Hi all, great forum, loads of great information.
I'm a novice to cheesemaking, have currently made 6 cheeses (2 cheddars(ish), 2 stiltons, 1 severely nibbled (by me) and 1 in bin).
I'm lucky enough to have access to as much raw cow's milk as I want, as my hubby is a dairy farmer, so I've no excuse not to at least try the cheesemaking.
Today I'm attempting some camembert, so we'll see how it goes.
Welcome to the forum, and good luck with the Camemberts. There is good info here.
Pam
Wow. A nearly limitless supply of milk. You're right, cheesemaking would be a wonderful skill/hobby.
Wellcome Parselmouth
Good luck with the Cam's. As some of the cheese makers experience problems with making Camembert, please keep us updated with your progress.
Welcome Parselmouth, lots of great info and people here ;D.
Welcome to the forum. What kind of cows are in your dairy and how many? Small dairies are becoming more rare these days.
Thanks for the replies. The camemberts went quite well, although having not made them before I didn't know how high to fill the hoops and they have shrunk down more than I would have preferred. I'll know for the next time to make one less.
I made the recipe from Ricki Carroll's book Home Cheesemaking, which says nothing about adding salt to the curd, only rubbing it on afterwards, and I read on here yesterday (after I had made them) that it should be added at the curd stage and that problems may arise if this doesn't happen, so we'll see how they turn out. I have them ripening in my fridge on a mat inside a cool bag from the supermarket, the top elevated inside the bag with a cup so it doesn't touch the cheeses.
We have Friesians, Farmer JD, and are milking around a hundred at the moment. We do beef and arable as well. We are around 60 miles north of London, not a well known cheese area at all. I'd really like to be able to make cheese to sell, but that's a big leap from knowing nothing about cheese at all. The regulations are tight and equipment is expensive.
That sounds like a great operation. I have often thought that being able to produce milk, make cheese and market directly would be a good way to avoid losing all the profits between the cow and the store. Good luck with your cheesemaking. I have an endless supply of milk as well, (just 3 cows but no outlet) and it is nice to be able to experiment without a huge investment.
Parselmouth,
Next time you make Camembert may be you would like to consider my advice, as I have a lot of experience with home-made Camembert.
My basic recipe is for 3 liters of raw milk (you may multiply quantities per your needs), after all the procedures, before you transfer the curds to the moulds, discard about one third of the whey and stir in not less then 80 grams of salt, but not much more either. Make sure the salt had dissolved, discard the remaining whey. This quantity of curds should fill two Camembert moulds of 10 cm in dia and 10 cm in height. BTW, I inoculate the milk with the mold at the beginning.
Welcome Parselmouth - There are some very talented cheese makers here that can definately help you along the whey. Just keep reading and ask questions as you go.
Thanks for the advice on the camembert, I will try it that way the next time I make them. There's no sign of white mould on them yet, so I think I may have to mould them again and it would be a lot easier to have put the mould into the milk.
I've made a red cheese since then which is looking good. I thought it was a leicester but it looks more like a gloucester, and having looked at the recipes I can't see a lot of difference between them although the commercial versions are quite different. I prefer the smoother, milder, creamier gloucester myself, but am not sure as yet how to achieve that difference.
Farmer JD, where I am there are lots of farmers' markets within quite a small radius, and ideally I would like to sell through them, although I don't know how feasible it would be to make and sell by myself, and bring up three teen boys. My hubby is fully occupied with the farm and pretty sceptical that I can make a go of it. At the moment I am just trying to teach myself and learn how to do it right, baby steps, then we'll see. I think it will take a good couple of years of committed regular cheese making even to think about doing it on a commercial scale.
No white mold at all, may be due to lack of salt.
Welcome Parselmouth! :)
Great place, here!
I have just been successful with a Camembert experiment. After getting 2 tasteless bland dry results. So I am confident you will be very successful!
Enjoy!
And remember, there is a special God for cheese makers! He will look over your shoulder and inspire you! ;)
Update on the camemberts mentioned above. They are looking good, the white mould has now developed as I repainted them with some more solution. Originally I added the mould with the salt after draining, and I think the moisture loss caused by the salt washed the mould off. Anyway, I have tasted one of the smaller ones and it seems good. Still quite crumbly in the middle but the cheese under the rind is going creamy so I'm hopeful that the end results will be palatable. I have now made a brie by the method outlined by Alex, so we'll see how that turns out.
(http://s743.photobucket.com/albums/xx76/Parselmouth_photo/?action-view¤t=camemberts.jpg)
Here are the cheeses.
Very nice looking cheese Parselmouth!
They look great! I've not managed to make what I would call a truly successful camenbert yet, and have moved on to harder cheeses for now until I can regulate humidity better.
Do you sell the raw milk anywhere? I have real trouble getting hold of reasonable quantities of raw milk in London :(
Early days yet with these cams, I think the ripening conditions have a lot of effect on how the finished cheeses turn out, but I'm pleased with them for a first attempt.
We don't sell the raw milk direct to the public, but we do have a dairy licence so I suppose it could be something that we could do, depending on whether there was a demand for it as you do have to pay to have your milk tested regularly. I just read a piece form The Telegraph last year about increasing demand for raw milk in London as a result of farmers selling it at the farmers' markets. Presumably you've looked at these but if not you can apparently get it at Notting Hill Farmers' market.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/3341324/Untreated-milk-is-in-demand.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/3341324/Untreated-milk-is-in-demand.html)Here's the link.
Yep have managed to get some from Blackheath Farmers Market, and a limited supply from Peckham Farmers Market.
Buying in large quantities is quite difficult though as they generally only have a few litres - i'll have to chat to them at some point to see if they can bring more one week!
I'm sure they'll be only too pleased to sell you as much as you want, if you can arrange it with them beforehand.
I'm just surprised the EU haven't banned it yet, although I guess the French would be on the streets protesting if they tried. ;D
It is illegal to sell raw milk here in Ohio. I do hear that if you sign a statement that you'll use it only for your pets, and not for human consumption, they can sell it.
So now they have 'herdsharing' here. Buy a portion of a cow or goat, then you can say you are the owner of the animal, and you can do what you want with the milk.