This was a pretty exciting cheese for me for a few reasons.
I finally got a hold of a dairy farmer and was able to purchase some farm fresh raw milk. He was a nice old man, and we chatted about milk and cheese and the troubles another farmer had with the FDA when the people who had bought raw milk from him made "Mexican cheese" and ended up with salmonella poisoning a few years back. (I suppose that's why HE never returned my calls about buying raw milk.) Best yet, he only charged $4 per gallon! And to think I've spent up to $8 per gallon on inferior supermarket milk!
Secondly, I got the chance to try Wayne's cheddar cultures right away. Maybe I should have used supermarket milk to see the difference between a cheddar made with this culture, and a previous cheese made with a different culture, but who would want to?! :o
I did have a few hiccups, though. I didn't bother with my pH meter, as I don't trust it. It's been working funny for a while now, and I didn't want to waste my time with it. The main worry I had, though, was with renneting. As I was using raw milk, I didn't add any CaCl, and when the floc time started approaching 25 minutes, I got very scared. I gingerly dipped my curd knife in to check the milk, and it was completely liquid still, so I added a dose of CaCl and another 1/2 dose of rennet. Just a few minutes later, my spinning bowl proved flocculation had occurred. Unsure of what the actual flocculation time was at that point, I left it for another 30 minutes. I think that might have been too long, as when I went to cut the curd, the whole mass kept spinning in the pot, and it was very difficult to get even cuts, so I spent a little while stirring up large chunks and slicing them up with the end of my thermometer.
The rest of my make went pretty smoothly, though I think it's a little moist still from the large curds. I'll definitely bandage it to try to dry it out over the 6 months I'm planning on aging it. I'm feeling a little rushed, so I won't be able to post the full details of the make now, and pictures will follow when I get it out of the press.
Thanks for posting your details. Having only raw milk to work with I don't have the store-bought to compare it with, but I find that it makes lovely wonderful cheeses.
Cheers!
Here's a picture out of the mold. I should have used less annatto. It looks like one of my leicester attempts. And it does feel a little soft. I think it has a little more moisture than I had intended, since the problem with cutting the curd, but it smells fantastic and knit very well with just 3 psi.
The second picture is after bandaging. I wanted to try pressing the bandage into the cheese, but after wrapping it up so nicely, decided not to mangle it trying to get it back in the mold.
I think 6 months will be all I will age due to the moisture, though hopefully some will evaporate off with the bandage.
Beautiful cheese Mark!!! It's so hard making something so lovely then having to wait 6 months to taste it!! I can't wait to hear how it turns out! I just recently heard about a local guy with fresh raw goats milk, so I too may be venturing into the raw milk cheese making realm....thanks for sharing your trials and tribulations regarding your first raw milk cheese, it makes me worry a little bit less...
~Cheers
Did you paint with PVA? Looks like an open can on the counter.
You definitely do NOT want to use CaCl2 with raw milk.
Time based recipes are irrelevant, but especially with raw milk. So it is really important to use the flocculation method so you have a better idea of the amount of rennet that you really need to use. Since it was over 25 minutes, whatever dose of rennet that you used this time, add 50% to your next batch and see what happens. You will find the right balance point.
Your cheese looks great, Mark. I also used the Wayne-hook-up of Meso 707 and my cheese is out of the mold after 24 hours. It didn't knit as well as yours--perhaps I let it cook too long. Unless, it's the starter...LOL, Wayne :D. Will post pics soon.
Nice Mark! I didn't get a chance to make one withthe new culture this weekend. :(
Looks wonderfull. There is something about a bandaged wheel of cheddar that I really find visually appealing. Its so old school.
Are you going to let it crust over with moulds like they used to?
@Wayne - I've kept the bandage and everything in contact with the cheese as clean and sanitized as possible, but I am not doing anything else with regards to preventing the mold crust. Hopefully it will remain pretty clean for the first few months at least, as Peter Dixon advises, but I'm sure it will eventually succumb to surface molds, and that is fine.
I thought about treating the bandage with Potassium Sorbate to try to help this out, but was unsure about how that process would work, so I just opted to stay as clean as possible, using StarSan on every surface in my cave as well as anything that would touch the finished cheese. (I even used it on the scissors I used to cut the cheesecloth with)
@Sailor - Yes, I think the CaCl was the overkill that caused such a solid curd. I don't think I'll swear off it completely, as I have heard from milkers that even raw milk can be helped with it depending on factors such as time of year and lactation cycle. Upping the rennet dosage is definitely the primary course of action for the next cheese. Hopefully that will alleviate most of the troubles I had with this one.
And no, not PVA (elmers glue), that's just the can of Crisco. I want my cheese to breathe, and I don't know about the gas permeability of PVA, though I am willing to bet it's akin to waxing in that regard.
@Brie - Sorry yours didn't knit as well. I wasn't sure how well this one was going to knit to tell the truth. I took Peter Dixon's approach on pressing, and while I didn't have the capacity to get the insane 40psi that he uses, I did start right out with 3psi for 8 hours then 6psi for an additional 8 instead of the gradual increases I've seen in so many recipes. It really simplifies things. I'm just glad my spring press held up to that pressure (it is 2X the max on the pressure gauge, ~160#)
CaCl2 can boost the calcium matrix, but raw milk has a significantly firmer curd set anyway. You REALLY don't want to use any CaCl2 with raw milk unless you are having an ongoing problem. Yes, there are times of the year that it can be helpful (late lactation, etc.) but Spring and Summer are not those times.
$8/gal for regular supermarket milk?
@Tom - :-[ Yes... Actually, $7/gal regularly for Organic Harvest (a high end brand), $6/gal for the Jewel brand of the same milk, and once paid $5/half gallon for a super high end, non-homogenized "premium" milk that turned out to be one of the most inferior milks I have ever used since its expiration date was the following day.
I can beat your price for milk. I was quoted $13.50 per gallon, for organic non homogenised milk. Needless to say it's still in the store!!
please tell me that milk was at least raw to cost that much?
Nice looking cheese Mark Congrats! You did a great job bandaging too very profesional looking job. That's a really nice price for raw milk too nice find. I think as you become more accustomed to using the raw milk you will see a significant difference in the way it reacts to cultures and rennet. Wonderful stuff and the flavor is sweet. As with all things it is yet another learning experiance but one I think you will find rewarding. Raw milk generally has a higher fat content too you should be able to get that information from your milkman.
It is only natural to get a bit concerned when working with a new product for the first time and having it react unpredicably. You will be ready next time. Go get em!
Yes, the farmer said that it was 4% milkfat. I lost a little bit of it during pressing; it showed up in the whey that was pressed out. I think it was a little too warm while I pressed. I still haven't gotten any weights that I can use for Sailor's "press in the pot" method. I'm still using my "press in the laundry room" method to mimic the warmth and humidity.
And I did taste a bit of it that wouldn't fit in the stock pot, and it had more flavor, but I don't know if it tasted sweeter or not. I do remember that it had a barnyard-y taste and aroma. Not stinky, but more of a "hay" note. I'll have to see when he puts them out to graze.
So the cows are still on hay and/or silage? That could certainly be one reason that your flocculation took so long. There is a BIG difference in flavor and quality once they are foraging on natural grass, clover, etc. You have already noticed that with the "hay" aroma and taste. And throughout the year as their diet changes the flavor of the milk really changes too. You will need to alter your rennet and flocculation times as they move to grazing.
Diet has a direct impact on the flavor of the finished cheese. That's why we can't really replicate some of the more famous European cheeses. That's also why award winning cheeses are USUALLY not produced from pasteurized milk.
Is vegetable shortening processed like margarine or is it solid fats like palm oil which harden at room temp?