Life is good. Looking out at the pasture enjoying a glass of Cab and eating some of the fruits of my labor. 5 month old blue from my goat Honey. She is my Avatar.
Hope everyone is having a great day 8)
CC
Caprine....
That is one beautiful blue cheese!
What variety is it?
Also, please post the recipe you use. Right now I can only dream of making one that turns out that perfectly.
As for the Cabernet.....well I happen to be joining you in a glass right at this moment. :-)
Dave
Beautiful cheese.... First glance I was trying to figure how someone would make a blue cheese flavored honey! I get it now :)
Chili at first I thought the same thing.
Dave, I'm going to open a cab right now and take a nap.
Cap, nice looking cheese and good pic, it makes me hungry.
Cap, that is a great looking cheese, big congrats!
You avatar of your goat named Honey, is that colouring real?
CH
Yeah thats Honey straight off the iPhone. The light was amazing that day.
CC
Dave,
It is a pretty different recipe starting life as Chevre. I'll post the recipe but I'm going to leave you hanging right now as I have to take off for our local all you can eat crab feed.
CC
That's fine Cap. I'll be anxiously waiting.
That is one fantastic looking blue.
Also, would you care to post what all is involved in the care of a goat?
I've given a little thought to possibly buying a milking goat but I'm not sure I could handle the necessary attention.
Thanks in advance...
Dave
OK I've never thought about raising a goat, but there's a Milk Making Board here (https://cheeseforum.org/forum/index.php/board,55.0.html), for raising and milking animals etc, thanks.
OK here is the Blue Honey recipe,
Start with 2.5 gallons of milk from Honey (the worlds sweetest goat). While this ingredient may be hard to find it is what makes the difference ;D. All kidding aside I have made cheese from a number of different goat breeds and in my experience the milk from the Nubian goats has made superior tasting cheese to the alpine breeds but you do take a hit on production volume.
Heat milk to 65 F and add 1/2 tsp of Danisco CHOOZIT MM101 LYO125 DCU starter culture.
Take the milk off the heat and let sit for 12 h.
Warm acidified milk back to 86 F, remove from heat and mix in 1/4 cup of water into which 1 Tbs of mature Blue from a previous batch has been blended.
If this is your first time, use your favorite artisan blue.
Add 1/8 tsp of Dry Calf Rennet (I buy from Steve the Cheesemaker).
Allow to set until you have a clean break.
Cut curd into 3/4" cubes gently fold over and let set for 15 m.
Pour off excess whey and pour curd into a bag lined colander (I use a nylon wort bag that you can buy from any home-brew shop.
Let the curd drain for a about 12 hrs turning the bag in the colander until it is firm enough to hang the bag.
Take the curd and mix until smooth with a large serving fork while adding 3 tsp of salt.
I press the blended curd for 8h at 5psi flipping cheese at 30m, 1h and 4h (Im using an 8"dia form filled to a 6"depth).
Upon removal pierce the cheese at 1" intervals across the top and around the sides at a 45 degree downward angle.
Rest the cheese in your cave at 50 degrees and high humidity.
Flip cheese on day 1, 3, 6 and weekly thereafter until outside of cheese is completely covered with mold.
Wrap cheese in camembert paper and store refrigerated for 5 mo (or as long as you can hold out).
I find that there is a definite change in flavor and a wonderful mellowing after the 3rd month.
I know this sounds a bit unorthodox compared to most blue recipes but it makes a great cheese. I have had many blue-cheese-o-philes begging me to buy this cheese but I only make it for self consumption (for medicinal use only of course).
CC
I know the feeling Captain Caprine.
Well done indeed.
What do you mean by 5 PSI? The actual pounds per square inch or line pressure of a pneumatic cylinder or actual weight (force)? Because 5 pounds per square inch of an 8" mold would be in the 250 actual pounds of force range.
Cartierusm,
Thanks for catching my typing error. You are absolutely correct. It should read 0.5 not 5.0 and my guess is that it would make quite a bit of difference!
25lbs of down force on the mold
Thanks
CC
Thanks for posting the recipe.
Now if I only had access to goat's milk!
I might give this one a try with cow's milk in the future.
It really does make a nice looking cheese.
Dave
I'll have to come by sometime Captain and see honey. Captain, you're like me I do press my soft blues, just a little to give them uniform shape. I usually give my stiltons 5 lbs of down force for a couple of minutes.
Hey Captain,
Here's my version of your cheese. I guess it's my cheese as I didn't get to do it 100% your way. It's from a pound of chevre from work. At any rate, it is a mellow blue as you suggested it would be, with hints of barnyard and mushrooms. My wife tried it and wasn't sure she liked it. I then quickly had to restrain her from eating it all. Thanks for your recipe!
Wow, that thread has some affinage to it. ::)
-Boofer-
It does, but I figured the Captain might like to know he's got some admirers! By the way, I didn't age it the full 5 months, 3 was as far as I could make it!
Looks great SC--any pics of the interior? How did it taste?