Historic Cheese Making

[JayW]

Wow ... 2 voices from 2 different worlds this is most valuable background for all cheese makers. even if they are adding cultures from packs it gives them a better sense of where it all comes from and what they do.

Both conversations are important here.

I did a session with Enric Canut from Spain last year and was very impressed with his weekly approach to preparing a mother culture and freezing for daily use. It makes a lot of sense and yes it gets you past that grey area of initial ripening time and lag phase.

Also will be getting one of those induction heaters too

.... jim

Many thanks for your experience and efforts here

[linuxboy]

Jim, thanks for joining us here in the thread.

I love what Enric does, totally support the approach. As an alternative, microbiologically speaking, freezing is not necessary. A culture stored at 35F will be stable in terms of viable CFU/g population density for ~96 hours. It does decline after this, but less so than the loss from freezing. Where freezing makes more sense is in terms of longer-term storage. There are also ways to extend that longevity to weeks at refrigeration temps, but that's more work.

[Schnecken Slayer]

I just found this on-line recipe book from 1896:- http://www.kellscraft.com/CheeseAndCheeseMaking/CheeseandCheeseMakingContentPage.html

CHEESE AND CHEESE-MAKING
BUTTER AND MILK

WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
CONTINENTAL FANCY CHEESES

BY
JAMES LONG
JOHN BENSON

London: Chapman and Hall Ld
1896

I found it interesting to note the outlandish costs.
quote: "the value of the cheese consumed in the same year per head of the people amounted to 6s., of which 2s. 4 1/2 d. went to the exporter."

[H-K-J]

I am finding the book very interesting just glancing at it there is quite a lot of historic info 8)

[Schnecken Slayer]

I found it while comparing stilton recipes and thought it would be good to share with everyone here.

[bbracken677]

Thanks for doing so!  Nice information and a bit of history to boot.

[H-K-J]

the Stilton section is where I went first, very informative as far as the historic aspect
I like to read this old stuff  :)

[bbracken677]

Reading the Cheshire section really makes me want to make one now....and to follow his procedure as close as possible. I am seriously thinking about writing it up as a recipe tonight...