What I've Been Up To

 

Firm Camemberts - my most successful cheese! I've made 8 wheels in the last few months!

Hi Everyone! 😊

It's been nearly a YEAR since I posted here on Rainy Day Cheese Making! I can't believe how time flies. Most of my friends know that last February, my husband and I bought our first home. We bought sight unseen and moved from a bad situation in Quebec to a lovely rural and peaceful setting in New Brunswick.

I put my cheese making on hold because of lack of time, though I snuck in a few wheels here and there, I didn't have the time to blog about it.

Jarlsberg is another successful cheese in the roster. I've been making that one every few months.

I was hoping to try many new cheeses in 2020, but we had a lot of issues with the new-to-us house and those plans had to be put on hold. Now that things have settled down a little bit, I plan on re-activating this blog with my cheese making efforts!

A few months ago, Alex designed these cheese labels for me, aren't they nice?

I don't ever plan on selling my cheese (too many legal ramifications), but I have been giving a few wheels away with lovely feedback, so I thought it might be nice to have fancy-shmancy labels to go with them!

This is a 6-month Cheddar that will be ready in April 2021

I miss making new cheeses. I've been looking up new recipes and I plan to do more videos this winter/spring.

I'm trying to make everything possible from scratch and this includes all of my cheeses. It's time consuming and it takes a lot of planning, but it's so rewarding to have some homemade soup, homemade crescent rolls and homemade cheese to go with it!

All recipes are listed on my right sidebar!

Cheddar Taste Test (Two Cheddars Using Two Different Bacterial Cultures)

Hi Everyone :)

I recorded a taste test video for two of my Cheddars but the video just didn't turn out! I'll give you a quick summary in writing and add a video addendum below!

Yesterday I opened:

1. A Cheddar that I made in October 2019 that's been aging 3 months. For this cheese I used the culture MA4002 which is a mix between a mesophilic and a thermophilic culture. It's supposed to create a buttery texture and a milder taste.

2. A Cheddar that I made in July 2019 that's been aging 6 months. For this cheese I used the culture MA11 which is marketed as a "go to" mesophilic culture for hard cheeses.

A Cheddar that I opened a few months ago was made with MA11 and both Alex and I found it to be way too tangy for our liking. That's why I made another one with MA4002 to test if there would still be a tang.

Unfortunately the 6- month aged Cheddar (using MA11) was too tangy and yeasty. Sigh. The 3-month aged Cheddar (using MA4002) was also tangy but very edible and tasted like a Cheddar.

We recorded a follow up video after we paused for a bit to taste the cheeses again, here it is, but the conclusion is that I will never use MA11 again in my hard cheeses!

And just for fun, here is the pets' taste test video, they're so supportive! 😊