Hi from Sydney

[Rachel]

Hi,

I've been lurking on this forum for a while now, but I finally registered and thought I'd see if there are still other people from Sydney around? The other Sydney post here is six years old now!

I have been making cheese for a year or two. Having a lot of success with washed rinds so far, and sometimes with bloomy rinds (about half the time they go from rock hard to complete liquid before I catch them!) I've made a few hard cheeses too but not very satisfied with the flavour yet.

Here's a picture of the tastiest cheese I've managed lately - a Port Salut.

Who else is around and what have you been making lately?

[River Bottom Farm]

Very nice. Welcome and AC4U

[panamamike]

Welcome to the Forum Rachel. Looks like you have mastered the cheese in the picture.

[Andrew Marshallsay]

Welcome on board Rachel. Not too many Sydney-siders here but there are quite a few of us from various parts of Oz and it's always nice to welcome another one.
I do love a nice washed rind and that one is a beauty. Have a cheese from me.
The fast ripening of your bloomies sounds to me like the temperature is too high. I ripen mine at about 13C until the PC covers the cheese (about a week or a bit over) and then move them to about 7C for a few more weeks.
In the fridge at the moment I have a Cheddar, a Cheshire, a Romano and a Gruyere. This weekend I'm planning to start my first Stilton.

[Rachel]

You'd think so, wouldn't you, but the most recent one I kept in the actual fridge at 4C right from the start instead of my cave and I still had the same problem. I've also experimented with different amounts of fat in the milk (ie adding cream or not) and with getting less moisture or more moisture in the curds (cutting or not, waiting after cutting, or not, etc). The thing that annoys me is my first four cams were perfect, and I've never been able to replicate that since. They always taste good, but often just run all over the table when I cut into them. Sometimes just a few days after I opened one from the same batch that was still unripe inside.

[River Bottom Farm]

The fault in your cams sounds like a milk issue. Too much protein and not enough fat. Try another brand of milk or add more cream

[GortKlaatu]

Welcome from Costa Rica!

[Gürkan Yeniçeri]

Welcome to the forum Rachel