I was just wondering about the idea of using store-bought curd (like this: http://www.aoap.com.au/content_common/pr-cheese-portion-control_low-salt-goat-curd.seo (http://www.aoap.com.au/content_common/pr-cheese-portion-control_low-salt-goat-curd.seo) ) for making a selles-sur-cher type cheese. Would it be possible to just buy a tub of curd, air-dry a little if necessary, and then sprinkle the surfaces with salt, ash & PC spores, and leave it to ripen? Has anyone tried this? I adore goat cheeses, but at $5/litre, the pre-made curd is comparably priced, especially considering the convenience.
I'm asking because I've just been given two tubs of the stuff, and am trying to decide whether to just eat them, or to add them to the prospective-Valencays which are currently draining in my kitchen.
Just as a note, this curd tastes a bit mild - not as sour as a chevre, say. I don't know what they use to culture it. I know that PC can be sprayed on to the surface & it will slowly invade the cheese from there, but is it possible to apply some additional mesophilic culture this way as well?
It would be too late to add any starter cultures. You can try draining it and applying pc to it. I see no reason why that wouldn't work. You may want to add some salt if the curd contains none.
See that it doesnt contain preservatives.
Thanks for the tips - there are no preservatives, the ingredients are: goat's milk, salt, starter culture. It doesn't taste like there's much salt in there, so I think I'll apply some more along with the ash & PC.
Goodbye little curd, it's off to the "milk-experiments" fridge for you!
Just an update: I had friends over just after I applied the ash, so we ended up just eating it like that. It was very wet though, so I'm not sure that I would've been able to drain it enough to mold anyway. Might try it again sometime.
What a strange product. It's like they began making goats cheese and never finished it. The taste is milk because they didn't drain it much and didn't acidify it enough and never bother to salt it. I don't know why any farmer with half decent goats milk would do that. Especially when fresh goat's cheese is so easy to make. Probably they sell it for the same price but can sell more because the whey is still in it so they make more money.