Colby and Camembert Taste Tests

Success!!! We opened the Colby and Camembert cheeses yesterday and they are both delicious!!

Please click the links for the recipes:

Colby

Firm Camembert

Firm Camembert (Recipe)

Hello Friends!

Do you like soft bloomy white mouldy cheeses? I do! I made a really good Firm Camembert at the beginning of December. Here is the Taste Test Video. This particular Cam is firm, that's why I called it that! The usual Camembert you'd get from France is runny and very strong in flavour. I usually make those, but decided to try something different this time and I wasn't disappointed! I'll be making it again, that's for sure. It only needs five to six weeks to ripen before you can eat it, so it's what I'd call a "quick" cultured cheese.

Here is the recipe, and the next time I make it, I'll update this post with either a video tutorial or a photo tutorial!

Firm Camembert (for a printable version, click here)
(Recipe courtesy of Gavin Webber)

Yield: 2 x 300g wheels of cheese

Ingredients

4 liters whole milk

1 cup whipping cream (35%)

1/32 tsp Mesophilic Aroma B Culture

1/32 tsp Thermophilic B Culture

1/32 tsp Penicillium Candidum

1/64 tsp Geotrichum Candidum

1/4 tsp Calcium Chloride 

5 drops Double Rennet

Cool filtered water

Brine Solution

**For this cheese, besides the usual equipment, you need Cheese Wrap. It's a breathable packaging that helps the bloomy white mould to form. You also need two Camembert Hoops.

Directions

Stage 1: Mixing The Ingredients

Stage 2: Caring for the curds

Stage 3: Molding, Draining and Brining

Stage 4: Drying and Ripening

Stage 1: Mixing The Ingredients

1. Heat your milk and cream in a double boiler to 95F or 35C.

2. Add the 4 cultures, one at a time, sprinkling slowly over your milk mixture. Let sit for 5 minutes.

3. Stir well for 2 minutes and let sit for 4 1/2 hours, keeping the temperature at 95F or 35C.

4. Prepare your Calcium Chloride by mixing it in 1/8 cup cool filtered water. Prepare your Double Rennet by mixing it in 1/8 cup cool filtered water.

5. Add the Calcium Chloride and stir for 1 minute. Add the Double Rennet and stir for 1 minute. 

6. Cover and let rest 30 minutes, holding the temperature at 95F or 35C.

Stage 2: Caring for the curds

7. Check for a clean break. Slide a knife into your curd. If the knife is clean and the break looks semi-firm, it's a clean break. You can always wait a further 15 minutes if you're not happy with your clean break.

8. Cut the curds into 1/2 inch cubes. Let them heal for 10 minutes.

9. Very gently stir the curds for about 1 minute. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

10. Repeat #9.

11. Repeat #9.

12. Heat 1.5 liters of filtered water to 95F or 35C.

13. With a strainer and ladle, remove 1.5 liters of whey from the curds.

14. Wash the curds: Add your heated water and stir gently for about 20 seconds. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

15. Gently stir again for 1 minute. Cover and let rest 30 minutes.

Stage 3: Molding, Draining and Brining

16. Drain the whey to the level of the curds.

17. Gently and evenly ladle the curds into two Camembert hoops. You may need to give the curds a chance to drain slightly before continuing to add more curd.

Note: This can be tricky because the hoops don't have bottoms. Just make sure you set up your hoops on a surface where they can drain well. I use a little plastic cutting board sitting on a pot in the sink.

18. Drain for one hour.

19. Flip the hoops carefully and let drain 90 minutes.

20. Repeat #19.

21. Flip the hoops and drain for 2 hours.

22. Flip the hoops and drain for 12 hours.

23. Carefully remove the cheese from the hoops and place in brine for 3 hours at room temperature.

Stage 4: Drying and Ripening

24. Pat the cheese wheels dry with paper towel and air dry for 24 hours, flipping once.

25. In a ripening box, ripen your Cams for 14 days in your cheese cave at 11-13 Celsius and 95% humidity.

Note: I use a plastic Tupperware container and place a small wet piece of paper towel inside then close the lid. This really works well to keep the ripening box humid.

26. Flip your cheese every 2 days. At the end of the two week ripening time, check to make sure you have an even coverage of bloomy white mould. If it isn't even, let it ripen for an additional week.

27. When you are happy with the bloomy white mould on your cheese (mine took 14 days), pat down the cheese all over with your hand to encourage formation.

28. Wrap your cheese wheels in cheese wrap (shiny side out).

29. Finish ripening in your kitchen fridge for 3 weeks.

Wrapping My Camemberts

Hi Friends :)

My cheese making season is ramping up!! Today I had to check my Camemberts to see if the bloomy white mould was forming well, and it was! I wrapped them up and they'll be ready to eat around January 10th. I can't wait to try these!

Farmhouse Cheddar Tasting and Making Camemberts

Hi Cheese-Lovers! :)

I opened the Farmhouse Cheddar that I made at the end of October. Farmhouse Cheddar is basically a short-aged Cheddar. It aged for just one month and it's supposed to be more moist and creamier than a regular Cheddar.

I didn't post a recipe because I wanted to see how it turned out first. There are good points and bad points.

Farmhouse Cheddar to the left - 3-month aged Cheddar to the Right

It looks right! It has the right texture! It smells awesome. We re-sealed half of the 3-month Cheddar that we opened in October - you can see how the 3-month Cheddar is very firm, no holes. This is because an aged Cheddar goes through what's called the Cheddaring process. A Farmhouse Cheddar doesn't. The Cheddaring process removes more whey from the curd to make a firmer cheese. So as you can see, both cheeses look right.

Despite good looks, once again, there is a little tang to it. And it didn't melt. I even tried a different bacterial culture this time so I'm guessing it's the milk or the acidity level during ripening.

No matter how much research I do, I CANNOT find any information about acidity of cheese during cheese making in LAYMAN's terms that talks about tang and melt. I don't have a chemistry degree!  None of the books I own on cheese making address this. Plus, I simply don't have the time or attention span right now to learn about all of the chemical/technical aspects of cheese making...but I'm going to try my darndest to figure all of this out so that I can have a nice mild Cheddar! I wrote to the owner of the cheese making store where I buy my supplies, I hope she can help me!

It's still good, don't get me wrong! We nearly finished it! :) But it's just a snacking cheese.

Another little experiment I'm doing is a new recipe for Camembert. I have a very good recipe for the authentic French gooey, runny strong flavoured Cam. The photo above is one of the Cams I made last Christmas. You can see how the cheese is firm on the outside and runny on the inside. The rind was beautifully developed as well - it was a great cheese! But this year I wanted to try one that was a little more mild and a lot more firm.

So I tried a new recipe for a firmer Cam. I made them two days ago and they are air drying. They are quite holey...and the white bloom has already started to show up in places! These will be ready to taste in mid-January so I'll let you guys now how they turn out!