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Humboldt Fog-type cheese with raw goat milk

Started by mathewjones, July 23, 2024, 05:51:10 AM

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mathewjones

Hi All,

My ongoing saga with attempting a semi-lactic, ashed, bloomy goat cheese continues. See here for previous failures, rescues and even some recent success:
https://cheeseforum.org/index.php/topic,19558.msg148844.html#msg148844

I'm hoping I can get some guidance on my progress from y'all. Your advice has always been excellent, thank you.

I'm loosely following Brie's recipe here:
https://cheeseforum.org/index.php/topic,2019.msg23336.html#msg23336

The differences in recipe for my first successful make with raw goat milk were:
- 1 gal raw goat milk (~80˚F)
- 1/4 tsp flora danica
- 1/64 tsp P. candidum
- 1/64 tsp G. candidum
- No CaCl2 (because raw milk)
- Ripen/acidify for 30 min.
- 3 drops liquid 1x calf rennet in 1/4 c NC water
- Set for ~18 hours at room temp (~70˚F)

This resulted in a perfectly normal looking curd. I then predrained in muslin for 4 hours, then hooped it, dried for a few days at room temp, salted/ashed it then let it fester in the cave (~55˚F, 80% RH) for about 7 days. It grew a perfect white mold over the ash. Then I wrapped it in breathable cheesepaper, aged it in the normal fridge for 2-3 weeks and ate it. It was delicious.

Now I'm using a different batch of raw goat milk (but from same farm), plus some experimentation, and things are coming out quite different than last time. Also, I'm shooting for a tangier, thicker, less runny final product at 2-3 weeks of aging. So these are the things that are different this time, including what I deliberately experimented with:
- Raw goat milk was refrigerated for about a week before my make.
- Ripen/Acidify for twice as long (60 min). Trying to get cheese tangier. Final pH was 6.5 after 30 min (last time), but 5.9 after 60 min (this time).
- Used 5 drops of rennet this time, rather than 3 last time. Trying to get cheese firmer. In both cases, liquid 1x calf rennet was dissolved in 1/4 cup NC water before stirring in.

After letting it set overnight (18-24 hrs in both cases):
-LAST TIME the curd looked "normal". Clean break. It was a mass that had pulled away from the sides, and was covered with about 1/2" of whey.

-THIS TIME, the curd was all floating ON TOP of the whey, in a mass about 1" thick (about 1 lb total weight after hooping, so the yield is similar to before).
- The top was exposed to air and looked a bit foamy, like whipped cream. But there was a clean break of the floating mass, and it smelled fine and was uniformly white with no weird colors.
- The floating curd mass had a "normal" texture, but had lots of "eyes" on the underside, presumably from gas pockets. I've read in this forum that that is not entirely unusual for flora danica.

So, my immediate questions are:
- Given what I just said about THIS make, do any of you see anything worrying about the safety of eating this cheese? It's a raw milk cheese. But so was the last make and nobody reported any undesirable symptoms after eating it. In fact, everyone loved it and are clamoring for another batch.
- The curd mass floating on top of the whey seems weird. Also the "eyes". Is this something to worry about safety-wise? Is it an obvious sign of contamination? It smells fine and besides floating, the curds look mostly normal when I ladled them into hoops. But why are they floating and gassy looking?
- Are there aspects of my latest make recipe that would cause these differences? The main changes were: a) older milk from a different batch, b) longer ripening/acidification time and c) a bit more rennet.

Any suggestions would be great, as always.

Thanks,

Matt












- Matt