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!

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

Colby Cheese (Recipe)

Hi Everyone,

Another cheese success! I made a Colby cheese in early October and after about 3 months of aging, it was delicious. (click here for the taste test video) 

It's very much like a Cheddar, but it's milder, creamier and softer. I will definitely be making this lovely cheese again!

Here is the recipe. The next time I make it, I'll add either a video tutorial or photo instructions to this post!

Colby (for a printable version, click here)
(Recipes courtesy of Gavin Webber and Margaret Peters)

Yield: 750g wheel of cheese

Ingredients

8 liters whole milk

1/8 tsp MA4002 culture

1/4 + 1/8 tsps Calcium Chloride

1/8 + 1/16 tsps Double Rennet

Cool filtered water

Brine Solution

Directions

Stage 1: Mixing The Ingredients

Stage 2: Caring for the curds

Stage 3: Molding, Pressing and Brining

Stage 4: Drying and Aging

Stage 1: Mixing The Ingredients

1. Heat the milk to 86F or 30C in a double boiler.

2. Sprinkle the culture into the milk and let sit 5 minutes.

3. Stir for 2 minutes then let sit for 1 hour, holding the temperature at 86F or 30C.

4. Mix your Calcium Chloride into 1/4 cup cool filtered water. Mix your Double Rennet into 1/4 cup cool filtered water.

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

6. Let sit 45 minutes at 86F or 30C.

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 then let heal for 5 minutes.

9. Cook the curds to 104F or 40C over 40 minutes. Don't rush this step!

10. Stir the curds gently for 15 minutes, holding the temperature at 104F or 40C.

11. Heat 6 liters of water to 104F or 40C.

12. Using a strainer and ladle, drain the whey to the level of the curds. Let sit 5 minutes.

13. Wash the curds: Add enough hot water to replace what you removed and stir for 15 minutes.

Stage 3: Molding, Pressing and Brining

14. Drain your curds into a cheesecloth-lined mold.

15. Press at 20 pounds for 30 minutes.

16. Flip, redress the cheese then press at 20 pounds for another 30 minutes.

17. Flip, redress the cheese then press at 40 pounds for 1 hour.

18. Flip, redress the cheese then press at 50 pounds for 12 hours.

19. Brine the cheese for 12 hours in your cheese cave, flipping halfway through.

Stage 4: Drying and Aging

20. Air dry your cheese wheel for 3 days, flipping twice a day.

21. Seal your cheese and age it for 2.5 months in the cheese cave at 10 Celsius. Flip three times a week.

Cheese Updates: Raclette, Fontina, Colby, Jarlsberg

My babies are thriving! :) 

From the left:

Raclette - ready December 7th

Fontina #1 and Fontina #2 - both ready December 17th

I'm still washing these with brine a few times a week and they're doing very well. The colours are fantastic, the rinds are forming and they smell divine!

I made two more cheeses in the last week - a Colby and another Jarlsberg. I had so much success with my first wheel of Jarlsberg, I decided to make another one. I'm not going to post the recipe for the Colby just yet because I took the recipe from two different sources, mixed and mashed and kind of came up with my own way of doing it. IF it's a success, I'll post it!