy such a wide variety of foods at her age.

- Jeff
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: hoeklijn on April 22, 2013, 06:22:30 AM
Thanks for the cheese Jeff! My daughter even tried to convince me that I should go commercially, which I won't....
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: Boofer on April 22, 2013, 07:05:26 AM
Beautiful effort, Herman! Hooray!

A cheese to you, Sir.  :)

-Boofer-
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: Tiarella on April 22, 2013, 11:05:33 AM
Wow!!  That IS beautiful and sounds so tasty also!  A cheese to you and your blue and I'm hoping I can make something as tasty someday.   ;D
Title: Re: Saturday I made a Bleu d'Armand.
Post by: hoeklijn on April 22, 2013, 06:26:56 PM
Wow!!  That IS beautiful and sounds so tasty also!  A cheese to you and your blue and I'm hoping I can make something as tasty someday.   ;D
Beautiful effort, Herman! Hooray!

A cheese to you, Sir.  :)

-Boofer-

Thank you all  ^-^