I literally touch the sky of cheese world ... back form a week journey in Alps (Italy , Switzerland, France) all in just Alp region

1- Swiss-Alp (Gruyers)  http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&q=Pringy+Gruyères,+La+Gruyère,+Friburg,+Switzerland&ct=clnk&cd=1&geocode=FTO-xgIdg9hrAA&split=0

2- French Rhone-Alp (French part of of Alp) Abondance http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&safe=off&rls=gm&q=Abondance&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

Are the cheese world, i visited Gruyeres in swiss, and Abondance in France and i saw the cheesemaking, and entered into the caves, i tasted the cheese, i learned the real factors beyond the taste…. guys the flavor and cow and goat herds,  and what they eat, has all the things to add the flavors, i found out the real difference between industrial cheeses, and the farm cheese, and the very high Alp cheese… it is like breathing oxygen in the woods, and breathing it using a tank in hospital, same is when u compare industrial cheese, and real cheese…

Gruyère cheese is over seven category , and it is related to kind of what the cow eats .... and then how old .... +18 month are WOW
but the best best is the one which made in 4000Meter in the mountain, and u can taste and smell the flowers and grasses of Alps..

i tasted one of the best Brie like cheese with orange coating , and it was having some hairy mold (which we always try to avoid) and it was wonderful, they sample the cheese like Tome , and they don’t care if it develop some blue… and it keeps wonderful, the gray brushed rinds and wonderful, i will post here some photo within few days….

I assume you are now busy planning your retirement to the Alps???

i wish so, one day

Wow Nabil, that sounds like a dreamy trip. How did you learn about these cheese makers you visited? I’d heard that France wasn’t allowing any more public visits in cheese makers’ plants, but it sounds like this has either changed or I was just wrong. I’m going to France next year and will soon enough be asking for recommendations for where to visit. I understand there are a lot of cheese makers to visit in Nomandy too- have you visited that area?
Bobbie

LOL, sounds fantastic, glad you got the opportunity.

Nabil Posted: 04 June 2009 12:50 PM

i tasted one of the best Brie like cheese with orange coating , and it was having some hairy mold (which we always try to avoid) and it was wonderful, they sample the cheese like Tome , and they don’t care if it develop some blue… and it keeps wonderful, the gray brushed rinds and wonderful,

Have a Brie style cheese opened 3 days ago. Rind washed 2 weeks with brine and further 6 weeks with sweet white wine. No B-linens at all. I do not know the “Stinking Bishop’s” smell and taste, I can assure you this one is really tough. We enjoy it very much. The first pic is from the beginning of the ageing.

My next experiment is going to be a Camembert fully coated with mould, wrapped with cloth dipped in apple cider, for a period of 15 days and then continuing the regular ageing process.

LittleCriminal - 04 June 2009 11:19 PM

Wow Nabil, that sounds like a dreamy trip. How did you learn about these cheese makers you visited? I’d heard that France wasn’t allowing any more public visits in cheese makers’ plants, but it sounds like this has either changed or I was just wrong. I’m going to France next year and will soon enough be asking for recommendations for where to visit. I understand there are a lot of cheese makers to visit in Nomandy too- have you visited that area?
Bobbie

i visited the area in the Alp 20 minutes away from lake of Geneva, Abondance , there u can find many cheese farmers, really so private as i said, and it is not a industrial cheese, u can buy directly from them…

What i really recommend u is to go to Gruyeres , and visit also the public “Le Maison du Gruyere” http://www.lamaisondugruyere.ch/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=142&Itemid=209

Thanks for the ideas, Nabil.  -and Alex, I want that cheese.

LittleCriminalPosted: 06 June 2009 08:53 PM
-and Alex, I want that cheese.

“If…you…wan’ it…here it is…come and get it…”

Mozzarella di Buffalo

the wonderful cheese i experienced in Italy this month.

It is juicy when u cut, soft, full of flavor; and since i do not have access for Buffalo milk , i thought at least i should copy the texture.

after two years of successful Mozzarella home making, yesterday, i made the last step to perfection of imitating that wonder texture.

the key of success were:

1- i never go above 34C starting from rennet to final stage before stretching.
2- i never drain the curds until the proper acid level pH 5.1
3- i added salt to whey curd mixture
4- i worked it out the cheese in its whey (heating it up)

the results was wonderful