Creamy Blueberry Delight...Redux

[Al Lewis]

Looks amazing!  Thanks for all of the great information. :D

[Boofer]

The rind was cracking and seemed to be shrinking. I decided to take a chance and vacuum-seal it up for continued affinage. I hope this works.

-Boofer-

[Tobiasrer]

Best of luck with it now that its packed!
I am getting that same under skin dark spots that you seemed to have on my Gruyere. Hope its not a bad thing!  Though mine doesnt look like texas LOL.

[Schnecken Slayer]

That is an amazing looking cheese. I love how you can see the berries just under the skin.

Hopefully it will taste as good as it looks!

[H-K-J]

How long are you going to age this, it is a interesting cheese :)

[Boofer]

I'll check it in January.

Get on the table or get on the road!

-Boofer-

[Boofer]

Looking to get a clear sense of what this cheese is doing, I decided to cut it open yesterday morning.

The cheese in the vacuum bag was splitting and there was significant moisture on the rind. I had to be careful when cutting into the cheese that I didn't completely tear away the soft and loose rind. The inner paste was unchanged from earlier checks: dry and chalky. The taste of the cheese was unremarkable, bordering on undesirable. The blueberries did not possess any fruitiness or sweetness, but instead were reduced to hard, dry little dark "somethings". Where the berries had been in the paste, there was a well where they had dried and shrunk away from the cheese.

I gathered up the entire mess and tossed it in the garbage. I was disappointed in the results from the effort and money committed to create what I hoped would be a creamy, tasty diversion from normal cheeses I could buy or make. It will be quite some time before I attempt any cheese with moist fruit or vegetables. It can be done...there are commercial cheeses with blueberries. I just don't have the technique that I require to successfully pull this off.

As painful as it is to air my dirty cheese failings here, I'm posting to alert other would-be blueberry cheese fanciers to the pitfalls of the endeavor. Be warned.

-Boofer-

[Al Lewis]

So what's the verdict?  We scratching this one off of our "to do" list?

[H-K-J]

Damn! Damn! Damn! I was really hoping this one would work for you :-\
Not going to try this at home :(

[Al Lewis]

Yeah H-K-J, me too.  I love some blueberries.

[margaretsmall]

Hi boofer,
Very disappointing for you. It's interesting that the surface is damp but the interior is chalky. The moisture which you so carefully added to the blueberries seems to have been sucked away. I wonder if cheese with additions like this should be eaten quickly?
Margaret

[Boofer]

I don't know what the answer is, Margaret. Sailor claims to some success doing a cheese with blueberries. So far, the secret has eluded me.

-Boofer-

[JeffHamm]

This blueberry mystery is getting deeper.  Perhaps smaller, camembert sized, forms would work better?  But then, if the berries in the creamy section were dry and hard, then that would be no better.  Sort of like eating shot pheasant and finding a pellet.  Sure, authenticates the description, but doesn't help the dental work any.  (But, you could call the cheese "blue shot cam").  Anyway, a shame to see this as the end result for your efforts, but greatly appreciate your sharing the outcome.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

- Jeff

[Tiarella]

Oooh, sorry for the outcome.  I'll wear a black armband in solidarity.   :'(  I too wonder if a smaller cheese might avoid some of the issues.  Have you identified what Sailor does differently?  I also wonder how or if  the vacuum impacted where in the cheese the moisture ended up.  The cut open photos actually look promising to me....the rich, soft creamy color, etc.

[Boofer]

Thanks for the commiseration, guys.

I was hoping I could get a little inside knowledge from Ed for any future effort. I'm not a commercial cheese maker trying to steal trade secrets...I just want to make a fruit-based creamy cheese.

I'm imagining something like my recent Saint Paulin style with its creamy nature and linens rind. That or something similar might be better. I think my choice of Geo-KL71 was wrong for rind development. Perhaps PLA or SR3 would fit better for what I'm trying to accomplish. I may do one gallon makes to validate new ideas before committing to larger scale efforts.

So you see, the spark is still there to see this become successful. ;)

-Boofer-