Thanks CH and hello Tea
I have made several of the cheeses from Home Cheesemaking by Neil and Carole Willman: Blue, Blue/White combo, caerphilly, cheddar, brie, camembert, parmesan, swiss, halloumi, fetta, havarti, pepato, swiss, and white wensleydale. I have made the stilton from Ricki Carrol’s book as well. Oh, and lots of ricotta from the whey.
As for quality, well, that’s another matter. They have all been edible, but the ones I was most happy with were pepato, caerphilly and brie. The blue didn’t blue (used too fine a skewer to pierce); cheddar was a tad floury – not sure why; one batch of camembert was OK, but I took too long to eat the second and by then it was inedible with a very strong ammonia smell (the blue/white combo – ditto); I didn’t get to taste the swiss as I gave it away but was told it was nice; the halloumi and fetta were OK, but perhaps a tad salty; and the wensleydale was also OK, but nothing to write home about.
In the past couple of weeks, I have made another blue (has lots of blue so I’m ahead so far), caerphilly – it was like a mild cheddar but eminently edible; a brie (but have decided it has just been too hot to even go there again until it cools down in a couple of months; and two stiltons – the first was a disaster as I took it out of the mould too early – didn’t read the instructions carefully enough, and the second one is draining as I type. I really want to learn to make a good stilton – one of my favourite cheeses.
All in all, a very mixed bag, but I am absolutely committed to get better! I love the process, right from the get go with milking the cow and seeing it through to a final product. Have made quite a bit of butter, one quarg and one batch of yoghurt.
Ps and the ice cream is pretty good too!
pps your idea of an open theatre sounds great, Carter.