Hi, after looking around for a while i decided on this board as my cheese resource. Im a long time homebrewer and have started making cheese. However, this country is probably one of the least cheese/cheese friendly places on earth, part of the reason i started.
Ive made two cheeses so far. Taste was good, they were aged only a short time.
Im looking for how to
- improve my storage (i get cracks)
-build a cheap but more effective press
-acquire cultures here where ordering them is prohibitively expensive
Oh and also make good cheese!!!!
With the culture thing, I know there are threads on here that explain more, but basically you can use buttermilk for mesophilic cheeses and yogurt for thermophilic cheeses. Yogurt you can plop right in, but buttermilk you have to treat a certain way.
And if you're getting cracks, the humidity's too low. Try keeping it in an almost closed container, maybe putting a wet sponge, bowl of water, or paper towel in there to raise the humidity.
Where are you in South Korea? I spent a year at Kunsan AB 92-93.
E used yoghurt as my culture so far. My sources of dairy stuff are limited to yoghurt, imported cheeses-basic soft cheeses, cheddar, some blues, gouda etc. No buttermilk at all im afraid. Im looking to see if there is cultured butter, and if so could i usr it in some way to get mesophilic?
An additional discomfort is that 95% of all milk sold is UHT. Ive found low temp pasteurized but its a bit more expensive.
Ive made two so far. Im tempted to try a basic blue cheese a la fankhauser next.
Oh and im in gyeongsangnamdo
Not to brown nose but clicked on your blog in your signature al. Nice, nice food, was looking at those recipes for quite a while and am thinking of ribs now