Aloha all,

I’m still new to making cheese and have been enjoying success with cheddar but decided to try a cotswold using the recipe in the Artisan book by Tim Smith. The recipe lists chives and dried onion in the ingredient list but doesn’t mention them anywhere in the instructions, so I’m unsure exactly when to add them. I’m guessing they get mixed with the curds just before pressing, is this correct?

Thanks for any advice!

-James

First I would soak them in brine, then add when curds drained.
Welcome mauibay !

Neil - 24 May 2009 02:36 AM

First I would soak them in brine, then add when curds drained.
Welcome mauibay !

Thanks! The instructions in the book are poorly written, listing dry chives and onion in conflicting amounts (2 tsp. of dry chives is NOT 2g!) and not mentioning them at all in the instructions. The instructions also have a nonsensical step for letting the curds rest for 5 minutes in the “water bath” when this recipe doesn’t call for washing the curds and at that point the whey hasn’t been drained or any water added. I just figured it was a poor choice of words.

Thanks for the welcome, and again for the advice!

My guess on the resting of the curd would be to let them settle prior to draining, as is common in several recipes.  Have fun with your cheesemaking.  BTW, for those of us who do not have the book, would you care to post that recipe in the recipe section of this site?

Green Cheese Maker - 24 May 2009 11:07 AM

My guess on the resting of the curd would be to let them settle prior to draining, as is common in several recipes.  Have fun with your cheesemaking.  BTW, for those of us who do not have the book, would you care to post that recipe in the recipe section of this site?

I agree exactly. I recognized the resting step, what confused me momentarily at the time was the book referring to it being performed in a “water bath” since to me that implies washing the curds. There is actually no water bath or curd washing in the recipe, and it should have simply said “whey” instead of “water bath” or just ended the sentence earlier. It was easy enough to figure out though, since the very next step was naturally to drain off the whey. It did make me double back though at that moment with a quick panic that I had totally missed some step to partially drain whey and add water for a light wash, but I concluded the directions were just poorly worded in addition to being incomplete.

Anyway, I posted the recipe as I personally did it, with the ingredients I used and the steps I performed. Update: I added a snapshot to the recipe of how my first wheel looked shortly after it was removed from the press.

Thanks for the recipe.  BTW, a water bath is a double boiler effect - setting the pot of curd and whey into warm water to maintain the temp of the curd.  I use my sink for this.

I’ve been going over your recipe; because I intend to make some.  Sounds like a cheddar without the cheddaring - if there can be such a thing.  I’m wondering, though, if you forgot to include salt, or if it actually contains no salt.  Surely the wiping with brine prior to waxing is not enough.

Green Cheese Maker - 25 May 2009 10:40 AM

I’ve been going over your recipe; because I intend to make some.  Sounds like a cheddar without the cheddaring - if there can be such a thing.  I’m wondering, though, if you forgot to include salt, or if it actually contains no salt.  Surely the wiping with brine prior to waxing is not enough.

I’m curious about that too, it’s the first recipe I’ve used that doesn’t contain any salt at all. It’s not listed in the ingredients in the book recipe. The wiping with brine was a step I added because I think it’s a good idea for inhibiting bad mold while drying before waxing, especially because my “room temp” here is about 85F.

mauibayPosted: 25 May 2009 12:56 PM

I’m curious about that too, it’s the first recipe I’ve used that doesn’t contain any salt at all. It’s not listed in the ingredients in the book recipe. The wiping with brine was a step I added because I think it’s a good idea for inhibiting bad mold while drying before waxing, especially because my “room temp” here is about 85F.

R.Scott’s book, Cheesmaking Practice says:

Scalding: Scald to 40-41 deg C in 1 hr. Stir well.
Whey off: Stir to float curd if settled. Take off whey - dry stir ti keep curd free.
Salting: No milling needed - add 2% salt onto the curd and stir to disolve.

I just made this one yesterday…  added the chives/onions after I cut the curds, which was probably way too early but it did make things smell awfully good.

The lack of salt is a little disturbing and I imagine it was just an omission from the recipe (I’ve noticed that there are little errors in most of the recipes in the Artisan book… so it wouldn’t surprise me if he forgot to add an amount for salt!)—so I’m thinking I might brine it after it comes out of the press. Do you think this would drastically change the character of the cheese?? I’m not really sure how brining affects the cheese quality, just that it’s another method of salting it.

Salting: No milling needed - add 2% salt onto the curd and stir to disolve.

quoted from an excellent book as you can see above.

By adding salt you have more control, by brining it is much a matter of experience. Half an hour ago I cut a Munster (10 liters milk) brined for 12 hours, washed with brine for 2 weeks and then washed with sweet white wine for 6 weeks.
The cheese is to salty, the next cheese will be made soon and brined for only 6 hours.