Hello folks and many thanks to John for the Forum activation.
Isn't it odd sometimes how the YouTube algorithm can suggest something for you that you had no idea you needed to see but when you have seen it, it seems perfect and filled a gap you never knew you had? I spotted the recent popular discussion about Gavin from Australia and his problems with a certain "grainy, hard Italian-style cheese" and got to thinking about whether I had any cheese niches that needed filling in my life.
I live in the South West of Scotland in Ayrshire and am only ten miles away from an independent dairy farm that is not only organic but high-welfare too. He produces his own lightly pasturised (due to Scottish food law) but unhomogenised milk in semi and whole plus also sells the cream. His girls are all fully grass-fed all year and are also "calf at foot" so as you would expect, the milk is superb!
I have been using the milk at home for making yogurt and general use plus buying his cream in 5L tubs for making my own ice cream and cultured butter. We are well served in our local area for what I would describe as traditional hard farmhouse cheeses such as Dunlop and Isle of Mull but are sorely lacking in the soft cheeses, especially since the sad loss of the Wee Dalry Dairy last year so I had been doing without.
Up steps YouTube and says "you need to watch this..." and hands me Gavin's channel. One binge watch later (just like I did with Max and "Tasting History" - go watch that one!) I have decided that I need to learn how to make soft cheeses such as a Cream Cheese or Boursin.
I already do yogurt and the cultured butter so I am hoping that it should be a small step to the Cream Cheeses. We have no real use in our kitchen routine for cheeses such as Paneer or Ricotta (and its friends) but a good Cream Cheese would certainly be appreciated!
We will be starting from the point of having no specialised equipment but as Gavin showed, you don't need much more than large pans and ladles that can easily be sanitised. I have not yet found the UK equivalent of a "cheesemaking supplies" store but a quick Google suggests there are three or four that will cover the basics between them.
Please expect the usual rash of questions although I do promise to have a quick forum search first.
Happy cheesemaking!
Daniel.
Hi Daniel, I am based in England.
Here are a few online cheese supplies sites for the UK that I have ordered from occasionally:
https://www.cheesemaking.co.uk/ (https://www.cheesemaking.co.uk/)
https://gnltd.co.uk/ (https://gnltd.co.uk/)
https://homesteadfarmsupplies.co.uk/ (https://homesteadfarmsupplies.co.uk/)
Searches on Amazon and Ebay, can be productive, prices can vary.
Welcome to the CheeseForum. There is lots of archived useful info here, if you do a Forum search, quite a number of folks who will give an encouraging comment too.
It is always worth posting any questions or experiences you might have.
Here's some notes you might find useful.
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CREAM CHEESE
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Servings: 250g
Ingredients
▢ 2 litres full fat milk [whole milk]
▢ 1 lemon [5 tBsp lemon juice]
▢ Salt to taste [1 tsp sea salt in 250g serving]
Optional Flavouring add-ons
▢ pinch of dried herbs, garlic powder, dried chillies, etc
Instructions
Begin by pouring the milk in a saucepan. Heat the milk and bring it to boil over medium-high heat.
As soon as it boils, add the lemon juice and then turn off the heat.
Set aside for a few minutes while the milk curdles. You'll notice curds forming and a yellow-ish liquid being left behind.
Within a few minutes, all of your curds should have formed. Pour the curdled milk through a cheesecloth and a sieve to strain all the liquid whey. Alternatively, you can use a slotted spoon to scoop out all the curds, while leaving the liquid whey in the pot.
Rinse the curds with cold water. This will help to get rid of any extra whey, clinging to the curds.
Squeeze the curds as much as possible to drain any last drop of the liquid whey.
Put the strained milk into a food processor/blender and add the salt. Within 1-2 minutes (this may vary depending on how powerful your machine is) you'll have a light and fluffy cream cheese.
If you want to add any additional herbs/flavourings then do that now too.
Be warned though as certain additional ingredients will affect the shelf-life of the cheese.
I like dried herbs and garlic powder as natural flavourings that don't affect the shelf life too much.
Store the cream cheese in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 7 days.
You can freeze cream cheese, but the texture upon thawing is more crumbly and is best used where you're cooking it into something like a dip or sauce.
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BOURSIN
Ingredients
250g Cream Cheese, softened [see above]
1 small garlic clove minced
1 tbsp fines herbes [see below]
Fines Herbes:
1 tbsp fresh parsley very finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh chives very finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh tarragon very finely chopped
Instructions
Soften cream cheese on the counter for about 30 minutes. [in Scotland this probably interprets as put it somewhere warm :P]
In the meantime, prepare the Fines Herbes: combine fresh parsley, chives and tarragon. Make sure your herbs are chopped very finely. Mince garlic.
In the bowl of your food processor, combine cream cheese and garlic. Process until there are no garlic chunks remaining. Add one tablespoon of fines herbes and process until well combined.
Transfer to a container and let sit in the fridge for a few hours before consuming.
sources for these notes:
https://cheeseandyogurt.co.uk/blogs/recipes/cream-cheese-recipe (https://cheeseandyogurt.co.uk/blogs/recipes/cream-cheese-recipe)
https://www.alphafoodie.com/super-easy-homemade-cream-cheese/ (https://www.alphafoodie.com/super-easy-homemade-cream-cheese/)
https://www.notenoughcinnamon.com/homemade-boursin-cheese/ (https://www.notenoughcinnamon.com/homemade-boursin-cheese/)
Many thanks for the welcome and also the list of UK suppliers. I had been buying my yogurt starters from Cheese and Yogurt Essentials but it is always well worth having a broad list of alternatives.
I forgot to add to my introduction that I also make our own bread (not sourdough due to the low ambient temperatures up here) and jams as well as a few pickles and fermented preserves so I am really looking forward to starting with some soft cheeses. I was considering Gavin's lemon/rennet Boursin recipe so I will post pictures once I have the necessary supplies.
I got some supermarket whole milk this morning.[a four pint plastic bottle]
I used 2L of the milk which yielded a generous 386g of cream cheese.
I added 1.5 tsp salt, a good pinch each of dried chives, tarragon, parsley and garlic granules.
I gave the mix a good stir by hand until all was well combined.
The result was very tasty. I'll be making this again.
It is supposed to last up to seven days in the fridge but I'm pretty sure it will be all gone before then.
I live in Aberdeen but get my milk to the doorstep from Thomson dairies in Ayrshire. Its Organic and very good. However for cheese I use the first fully automated milk dispenser system in Scotland from Forest farms at Blackburn between Aberdeen and Inverurie just off the A96. The milk is organic and they also make ice cream which is superb. They are just about to launch a small farm shop too. The automated system allows you to buy from the machine from 6am to 10pm in any quantity you want either in their containers or your own. Is self sterilised with steam in between each customer. I made a Dunlop ( traditional Ayrshire cheese) last month but its too early to pass judgement on it.