Today's a very wild, wet and woolly day in Adelaide. Not fit for doing anything much ... except making cheese.
Sage Derby was apparently made originally for Christmas and other celebrations, so i decided that it would be a good one to make for this Christmas.
The recipe was adapted mostly from the Cheesemaking.com recipe with some reference to Gavin Webber's video. The make went as follows:
• 8 L Fleurieu Full Cream unhomogenised milk P=3.3%, F=3.8% (P:F = 0.87), brought to 30C
• 1/6 tsp (tad) MTR4 starter
• 2.5ml CaCl2 in 50 ml water
• 1.8 ml 200 ICMU animal rennet in 40 ml water
• ¾ cup of Sage and Spinach leaves
Preparation of Sage and Spinach:
Soaked leaves in water for 15 min.
Chopped coarsely.
Steeped in 1 cup boiling water
Chopped finely in blender
Warmed the milk to 30 C.
Added the starter, rehydrated for 2 minutes and stirred for 3 min.
Left for 45 min.
Stirred in the CaCl2 5 min. before renneting.
Stirred in the rennet for 2 min, covered and left. Flocculation time 13½ min x 3.5 = 48 min.
Cut the curd into 15mm cubes and stirred gently. Rested for 5 min.
Stirred gently for 15 min.
Gradually raised the temperature to 37 C over a period of 15 minutes, stirring gently, then maintained at this temperature for 15 minutes with stirring (until curds knit under pressure).
Allowed to settle for 10 min.
Drained in cloth-lined colander for 15 min.
Pressed lightly into a slab.
Drain the slab for 15 min. and then turn.
Turned every 15 min for a total of 5 drainings. Kept warm during this process.
Milled the curds into small pieces and sprinkled with salt in two stages with 10 min between. (2% of the weight of the curds; salt = 25 g )
Left for 10 min. to absorb salt.
Mixed the Herbs and water into the curds and leave another 10 min.
Put in a cloth-lined mould and currently in the press.
Awaiting more pictures.
They are looking so good!
Thanks for your kind comment, Ann.
It came out of the press this morning after the following:
30 min at 0.54 PSI, turned
1 hr at 0.96 PSI, turned
3 hrs at 1.6 PSI, turned
14 hrs at 2.6 PSI, turned
11 hrs at 2.6 PSI, turned
12 hrs at 2.6 PSI, turned and cloth removed
4 hrs at 0.96 PSI without cloth
It is now in the cheese fridge (cave?) at about 13C and a humidity which may or may not be about 85%
So, this is what the moon is made of.
Oh it looks beautiful indeed. Do you put equal amount of sage and spinach?
I am tempted to make another Derby, this time with sage like yours.
Quote from: AnnDee on July 19, 2017, 09:33:50 AM
Do you put equal amount of sage and spinach?
Yes, roughly equal. I didn't measure it carefully. The spinach is just in there for colour.
A cheese on me for a nice looking moon rock.
Thanks, John.