Having recently talked to a cheese friend about these, it seemed time to make them again! I enjoy them fresh as well as aged. Time will tell if any of them make it to the aged stage!!
I rolled some in black pepper and some in smoked paprika.
Those look amazing!! I have been looking at a recipe for Belper Knolle on NCM and it looks interesting. What type milk did you use? Cow? Goat? I am wondering how strong it would be with goat. Anyway, beautiful cheese!
These are raw cow milk, made November 16, so still a fresh cheese rather than aged.
I followed the recipe Kern posted quite some time ago: https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,15222.msg116918.html#msg116918 (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/topic,15222.msg116918.html#msg116918)
or search for Belper Knolle Video and you will find it.
I let the balls dry about 48 hours before rolling them in spices. I kept them on the counter with a fan blowing over them to help them dry.
After rolling in the spice I kept them on the counter about 12 hours more, then into the "cave". Today I noticed they were starting to grow a bit of white mold, so they are back on the counter with the fan for a bit. It tends to be very humid in the cave!
Ok, a question I have been meaning to ask on these. What size ,ah maybe weight, are people starting with on each ball. I made some last late winter and started with balls at about 5.2 oz. By the time of drying and then aging they were pretty small. Maybe ping pong ball size. I forgot to weigh them when ready to eat.
I too ended up with some mold but brushed it down and finally ended up doing a light spray of straight white vinegar. That stopped the mold. All in all I really like these. Makes a unique cheese without a ton of extra equipment. I used Nigerian goat milk. Worked well. Once I get milking again I want to do several batches of these. They hold quite well wrapped in parchment , in zip lock , in produce drawer of fridge. Thanks
Mine started out a bit smaller than tennis balls. They have shrunk quite a bit. Now down to about 3.5 oz each.
These have been aging at about 55 degrees. The humidity is running more than 90% in my cave this time of year. So they have had the fuzz brushed off of them many times!
I think I liked them best at about 3 -4 weeks of age. However they are still good, and now they are dry enough to thinly shave, and they are tasty over eggs or rice or even straight up.
I like the black pepper better than the smoked paprika.