First semi-firm blue cheese

[StuartDunstan]

I've made a few surface-ripened soft blue cheeses that ended up with a bit of blue in the middle, but so far haven't attempted a firmer cheese with more blue. Well, after getting David Asher's Art of Natural Cheesemaking and reading his very easy, straightforward recipe for a Gorgonzola-style blue cheese, I decided to give it a whirl.

I had to adapt his recipe slightly, as I had less milk, and the culture comes from the addition of Flora Danica rather than kefir. But I followed the rest of his technique quite closely, and it seems to have worked well. It's a bit smaller and flatter than I would have liked (only 4L milk used and the form was a bit big), and there's not *heaps* of spaces between the curd (at least on the outside), but I think there's enough inside there to get a good amount of blue through.

The main points of the technique are:

Heat milk to 32C
Add culture, blue mould, calcium chloride, rennet
Cut the curd after an hour
Stir every 5 minutes over the next hour
Whey off and transfer curd to a cheesecloth line colander, reserving the whey
Let it drain, then salt the curd
Mix the curd with your fingers (this will break up the curd into smaller pieces)
Let drain for 5 minutes
Transfer curd to cheesecloth-lined cheese form
Add salt to reserved whey to make a wash and keep it in your cheese cave
Let sit for 12-24 hours, removing cheesecloth once it holds together and flipping once or twice
Remove from form and let sit another 12-24 hours to dry
Put it in cheese cave at around 10C and 90% humidity
Wash with salt/whey wash every couple of days for the first week to discourage blue growth
Pierce after one week

I have no idea if this technique is close to how Gorgonzola is made, but so far it's going well. Will keep the photos coming.

[awakephd]

Stuart,

I don't know how broad a range the term "Gorgonzola" covers; I know (or think) there is a "dolce" version that is somewhat different from the "picante" version. The latter is the make I am familiar with; it is a good bit different from yours because it uses two sets of curds, one that is made a day before, allowed to firm up and acidify overnight, and the other that is allowed to firm up for a shorter amount of time. The softer curd is used on the outside, and the firmer curd used on the inside, yielding a cheese with lots of nooks and crannies on the interior, but still able to knit and hold together on the outside (though still with crags and crannies).

It may be that your make is more like the "dolce" version - ?? Maybe someone else will know and will chip in, or if not I'll try to look it up in one of the books I have when I get home tonight.

But really, who cares -- if you get an edible cheese out of this, it is a successful recipe! And you always rename it Gorgonstuart a la Dunstan.