Greetings from Greece

[dukegus]

Hello,
my name is Kostas and I live in Greece.

I always wanted to make cheese and I had some failed attempts with store bought milk which is pretty expensive and worthless compared to raw.
Recently I found out that my neighbor has some sheep, so I can get raw sheep's milk. Pretty expensive too but at least it amazing quality.

Yesterday I had my first try with feta cheese. All sheep's milk, pasteurized at 60 for ~30 min then cooled to ~40 and added thermophilic culture(yogurt)
and after a while rennet. I strained for about an hour at "room" temperature(~27) and the put in homemade cheese mold(tupperware with holes...) and
flipped a couple of times. Today I salted the fresh cheese with coarse salt(without iodine) about 2-3% and flipped a couple of times. Tomorrow morning
I'm putting the cheese in 7% brine(1 lt water/70 gr salt) and I'm gonna leave it for 4 weeks. Have no idea how it's gonna turn out!

Glad to be here and I hope I learn from you guys because I'd love to make all kinds of cheeses.
Kostas

[Boofer]

The brine should be pH and calcium stabilized or it may leach out calcium from the cheese.

Why so low a salt content and so long a brining?

Kudos for finding a source of raw milk.

-Boofer-

[dukegus]

The brine should be pH and calcium stabilized or it may leach out calcium from the cheese.

Why so low a salt content and so long a brining?

Kudos for finding a source of raw milk.

-Boofer-

Hi Boofer!
Thx for the reply mate!

Well I have no idea how to calcium stabilize it, generally I only got calcium sulfate because of brewing(beer)
and I can't find any calcium chloride soon enough.

The salt content was taken from a paper about feta cheese and the maturation said at least 4 weeks
but of course I have no idea about all the stuff that I said because it's my first time so I'm very open to change
any of those parameters!

[hoeklijn]

Ya sas Kostas, ti kanete? Greetings from Holland, from the neighborhood of Gouda. I've been about 20 times in Greece on holiday and I love feta. I always though that the fresh feta in your supermarkets is so much better than the packed stuff they sell here. I recently made feta from 10 liters of goat milk but it is already finished.
I used the whey as brine, in that case you do not have to worry about the Calcium Chloride too much. To prevent the surface of getting slimy, I added a tsp of vinegar as well to 1 ltr of brine.
When you look at http://www.brouwland.com/en and look for distributors, they do have a reseller in Greece, at least for brewery-stuff. Maybe they also have CaCl2.
Kali Orexi! 

[dukegus]

Ya sas Kostas, ti kanete? Greetings from Holland, from the neighborhood of Gouda. I've been about 20 times in Greece on holiday and I love feta. I always though that the fresh feta in your supermarkets is so much better than the packed stuff they sell here. I recently made feta from 10 liters of goat milk but it is already finished.
I used the whey as brine, in that case you do not have to worry about the Calcium Chloride too much. To prevent the surface of getting slimy, I added a tsp of vinegar as well to 1 ltr of brine.
When you look at http://www.brouwland.com/en and look for distributors, they do have a reseller in Greece, at least for brewery-stuff. Maybe they also have CaCl2.
Kali Orexi!

Efharisto~Thanks
You should come more oftenly and especially if we ever get rid of Euro you should visit and enjoy cheap holiday.
Till then all potential tourists and all people living in Greece aren't that happy...

Well I added a bit of sheep's yogurt and some buttermilk in the brine, don't know if it will work though. What are
the main disadvantages of calcium leaching out of the cheese really?

I know brouwland, that's where I used to get my brewing equipment, but now that I'm unemployed for...quite some
time, I only buy very cheap stuff and except from the press, in cheese making I can't see any expensive equipment

Thanks for the welcoming and the info,
this is a huge forum so I'm gonna read slowly.

*My next try(when I save some money to buy the milk...) will be a blue cheese and I'm searching for info about harvesting
the roquefort mold for store bought cheese.

[H-K-J]

dukegus, check this string out, just one of many helpfull strings on the forum

[dukegus]

dukegus, check this string out, just one of many helpfull strings on the forum

Thanks mate,
there is HUGE info in this forum,
bravo guys!

[hoeklijn]

What are the main disadvantages of calcium leaching out of the cheese really?

I never experienced it myself fortunately, but it seems that the feta may become spongy.

And about the situation in Greece: With or without Euro, I hope it turns out well for the Greek people, they deserve it. It was not the working class that caused this crisis. What part of Greece are you from?

[dukegus]

And about the situation in Greece: With or without Euro, I hope it turns out well for the Greek people, they deserve it. It was not the working class that caused this crisis. What part of Greece are you from?

Let's hope the electionss result is good and not awful because the Media for 2-3 months now are trying to scare the people and they might succeed.

I'm from Epirus, a part that used to have many sheep/goat herds and used to produce cheese(mainly brined ones). My grandma like all people her age used to make cheese, though I'm just starting

We got a nice traditional spread cheese, that's a bit acidic and salty, that's very popular in Epirus. I plan to get and post the recipe here but I haven't got all the info yet...It's made with sheep's milk and a bit like strained yogurt, but with wild microorganisms that get in the milk after pasteurizing it(at least nowdays) and inoculated for 2-3 months at very low temps but the info could be wrong. Not all people are willing to share their "recipe"

[hoeklijn]

Ah, Parga, Igoumenitsa, Zagoria, I travelled that part of Greece a long time ago with a VW Camper. Brings back nice memories....
At that time I was not "In to cheese" like now, otherwise I would have known more about the local cheeses of that area...

[dukegus]

Ah, Parga, Igoumenitsa, Zagoria, I travelled that part of Greece a long time ago with a VW Camper. Brings back nice memories....

Omg mate, all the top places, you were a very lucky(and for some crazy reason amazingly-informed) guy having vacations there! Was it long ago and was it really a VW Camper!?!? There are some nice dairy products to try in Epirus but not much of variety in styles...

[hoeklijn]

It was 1985, drove all the way down through Yugoslavia, travelled around Halkidiki, then down to Mt. Olympos, Meteora, Ioannina, Igoumenitsa, Parga, Zagoria. Along the border of  Albania to Lake Ohrid and then through Montenegro to the coast to Dubrovnik, Makarska ,Split and back home. 6000 km in 4 weeks but a lifetime experience...

[Boofer]

What are the main disadvantages of calcium leaching out of the cheese really?

Try this thread.

-Boofer-

[dukegus]

It was 1985, drove all the way down through Yugoslavia, travelled around Halkidiki, then down to Mt. Olympos, Meteora, Ioannina, Igoumenitsa, Parga, Zagoria. Along the border of  Albania to Lake Ohrid and then through Montenegro to the coast to Dubrovnik, Makarska ,Split and back home. 6000 km in 4 weeks but a lifetime experience...

I was born only in '83!!!
Omg mate, how lovely must have been those years...I guess our generation won't live that kind of experiences...
Did you have any guides or any friends native to those places? It sounds that you had a huge variety of landscapes/coutries/food!

Try this thread.
-Boofer-

Thx mate!

[hoeklijn]

yeah, I'm afraid i was born somewhere halfway the previous age  , 1955 to be exactly. First time in Greece was 1977, Milos, Folegrandros, Sifnos and Athens. I've been about ten times on Anafi and about 8 times on Paros, 5 or 6 times on Zante and visited several other islands. I didn't have friends or guides native to those places when I traveled with the VW, there was no internet (!!) and I got all my info from books and travel guides.
It was the only real trip I made on the main land, except for 1 time I traveled with public bus from Athens to Kastro Kylini to get the boat to Zante and one time with the bus from Athens to Parga to take the boat to Paxi.