Cheese 101. A suggestion from El Presidente...

[Chas.Alpha]

I put myself on mute during a recent FOH Zoom session, as I was in the middle of waxing the wheel of cheese I made a couple of weeks before. After some good natured ribbing about a cigar smoking construction worker making cheese, Fearless Leader suggested that some of our "Foodie" members would like to know what it's about. 

Cheese 101: Do you love cheese so much that you need to know how to do it better than anyone else? That's step 1...

2: Find a source of fresh farm milk. The first thing I do when moving to a new state is locate the best Greek restaurant in town. 2nd; find a dairy farm. Crazy Katie the cow lady is who I've found here in Raleigh, NC. Great woman, loves her animals and the quality of the milk is evidence of it! Well fed, heavy on milk fat.

3: Sterilize your pot and utensils. 5.5 gallon stainless steel pot and a strainer.

4: Milk into the pot which is surrounded by warm water in the sink. I'm aiming at 86 deg. F for this wheel of Havarti (Wife's favorite.) I ended up 2 deg. over, no biggie. I understand they make a thing called a Sous Vide. If this works, a game changer for me!!!

5: Cultures. This one I used 2/3rds Meso type II and 1/3rd Flora Danica. More on this in post 2 if anyone is interested. Yes, you can over culture and more importantly over ripen. After 45 minutes, I mix and add the rennet. This is a coagulant made from calf's stomach. If that makes you queezy, they do make vegan vegie rennet...🙄

6: Once the rennet is mixed in with the ripened milk, you have to wait for a firm set. Ironically, that is to the minute of what it takes to smoke a Boli CJ, Trini Reyes or P Short. A wee splash of Zacapa rum certainly doesn't get in the way of this, either. Funny how that works...

7: Cut the curds into cubes. At this point, the milk solids separate from the whey. Remember "Little Miss Muffet?" Time to raise the temperature from 86 to 98F. This happens slowly for about 30 minutes. Time enough for another wee dram.

8: Stir curds for 30-45 minutes. Oh, just a half of a dram won't hurt a thing. 😳

9: Curd into the strainer. Ok, if you're an artisan cheesemaker you've began to respect the elegance of the Guatemalan rum! Your nose knows just how much kosher salt to add to the curds before you put them in the press...

10: Pressing pressures depends on what cheese you're making. A brilliant Greek bloke named Archimedes designed the thing, I just built it out of some old lumber I had kicking around.

11: Aging- Depends. This Havarti will age for about 9 months, the 1st month at room temperature at 85 % humidity. Other cheeses are different. The Alpine type I made two weeks ago is at 50 degrees for another week before I put it back to room temp for 3 weeks to develop the customary eyes.

 

Any questions, feel free to ask!!! 🧀

 

[El Presidente]

Charles.....you are a dead set bloody champion 

[MoeFOH]

Have always wanted to dabble in this... blessed are the cheesemakers, after all. 

Thanks Chas - great post! 

[KavalanWhisky]

 

Love watching this guy, been really tempted to make Mozzarella but its hard to get unpasteurized milk in HK.

[Marco_011t556]

40 minutes ago, KavalanWhisky said:

 

Love watching this guy, been really tempted to make Mozzarella but its hard to get unpasteurized milk in HK.

LOL City's Super helps

[westg]

Cheeses Christ . 

[Ford2112]

That's pretty damn cool @Chas.Alpha

[KavalanWhisky]

2 hours ago, 011t556 said:

LOL City's Super helps

I struggle to justify taking out a mortgage to pay for the prices!! 😂

[Low]

This channel has helped me a ton with making various types of cheese. 
https://www.youtube.com/@GavinWebber

[Nevrknow]

Wife tried making cheese from some Pinterest ( Pinterest is the devil by the way ) thing she saw.

Her: How is it?

Me: There is definitely a time and a place for this cheese.

Her: really?

Me: Yes.   Never and in the trash.

I never knew how comfy our couch sleeps. Very comfy. TG.

[BrightonCorgi]

@Chas.Alpha Well done!

I make paneer and ricotta, but never done a block of cheese like above.  I also make mozzarella weekly, but I buy a block of curd and divide into portions for future use.

[Puros Y Vino]

Great post!  Given how much cheese costs in Canada, I might have to look into this.

[garbandz]

Cheese, Louise ........

lots of praise for my neighbor down Raleigh way.......

In my neighborhood is The Goat Lady, famous far and wide for her award winning Chevre, and she is always sold out quickly.

Artisanal products can be excellent ,a reminder of an earlier time..... 

[El Hoze]

Very cool! I make my own ricotta and what Dominicans call queso fresco which is very similar to ricotta. They come out incredibly good given how simple they are to make. Would love to get a little deeper. 

[Michael303]

Oh great.  Another hobby that I can fall down the rabbit hole with.  😆

This was actually something I thought would be a fun alternative to brewing beer since I'm not a big beer drinker.  Thanks for sharing!

[bergstrom]

This is absolutely amazing (And inspiring!) 

back when I used to drink I loved brewing beer, feel like this is quite similar and will likely be the next thing I get into thanks to this post!

[El Hoze]

2 hours ago, Michael303 said:

This was actually something I thought would be a fun alternative to brewing beer since I'm not a big beer drinker.  

I have always wanted to jump down the rabbit hole of brewing beer, I did some easy ales in college that came out pretty drinkable! My problem is the opposite, though, I’d end up drinking too much, 50 pounds heavier, and sleeping next to a giant lauter tun in my garage.

[Chas.Alpha]

10 hours ago, garbandz said:

Cheese, Louise ........

lots of praise for my neighbor down Raleigh way.......

In my neighborhood is The Goat Lady, famous far and wide for her award winning Chevre, and she is always sold out quickly.

Artisanal products can be excellent ,a reminder of an earlier time..... 

Goat Milk Lady??? Where are you in NC again??? 🧀🤔

[Greenhorn2]

31 minutes ago, Chas.Alpha said:

Goat Milk Lady??? Where are you in NC again??? 🧀🤔

I think she's the owner of Goat Lady Dairy  in Climax NC. She does have some mighty fine cheese. I think she has a website. 

[garbandz]

Goat Lady ..........

I am near Greensboro, mid-state about 90 minutes from you.

Climax is just down the road.

Lots of rural land and country roads around here, nice to get out of the urban squalor and hustle.

[Nevrknow]

Always killed me driving from Winston to G-boro. The sign on 40 says Climax / High Point 

I'm like well? Which is it?

[Lamboinee]

Super cool.

Ever paired cheese with cigars? 

[Chas.Alpha]

@MoeFOH left his update test post up, to the delight of many! This? Oh hell yes!!! 😀

@El Presidente you might like this one.

18/03/2023

[El Presidente]

Stunning!!! 😲

[Chas.Alpha]

1 minute ago, El Presidente said:

Stunning!!! 😲

That one’s not mine. I’m making that next Saturday. I hope it looks that great!

tonight taking the Scottish cheddar out of the press from yesterday. 
 

It’s a labor of love 😔