I want to get into Parmesan on Monday, so I looked all around the forum and did not find any recipe that people really seemed to like, partly because a number of them are aging and yet to be tasted. I found I had good results making my own Gouda recipe, so I want to go that route here as well. I am wondering mainly about quantity of LH100 and TA61 and when to cut curds (see specific question below). Thanks in advance!!
So here is what I am thinking:
8 gal full raw Jersey milk (refrigerated overnight and skimmed with a measuring cup, leaving behind some cream)
No lipase as I am vegetarian (is there anything else I can use to help here?)
TA61 (is 3/4t good?)
LH100 (3/4 t again?)
2/3 rennet tablet (last time I reached floc in 15 min with this amount, so I thought that was good)
Test PH
Heat milk to 90F
sprinkle cultures on top, let sit for a couple minutes
Stir in culture with top to bottom strokes.
Ripen 30 min
Test PH looking for .1 drop
Add rennet diluted in 1/2c water and stir in with top to bottom strokes
Cut 1/4 cubes after floc time X3 (I read Francios say to cut parm right at flocculation, anyone know about that?)
Heal curds 5 min
Slowly heat to 124F, stirring with a whisk to continue cutting curds.
Texture test
Let settl 5 min.
Drain off whey and move curds to warm mold
Press with 10 lbs for a bit, flip, press 15 lbs for a little longer, flip press 30 lbs, work up to as much weight as I can balance without risking breaking my sink (again). That is probably only about 100 lbs or so, maybe I can figure something better. Press for 12 hours.
Brine for approx 30hrs (5hrs/lb)
Additional questions: Does anyone have any other PH markers for me? What about at the end of pressing?
Parmesan day is only one day away :-\, any suggestions on culture amounts?
I use 1/8 teaspoon TA 61, 1/4 teaspoon LH100, 1/8 teaspoon MM100 for a 7 gallon batch of my Parmigiano Reggiano clone.
I know commercial manufacturers are using microbial lipases but I don't know where they get it.
Thank you very much Debbie! Maybe I will go with 1/4t each of TA61 and LH100. My problem is none of my books have a recipe using these cultures, so I have no reference point.
Microbial Lipase....must seek out.
You really need lipase to get the taste and texture found in Italian cheeses like Parmesan. Lipase is NOT a flavoring, it is an enzyme that is really important during proteolysis and long term aging.
Lipases (and over 60 other enzymes) are naturally occuring in milk anyway, so if you are trying to go pure vegan, you will have to eliminate the milk. :o Personally, I would rather use a naturally occuring animal lipase than something that was produced with bacteria. Same holds true for rennet.
Ironically, our modern pasturizarion, homogenization and overprocessing of raw milk destroys all of the good bacteria and denatures most all of the enzymes. So adding lipase is just replacing what was there in the first place. Here's a good read:
The Health Benefits Of Raw Milk (http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/raw_milk_health_benefits.html)
I have tried searching the internet and although I find references to manufacturers using it the only supplier I found was for a health food store and it was for a vitimin type lipase? and VERY expensive!
I am not vegan, but lipase requires slaughter, as opposed to milk and honey, etc. That being said, store bought milk has slaughter attached to it no doubt, but fortunately, I am milking 100 gallons per week right here from our own cows.
From what you say it would seem I could still get good results seeing as my milk is 100% "un-fooled around with" (as the orange juice commercials used to say)?
I did PArmesan last year and the ones that we cracked open early (6 months) were quite good. Mild, but the texture was pretty right (perhaps a bit moist). I have 3 more aging still, 2 of which I have high hopes for.
Regarding modern milk treatment, it does not seem so ironic to me when you look at the history of milk processing. What I mean is that the milk itself has always been safe, when produced in a natural way (meaning good feed, etc). We made it unsafe, and then made it "safe" again by killing it altogether. Now we add things back into it so it has more value :o. Pasteurization really became a necessity because of poor handling of milk by people trying to maximize profits. Homogenization is useless no matter what way you look at it. Don't get me started.... :-X
Quote from: Nitai on June 05, 2010, 02:42:23 AM
No lipase as I am vegetarian (is there anything else I can use to help here?)
She He didn't say vegan
she he said vegetarian. Most people are very clear on that point.
Hon this is the recipe I have been using for several years now (with some of my notes of course for clearity) and it works great for me.
Ingredients:
7 gallon of raw milk skimmed (I just pour off what I can)
1/8 teaspoon TA61
1/4 teaspoon LH100
1/8 teaspoon MM100
1/2 teaspoon Kid Lipase
rennet
Procedure:
Milk is heat to 76°C (167°F) and cooled rapidly to 36 °C (97°F).
(The acidification is obtained adding latte to a natural sieroinnesto, characterized from microorganisms of the species of L. helveticus, L. bulgaricus and L. lactis). Just means use the following 1/8 TA61, 1/4 LH100 and 1/8 MM100. 1/2 teaspoon Lipases added rehydrated in 1/4 cup distilled water. pH before rennet 6.50.
(The coagulation is obtained using serium of the of the young goat). Means use kid rennet. Completed the coagulation in 10-15 minuteren (minutes) , the curd comes manually cut before in great slices (first cut in one direction wait 10 minutes then cut in the other), allowed to rest for 10 minuteren and then reduced till the dimension of grains of rice with small wheel and spino for 10 minuteren. A spino is like a huge whisk to cut curds - wayne has one. I use a hug wisk and plunge straight down every few inches to cut into rice size.
A value to be 1/3 is drained and then cut she passes herself to the phase of slow baking arriving to approximately 45 °C (113 °F) for 15 minuteren,(drain 1/3 of the whey then heat to 113F over 10 minues) and then they quickly till approximately 55 °C (131 °F) for 15 minuteren, knows itself maintaining the mass in constant agitation.(while stiring )
Finished to the heating the curd it must rest, carefullied lay down on the bottom of the boiler till the attainment of the just degree of acidity. pH 6.3-6.4 (Let the curds sit on the bottom until the proper pH is reached)
The extraction happens with shovel and burlaps, preparing large fagotti that they remain to sgrondare till the completion of the acidification. Always enclosed inside of burlaps, the curd comes inserted in fascere of wood and compressed with the aid of a disc of wood and a weight. (scoup the curds into a cheesecloth lines mold)
pH of the curd before brining: 5.1
The clearing of the serum continues slowly for approximately 24 hours and during this period of time the fascera comes progressively compressed, reducing of the diameter with an appropriate system to rope and the cheese comes many times over rivoltato. Press the the curds for 24 hours, flip reset the cloth and press for another 24 hours - we use formed molds so we don't have to tighten ropesto shrink the diameter)
After approximately 48 hours it begins the long phase of salt out in pickling brine to the temperature of approximately 15 °C (59 °F) than hard approximately a month and door the cheese to a content of 1.5% and 2% of knows them. (I brine wet based on weight not a month)
The hard stagionatura from 9 to 24 months in conditioned premises to 15-18 °C (59 to 65°F) with temperatures opportunely modulated in first is/seven months. The cheese remains supported on shelves in wood and during the stagionatura it comes subordinate to rivoltamenti, spazzolature, scorings and oliature of the crust. (age at temperature above for 7 months on wood shelves, they stamp the cheese with numbers and such, oil the rind to prevent spliting and over drying. I vac pack after a month)
"4 – 6 months
12 -15°C (54 to 59°F)
70-80% RH"
21 psi for 1 hour
58 PI for 24 hours
edited to add clarity - sorry my grandparents spoke this way I don't even notice it - hope this helps!
Thanks Debi,
By the way, "she" is a "he".
If I can successfully decipher that recipe I might just go with it...
does that say 21 PSI?!, and then 58!!??
I'd be looking at well over 1000lbs for my 8" mold. That's not gonna happen.
Opps sorry I always do that! I beleive the PSI rating came from here someplace I will remove that. I use a 2 gallons of water then 4 gallons of water in a warm sink it works for me. Everything you need to know is in english ignore everything else. I will try to edit it some. It's a very easy recipe that works pefectly.
Thats a relief! Thanks for your time and help.
One other question since I know you have the 8" St. Paulin Mold, do you think I can fit 8 gallons of curds in it? Perhaps if I fill it, press down for a few minutes, and then add the rest? I would like to have the biggest Parm I can make.
I do 7 gallons in it but I have to squeeze the curds and bounce a gallon of whey off it to pack it down a few times to get it in there. You could probably get it in if you are tall enough to pack it down (another disadantage of being a runt - no sink leverage). That mold is perfect for parmesan.
I added comment to the recipe above to make it more clear.
Nitai - Raw milk will contain some lipase. However, the cows in Italy are unique breeds, have a very different diet and probably produce more natural lipase. I do not believe that you will achieve a true Parmesan (or Italian) flavor without adding lipase. Give it a shot and let us know a year from now.
Deb - Parmesan is a thermophilic cheese but you are adding MM100, a mesophilic bacteria mix. When you heat to 113F and then to 131F you usually just kill off most mesophiles. But there's more to the story... 8)
Dairy Connection (and others) recommend a 20/80% blend of TA61 & LH100 for Italian type cheeses and a 50/50% blend for Alpines. Why? Well the TA61 is a monoculture with just S. thermophilus. It is a fast acid producer, but is not capable of complete lactose breakdown. So, you would never use TA61 by itself. The LH100, used as an adjunct culture to complete the lactose breakdown, contains L. lactis ssp. lactis, a mesophile (also found in MM100) that can withstand higher temperatures in the presence of S. thermophilus. By itself, or in a mesophilic mix, L. lactis typically starts dying off at 104F. However, when L. lactis (with S. thermophilus) is slowly exposed to higher temperatures, a plasmid carrying a unique heat shock gene from the thermophile S. thermophilus is cloned into L. lactis. So even at 130F, the majority will survive. (Lactococcus was once classified as a Streptococcus so they are very similar). Note - this does NOT happen with L. cremoris.
So, the LH100 already contains what you need, and the MM100 is redundant.
You don't find this stuff in the simple "recipes".
Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis also produces Nisin, an antibiotic-like substance, called a bacteriocin. It is a natural antimicrobial agent with activity against a wide variety of gram positive bacteria, including food-borne pathogens such as Listeria, Staphylococcus and Clostridium. Nisin is a natural preservative that cannot be synthesized chemically. Fascinating bacteria.
This is the most important bacteria in the entire dairy industry. In fact Wisconsin has named Lactococcus lactis ssp. lactis the official "State Microbe".
Great info Sailor, thanks. State microbes, who knew?
Hmmm... Goats milk has lotf of lipase in it. I would say you can use Shermanii (easy to find plant based) for the breakdown of lipids, but this will give you a sweet nutty flavor and produce large eyes... a-la swiss cheese. Care to make a Swiss Parmesan? That's too bad really because I think that without lipase the Parmesan will end up very flat and not sharp. Luckily you have raw milk so it will make up for some of it. Good luck!
Debi, am I reading the recipe right: Cut partially at floc time and then wait 10 min and begin whisking? Do I not wait for a clean break?
Nitai - Here is another recipe to look at. Note that this one does NOT use Lipase, but it should. ::)
Parmesan Recipe (http://reocities.com/heartland/cottage/1288/hard/parmesan.htm)
Actually, if I remember correctly, the recipe from '200 Easy Cheeses' also doesn't have lipase
Quote from: Nitai on June 07, 2010, 05:02:52 AM
Debi, am I reading the recipe right: Cut partially at floc time and then wait 10 min and begin whisking? Do I not wait for a clean break?
You wait for a clean break but when you cut - cut only in one direction then wait 10 minutes then cut to size.
I read that too late, but at least I did wait for a clean break. I am a little concerned that I may have lost somethings in the whey do to my treatment of the curds, but my bigger (possibly directly related) concern is this:
I had no problem getting the curd from 8 gallons into the 8" diameter, 6" high St. Paulin Mold. No problem whatsoever. I have been pressing about 6 hours at this point, and the cheese is only 3" tall. I was thinking I would have a big ole' 8" round by 6" high Parm. Were my expectations just extremely off or did I lose half my cheese in the whey?
Also the cheese feels kind of soft at this point, like you might expect a cheddar-like cheese to feel. Is this normal? The wheel is pretty warm. I am hoping it will dry out in brine and curing.
By the way, I looked into the microbial lipase, spoke to Dairy Connection. It only comes in 500ml liquid, which can flavor about 5000 gallons, lasts 2-6 months, and costs like $500. So if anyone knows around 500 vegetarian parmesan makers, perhaps we can put up for a bottle... :o
Was your whey clear/greenish? Or was it overly white?
Did you cut to pea size and cooked the curd until it was rice size?
Did you use raw milk? If not, did you use CalCl?
What's your yield % in weight?
The whey was fairly clear, I was wondering if it was less than other batches though. A little hard to say, but it was not drastic.
I cut best I could with my cutters (approx 1/4 inch with lots of pieces even smaller) and then began to stir witht he whisk. The whisk was not working grat so I mostly used my hands and broke up as I went along. Plent of the curds were rice size, but not all.
100% raw milk.
Have not weighed it yet. Does it matter to weigh before or after brining?
If your whey is clear/greenish than you probably successfully have gotten all the milk solids that you could have gotten. With raw milk you won't have the calcium problem that can be attributed to loose curd so it really sounds like you did ok.
I would do a 3/4" cut if I were to then use a whisk. The whisk should break the curd up rather evenly as it firms up and releases whey.
The weight matters just to get a general idea of the yield. You are experiencing a 50% loss below what you planned for so it doesn't matter if it's before or after brining. Parmesan is a fairly low yield cheese, expect it to be in the neighborhood of 8%-10%.
7 gallons of milk are about 60 Lbs. 8%-10% of that are 4 to 6 Lbs. is that what you have?
Well that sounds good. I did 8 gallons of milk and I just weighed it in at 5lbs 12 ounces, over 8%!
Thanks!
I made Parmesan today too and it was a totally disaster. I ended up throwing it away, 4 gallons of milk. :'( Apparently you can't just "double" a single recipe. I used the recipe that came with my hard cheese kit from New England cheesemaking...
When is the acidity in parm supposed to drop? After the initial ripening? When it is cooking? I doubled the cultures and rennet and came out with a hard rubbery mass. Never got "rice sized curds".... It took over 45 mins to bring from 91 to 125 I think that was a bad deal? Plus I can't seem to make my pH meter read right despite the fact that I have calibrated it twice, I am really frustrated. I will go look at that forum next. I also forgot to add CaCl2 and usually do to store bought milk.
I started by running my non homogenized store bought milk through a separator and saving the cream for butter, because I read that parm was made with lowfat milk? Was that a good idea?
Lastly, a big shipment of stuff came from The Cheesemaker today and I bought sharp lipase powder, but it doesn't list parm as one of the cheese to use it for, does that mean I shouldn't use it?
I know I asked like 100 million questions, but I really hate throwing out cheese.
Quote from: Minamyna on June 08, 2010, 05:48:30 AM
When is the acidity in parm supposed to drop? After the initial ripening? When it is cooking?
Should drop during cooking, and in the mold.
Quote
I doubled the cultures and rennet and came out with a hard rubbery mass. Never got "rice sized curds"
Curd size depends on how big you cut them.
Quote
.... It took over 45 mins to bring from 91 to 125 I think that was a bad deal?
No, that's fine. Should be about 3 degrees F every 5 mins.
Quote
I started by running my non homogenized store bought milk through a separator and saving the cream for butter, because I read that parm was made with lowfat milk? Was that a good idea?
Parm is about 2.4% BF. Skimmed milk, basically.
Quote
Lastly, a big shipment of stuff came from The Cheesemaker today and I bought sharp lipase powder, but it doesn't list parm as one of the cheese to use it for, does that mean I shouldn't use it?
I like kid lipase in parm. You can use whatever you have, flavor will be a little different.
I feel your pain Minamyna, I am sure you heard the old saying about not crying over spilled milk? Now you know what it meant. If it's any consultation, I can assure you that every person on this board has thrown away their share of cheese and started over.
Most cultures have dosing instructions that look like "1-5 Gal, use 1/4 tsp, 5-12 gal, use 1/2 tsp" This isn't exactly doubling. Bacteria grows exponentially so it just need the right seed amount to begin. Rennet and lipase are enzymes and you can double them (but watch out for double strength rennets). Same goes for Calcium Chloride which is a mineral. BUT when you put lipase, Calcium Chloride or Rennet in water, there is no need to keep doubling the water. The reason for the water is simply to allow it to distribute evenly all over your vat or pot. It won't dilute your milk strength - the water will eventually become part of your whey.
How do you cook it? Turn on the heat? Wash the curd? (remove some whey and replace it with warm water until you get to the right temp). Washing and cooling takes a bit of practice. not every recipe allows for washing but washing does give you much more control because every time you take whey out and mix some warm water (say, 130-140F) in, you can take a temp reading and see how long it takes you to raise the temperature so you can time it perfectly and easily by repeating the wash more or less often in your half hour (or whatever the recipe calls for)
I would leave the pH meter alone for now. Learn to feel the whey and curds, to smell them and look at them. The pH meter can drive you nuts and steer you wrong at this point.
A proper Parmesan should have lipase in it. It breaks down fats and proteins at the late part of the aging, giving the cheese its famous sharp flavor
Some brands of non-homogenized milk also offer it in lowfat variety. I wouldn't go crazy, since most of the fat is on the top of the jug, just spoon it off, reseal the jug and shake it. Done.
As for forgetting the CalCl - best practice will be to print a checklist every time you make cheese. It should be super simple, like:
-WARM milk to 88F
-ADD:
+ 1/4tsp MM100 Mesophilic
+ 1/8 tsp Geo 15
+1/8 P. Candidum VS
- RIPEN 45 minutes
You get the idea... Hang it on your fridge when you make the cheese, get a sharpie and cross every item when you do it. You will never miss another item again, ever - guaranteed.
If you write comments next to the items such as the time started/ended, type of milk, overshooting or undershooting temp. etc you will have a draft of a proper log that you can copy to a clean file and keep so that a few months down the road, when you taste the cheese you can trace successes and failures of cheese characteristics to specific things you have done.
Lastly, if you have over-ripened your milk by adding too much cultures (you said you doubled everything) and by cooking for too long (45 minutes? I assume too long for your recipe?) than you have possibly created acidity that would turn out hard, dry, chalky and non-melting cheese. Even if it looks great, you won't know about it until you crack open the cheese months from now. Throwing away the batch probably saved you a disappointing surprise in the future. These losses are harder because they follow months of caring for the cheese.
Do over...
Makes fabulous compost. :D Nothing organic goes to waste at our house.
Wow! Thank you guys so much.
Yeah I have done a lot of experimental cooking and baking, so if something doesn't turn out, I am not as bothered as I used to be.
I am just trying to figure out which steps are crucial to be very exact and which step aren't as finicky to the final product. I did double the water every time.
My new cultures that arrived yesterday do have dosing instructions.
Normally I heat the milk with hot water in my sink, but since the parm had to get to 124 I threw in the stock pot int he gas stove. The curd settle to the bottom and became a hard gooey mass. I don't think I stirred i enough. I really tried to cut my curd very small. The recipe I has said 1/4" cut.
The reason I made the parm was because we wanted the cream to make butter so I thought what cheese can make after I have used the cream separator on all the milk.
Also it seems like my milk doesn't yield very much cheese. It says,"Yields: 1-1.5 lbs" but I would be really shock if all my cheese were actually a pound when they came out.
Any reduced fat cheese is going to have a MUCH lower yield. When you cut curds really small like with a Parm, the yield goes down even more becauise of loss from the curds. You will notice that the whey is whiter with small curd cheeses. That's the loss.
Minamyna
Repeating what I said to Nitai above:
QuoteParmesan is a fairly low yield cheese, expect it to be in the neighborhood of 8%-10%.
7 gallons of milk are about 60 Lbs. 8%-10% of that are 4 to 6 Lbs. is that what you have?
Also, you must stir the milk when you heat it up. Otherwise you scold areas of it where other areas remain cold. You need it to warm up as evenly as possible. Give it a nice stir every 5 minutes when you warm it up
Opps I missed that part. There are so many things to remember about each cheese.
Thanks for the reminder.
Well I am thinking this Parm turned out very nicely. It is already quite hard on the outside. How long do you all normally wait before oiling, and after that before putting into the cave?
The only thing I would change at this point would be using CBN (plyban) on the sides. I did not have a piece big enough so I used cheesecloth and I did not get nearly as nice a rind as I did on the top and bottom where I did use CBN.
Depends on the cheese. I normally air dry for a few days 2-3-4 depending on the time of year, then in the cave for a few weeks 2-3-4 if it appears to be dry I oil it then after that I take it out of the cave vacuum seal and throw it it a cool corner of the basement and flip it every few days for 1 to 2 years.
Uh-oh, I don't know where I got the idea but I oiled my first Parm after 4 or 5 days.... Is there anything I can do to undo that. It has been at room temp for approx. 2 weeks now. Is this bad?
My cave situation has been less-than-ideal but I am hoping to improve it shortly.
It won't hurt it. Sorry I left you hanging I was on vacation.
Hope you enjoyed it. With all the volunteer time you put in at your local cheeseforum.org, you deserve it.
I was visiting my forum members at our annual BBQ in PA, KY and WV then family in TN. Great fun long drive!
Here is a stack of Parms I have made recently. The top 2 I am quite pleased with. The bottom one will not get hard enough because I tried a new curd cutting technique that failed. The second pic is for size reference, the cheese on the left is a 7 lb Pepper jack. The three Parms total around 16 lbs.
As you can see, I experimented with annatto in one of them, never again.
By the way! I cracked open a 9 month parm the other day. This was made at a time when we knew nothing significant here about cheese making. Thus it is far too soft inside, more like a nice semi low fat cheddar or something, but the flavor! The flavor is excellent, and quite sharp. And this with no added lipase. I am very happy and hopeful for my future parms.
Look fantastic! Is this the shape of your mold? Or are they bulging? I like your kitchen!
Bulging. Anyone have any ideas why? Is it bad? I recall this happened last year too. I rather like the look.
Great looking cheeses Nital. It is not neccessarily bad but shouldn't be happening in a parm. You might have added a few bacteria you weren't expecting. As it ages forever I wouldn't worry to much but keep an eye ope so they don't crack.
I have had cheddars bulging to a point where they cracked and exploded with gas before. if you have a cheese trier/tester maybe you want to use it to release gas buildup pressure and then return the removed paste back to its place? I am no expert on these so I don't know if that I just said is a good idea or a no-no
Nice looking cheeses. Making a parm is moving closer to the top of my list. :)
Hmm, I wonder why it is that all my parmesan's bulge, but nothing else does... sometimes the sides of other cheeses bulge a bit during drying, but I think that is just it pushing out under its own weight..
I don't know about you guys, but my kitchen is a DISASTER by the time I am done making cheese. There is a whey everywhere, mainly the floor, there is whey around my press. I have huge empty stock pot/ buckets sitting in the sink full of water, with a collander stuffed in it, rinsed dripping cheese cloth hanging ready to be washed, I could go on and on.
My 4 gal stockpot seems like barely big enough to fill my cheese molds, but at the same time, filling our fridge with enough milk to fill it and lifting it to drain is a lot of work.
Your kitchen is nice and clean :D
Those pictures were taken a day AFTER a cheese make ;) now that I have a better system down for the whole process, the clean-up is less daunting. But I also have help.
Yea, I have a city kitchen so I just can't afford to have anything lying around because it would take up the space of something else I need. Kind of turns me into compulsive kitchen organizing maniac by default. But the good thing is... less contamination, less confusion, fast cleanup or die...
Does anyone have any further insights into my swelling parms? As far as I can tell I have had only one significant issue of contamination, and those Stiltons are actually doing quite well, tasted a smidge today.
It would seem very odd then that all 3 of my parms are contaminated but nothing else is swelling.
Dunno about the swelling my parm is dual tone, some light areas and some white areas... no idea whats that's about. Smells good....though?
Is it fresh out of the press? I often have splotches on my cheese until the rind dries fully.
Ok, I cant do it anymore. I tried to restrain myself, and did, for days. LinuxBoy, are you out there? Can you enlighten me regarding my bulging Parms?!
There, I said it.
LOL. Nitai, any time a cheese bulges, it's a little gassy :D. What happens is that you have bacteria in the milk that produce CO2. This can be all sorts of bacteria, but is likely some strain of propionic. Might be some stray coliforms, but this is less likely because you'd see those in the curd at tiny pin holes that expand and form rounded openings.
At what temp are you aging the cheese?
I guess the cheese takes after its maker :o. Anyway. At the point the pics were taken none of them had gone to cave. The smallest one had been at room temp for about 2 weeks, which is anywhere from 65-low 90s once or twice. The cave is around 55F.
Any advice?
Damn! I was so happy with two of them.
Oh, at room temp propionic can take off for sure. That would be my guess. Coliforms are faster, would blow up sooner. If it's propionic you'll get a swiss cheese parm.
If you want it to stop, put it in the cave or cooler right away. Then you wind up with only slight openings, like you get in comte or gruyere. It's a little too late for small openings now because they already buldged, but keeping them cool will help.
It's the risks of natural raw milks. Will still taste good :)
So in the future I guess I can just go directly to cave after maybe 12-24 hours drying? I find the parms are practically dry immediately anyway. This way they would just dry out a little slower, right?
Quote from: iratherfly on June 07, 2010, 04:52:02 AM
Hmmm... Goats milk has lotf of lipase in it. I would say you can use Shermanii (easy to find plant based) for the breakdown of lipids, but this will give you a sweet nutty flavor and produce large eyes... a-la swiss cheese.
What if you don't let it sit out in room temp.? Then there would be no eyes. The nutty flavor might be a nice touch, actually.
~ C.
Quote from: Nitai on July 08, 2010, 04:10:05 AM
Is it fresh out of the press? I often have splotches on my cheese until the rind dries fully.
I always get spotty whitish patches for a day or so till the cheese air drys some. Does it looks something like this?
precisely. Sometimes it takes 3-5 days for them to fully clear away. It seems to definitely be moisture because they disappear at the same time the rind becomes fully dry to touch. And they appear stronger on whichever side of the cheese has been face down.
I would be more concerned if I didn't see the whitish spots after removing the mold - I have seen them on every Parmesan I ever made for the past 30 years.
Quote from: Nitai on July 08, 2010, 06:20:32 AM
Ok, I cant do it anymore. I tried to restrain myself, and did, for days. LinuxBoy, are you out there? Can you enlighten me regarding my bulging Parms?!
There, I said it.
I can't stop imagining the beacon from batman, but instead of a bat shape, there's a "LB" shone in the clouds in a dark sky ;D
Quote from: MarkShelton on July 09, 2010, 09:35:28 PM
I can't stop imagining the beacon from batman, but instead of a bat shape, there's a "LB" shone in the clouds in a dark sky ;D
Or a big cheese in the sky!