Greetings!

We too have had a summer away from making cheeese, however, we attended a New Jersey wine and food festival in August, and visited a stall manned by folks from http://www.cowsoutside.com/ They had some wonderful cheeses, and I had a short chat with them (short, because they were quite busy!). I was interested in the fact that they do not press their cheeses, and they do not wax them either.  Was wondering if Rick has made any cheeses this way, and if so how successful were they. Their cheeses were excellent.

We now have a new interest - we have just joined http://www.grapebeginningswineschool.com/ and we expect our grapes to be arriving any day. We shall be making a 1/2 barrel of a blend - 60% Cab, 30% Merlot, and 10% Cab Franc. We shall go through the whole process including the bottling next June.

What better accompaniment for our home made cheeses!!

Regards,  Wendy & Simon

Many cheeses are not pressed or waxed. Feta or Ricotta, for example. If you don’t wax a cheese, it will form a natural rind, like a Manchego or Parmesan. If not pressed, it will likely be moister and softer. If not waxed then you will lose some of the cheese to rind formation.

I generally press or wax just because the original cheese I’m trying to create calls for it. But, heck, its my cheese so I can write the rules! Right?! So, I encourage all kinds of experimentation.

I look forward to continued learning and dialog as the “cheese making season” starts back up.

Great idea on the wine making! For now, I’m sticking to cheese making, bread making (I’ve finally perfected one recipe…), and collecting, identifying and eating wild mushrooms.

Rick