Reluctantly...Fourme d'Ambert-like

[Boofer]

Just a quick tip.
If your not going to drink the bottle and got it just for the cheese,  devide the wine into small jar portions and freeze them.  This will keep the wine fairly fresh and delay oxidation.

You are kidding me, right? Not drink the wine?

Let's see, can I find a hunk of cheese anywhere and maybe a piece of crusty bread? 

That is, of course, after the injections have been concluded. And that will be awhile.

Looking good!  What does Vouvray taste like?

You know, I'm looking at three different bottles of Vouvray, unopened. I'll have a taste when I open one (or two) this weekend. Keep in touch.... 

-Boofer-

[Boofer]

Injection Day!

Okay, so I had three choices of wine to inject. How to pick one? Very arbitrary I'm afraid. Not really having any prior knowledge of this wine or its application here, I just selected one that I thought would work. I opened the bottle, tasted the wine...not bad. It's very akin to a Chablis.

The injecting was as Brie had mentioned. When you inject, the wine can emerge from the holes previously pierced for the blue to breathe. Several times while I was gently pressing the plunger on the injector, it would not move. I had found a space in the cheese that did not have any piercing channels. Continuing to press the plunger applied pressure so that the wine found a channel to relieve the pressure. The result was a mini geyser as the wine squirted out or up (or both) from the piercing holes. What a surprise! I almost had a shower at one point as the wine geysered up from a hole in the top (flat surface)! 

I attempted to inject to get complete coverage of the interior of the cheese. How well I accomplished that I do not know. Next week I will try to repeat the process. Hopefully, the cheese would have dried somewhat before that time. When I finished this morning, the cheeses were very wet. After injecting, I turned the cheeses over and made sure that all surfaces were coated with the wine.

Uncharted territory here. Is the cheese too wet? What will the wine do? I did not dry the cheeses off, but instead air-dried them out of the cave for about an hour. I will be monitoring them to see what happens. Wish I had more detailed direction. I guess I'm getting that now. 

-Boofer-

[JeffHamm]

Next week I will try to repeat the process. Hopefully, the cheese would have dried somewhat before that time.

And hopefully the same can be said of the cheesemaker!  I do recommend a shower before going for a drive.  Explaining to the police that you smell of wine because you were making cheese might be harder to explain that you think.

Looks good.  Looking forward to the outcome.

- Jeff

[H-K-J]

It does look good Boofer

8 cubes Aroma B (meso) mother culture

I was curious if you could use (DVI) MM-100-101 for the culture and end up with a similar result?
Love the turkey injector idea

[Aris]

Looks wet, just hope B. Linens won't be attracted to the rind. I wonder how blue veining will develop, i've read blue mold don't like being wet. This experiment is interesting, i hope it goes well.

[Brie]

Boof--you are using my exact method! I injected, and then let cheese dry out a bit before returning to cave. One thing I do remember is that this cheese forms a brown crust after about a month. If you find that happening, just wipe it down with saltwater. Can't wait to see the finals!

[Brie]

Sorry, forgot to add this because it is very important--Boof, you are no longer making Fourme d'Ambert, you are making Fourme au Vouvray; which is why you never see the wine-injecting step in Fourme d'Ambert recipes.  They are sister cheeses-not one and the same.  I have made both and prefer the latter for the character that the Vouvray adds. I believe there is a Fourme au Sauterne made in France as well.
Cheese On !

[Boofer]

Thanks for your guidance, Brie. I'm a little in the dark with the fine detail of this make.

I Googled but don't see the "Fourme au Vouvray" reference. I'll stick to the moniker on the subject line. The pic is from thefrenchdelicatessen.

-Boofer-

[Boofer]

It's amazing what the same curds will do when treated a little differently or shaped in a different mould. The smaller cheese is moist and tacky. The main cheese looks to be exactly what I would expect, judging by the pictured examples. There is some blue activity at the pierced holes and not a lot on the rind which is what I wanted. The wine injection last weekend poofed up the surface in places a little.

One interesting observation: the second pic shows one of several injection sites that have slight residual wine seepage.

This weekend the cheese will once again be brutalized with the wine injection. I don't foresee any ill effects with the larger cheese, but the little guy might be overwhelmed since it's already pretty moist.

-Boofer-

[anutcanfly]

Nice color.  I wouldn't have thought it was a blue.

[beechercreature]

oh boy, that's starting to look really nice. great job.

[Boofer]

I injected both cheeses for the second time yesterday. The little guy was quite tacky from the linens he's managed to find. The main cheese is very different from the little guy. Again, the rind is not tacky. There is some linens growth. I can see blue in the holes. When I injected gently the rind would raise up slightly. I got several small geysers when the pressure found a vent. At this point, there aren't many places that seem solid and resistant to the injection.

Very interesting experiment.

-Boofer-

[anutcanfly]

I can't wait for you to open and taste one! 

[Boofer]

The places that I pierced with the injector are splitting. This weekend is scheduled for the third injection, but I think the little guy needs a break.

-Boofer-

[hoeklijn]

I had the same after the second time I pierced them and I noticed that after I had them out of the cave for about an hour.
Since that moment I didn't get them out anymore, except to eat one of them...