Caephilly #2

[mikekchar]

I wasn't going to post this because it's essentially the same as my last recipe, only doing it correctly this time :-)  But it turned out very nicely so I thought I might as well.

Ob. Pics: (This is at 3 weeks)





This has the texture of a true Caerphilly.  It's slightly crumbly, but still soft.  It has a nice acidic bite.  You still get interesting flavours from the rind.  It's pretty much exactly what I wanted.

You can see that there is a lot of blue.  I'm realising that the blue loves sharp edges.  So I'm going to try to do my best to avoid them.  For a young cheese like this, it really doesn't make any difference as all and it actually looks quite pretty I think.  But the perfectionist in me wants to try :-)

I innoculated this on the second day with geo from Caerphilly #1 and by the third day it was mostly covered in geo.  There were some areas near the edge of the cheese that the geo didn't like and so blue started to show up there after a while.  I controlled it with vinegar only, hoping to avoid b. linens from showing up.  You can see that I failed :-)  The b. linens was going to town and since my Tomme #4 went the same way, but got overripe I was keen to try this one young.  It definitely doesn't detract from the rind at all.  Though not characteristic of a Caerphilly, I think it works pretty nicely.  The paste is pretty dry, so I didn't get much softening -- in fact, you can see that the rind is very firm and well defined.

I tasted this up against Caerphilly #1 (we have a tiny bit left) and it is definitely better as a Caerphilly.  In fact, I would humbly say it rivals any of the Caerphillys that I had in England.  #1 was actually a super Tomme and aged very well.  Probably one of these two is the best cheese I've made so far -- I would say #2 just edges out #1.  I was really surprised how mature it seems at only 3 weeks old (and it was exactly 3 weeks on cutting).  I'm more and more convinced that getting the geo going early on a natural rind is incredibly important.

[River Bottom Farm]

That looks nice Mike. AC4U

[awakephd]

And another C4U!

[Susan38]

I cannot believe how many cheeses you are cranking out in such a short time!  This one looks great and am glad it is what you are looking for, taste-wise.  Another C4U.

[mikekchar]

Ha ha!  My wife somewhat dubiously says the same thing :-)  I make 1 or 2 cheeses a week at the moment.  I'm lucky in that I work from home as a computer programmer.  I'm in Japan and the rest of my colleagues are in the UK.  Because I'm a morning person, I often start work around 7:30 am, but I always have meetings in the evening (often going until 9-10 PM), so I've got a lot of time during the day where I have nothing to do.  My wife volunteers every day during the day as well, so the house is empty.  All this means that it's pretty easy to squeeze in a make during my work day -- most of the time you are waiting anyway.   Honestly, the only reason I don't do more is because I can't afford it.  If I pay full price for my milk, 500 grams of cheese costs me $15.  (Note to self:  I should make bread on the off days...)

I also make really small cheeses.  Most of my cheeses are between 400 grams and 600 grams.  I'm starting to realise that this is going to be a serious limitation for ageing.  For example, this Caerphilly was really nice at 3 weeks and would probably age well for another 2 tops.  However, after that, the mould on the outside will affect the flavour in the center of the cheese.  I think it would be nice to age it out to 3-4 months, but if I do that, I think all of the nice Caerphilly tang is going to be replaced with creamy mushroom flavours.  I was thinking the other day that ideally I would be doing 2 kg makes for this cheese, but that's going to cost $50-60.  My wife is going to notice that out of our household budget ;-)  Anyway, we'll see how it goes.  My wife has been starting to cook with the cheese regularly and complained yesterday that we had no good melty cheese for her potatoes yesterday, so I'm starting to generate demand :-D

[Andrew Marshallsay]

If you had a vacuum sealer, you could cut the cheese when it is ready, take some for immediate consumption and seal the rest for later.

[awakephd]

I love my vacuum sealer! It doesn't keep the cheese from aging - the enzymes keep working. And if there is mold on the cheese, I find that it still allows the flavor (maybe enzymes from the mold??) to permeate the cheese. But it does keep new mold from developing.

[mikekchar]

It's not that I want to eat some now and age some for later.  I want to age it longer, but the cheese is too small to do that.  I'd like to make larger cheeses, but it's just financially not an option right now (13% of my paycheck went up in smoke when Mark Carney warned that the pound will tank when Brexit happens :-( ).  $50 is our weekly food budget in total.  I can't squeak that by my wife ;-)  Probably should just start looking for an American client :-(