This recipe is adapted from the one in Tim Smiths’s book on Artisan cheesemaking for making Cotswold cheese. Both the Ingredients and the Directions are directly from my personal log of the steps as I performed them.

Ingredients:
2 gallons milk
mesophilic culture (4 tablespoons of mother culture or 1/4 teaspoon of direct starter culture)
4 drops annatto coloring diluted in ¼ cup cool water
¼ teaspoon calcium chloride diluted in ¼ cup cool water
¼ tablet vegetable rennet dissolved in ¼ cup cool water
1 tablespoon fresh chives
1 tablespoon dried onion

Directions:
1. Heat milk to 90F and add culture. Cover and ripen for 45 minutes at 90F.
2. Add annatto. Stir in thoroughly.
3. Add calcium chloride. Stir in thoroughly.
4. Add rennet, stir for 1 minute.
5. Keep at 90F and let set for 45 to 90 min. until clean break.
6. Cut curds to ¼ inch cubes.
7. Keep at 90F for 20 min and occasionally gently stir curds to prevent matting.
8. Raise to 104F over 35 min. Stir often enough to prevent matting..
9. Keep at 104F for 30 min. Stir continuously while cooking to prevent matting.
10. Let cooked curds rest for 5 minutes.
11. Drain curds into cheesecloth lined colander.
12. Place colander in pot and cover to keep curds about 100F until whey is done draining.
13. Drain pot completely and move curds into pot. Stir gently to unmat curds.
14. Add chives and onions in multiple steps, stirring gently to mix evenly at each step.
15. Place curds in cheesecloth-lined mold and press at 10 pounds for 15 min.
16. Flip and rewrap and press at 30 pounds for 10 min.
17. Flip and rewrap and press at 40 pounds for 2 hours.
18. Flip and rewrap and press at 50 pounds for 24 hours.
19. Remove from press, wipe down with brine and let dry at room temp until dry and ready to wax.
20. Wax and age at 55F for 1 to 3 months. Turn daily for a couple weeks, then turn weekly.

This looks good- I’m trying it now! (I noticed there’s no amount mentioned for the mesophilic starter… I’m using an ounce for a gallon of milk and crossing my fingers.)
I’m pretty new to cheese making and this is my first post- I LOVE THIS FORUM- Thanks to all who contribute- you keep my tummy full of yummy.
-Bobbie

Use the typical amount needed to ripen this amount of milk similar to other cheddar type recipes. 4 Tablespoons of mother culture or 1/4 teaspoon of direct starter culture is what I use for 2 gallons milk. So I suggest whatever you use that is equivalent to that.

I’ve got several weeks to wait yet before seeing how mine turns out, I have high expectations.

Let us know how it turns out, and when mine is ready in a few eons I’ll check in about it too. The wait is deliciously excruciating.
-Bobbie

Hey there Mauibay-
Thought I’d check in with a photo of my Cotswold from your recipe. This was a just one gallon of milk, so it didn’t make the nice tower that yours is, and then there’s no anatto in it… that said, it smells like a little brick of heaven and I will also have a hard time waiting for it to ripen. Thanks for the recipe.
-Bobbie

wow, that looks like a nice little wheel! I know just how it smells, too.

WOO HOO!
Just ate my first Cotswold from this recipe- couldn’t wait any longer- I let it go just about two months and then dug in. Since this was my first (successful) aged cheese I was really curious and excited opening it. It was beautiful (sorry no pictures) and my very first thought biting into it was “Holy sh—this actually tastes like cheese!” And then it sunk in that it was not just cheese, but GOOD cheese. It does smell up the room as it’s drying, and that actually got me hooked right away to make more, resulting in three more wheels in the fridge as I type. This is a GREAT recipe. Thanks again.
Bobbie

Congratulations! Enjoy!

That truckle looks good! I’m going to give this one a go ... I don’t see a mention of salt ... is that taken for granted or does this recipe not require salting?

Salt is generally a given. Without a brining or salting, mold would set in quickly.

So I’m guessing it would go in with the onion powder/chives. Mauibay ... did you salt it?

I would give it a “salting to taste” when mixing the curds then a salt rub down/brining after pressing. maybe.

I made this yesterday, I hope it comes out well. I hate the waiting.

The Dutch webshops where I buy the stuff I need don’t have dried onions, but they do have a mix of dried onions and garlic. And I love it for my Cotswold. About the salt: First time I had the pressed cheeses in a normal brine for a couple of hours, the second time I used 2 spoons of salt for 20 liters of milk. First tasted delicious, second is still ripening (2.5 kilo). Sorry for the European measurements….

My recipe for Cotswold didn’t say to brine it, it had some salt in it. I think it had 2 gallons of milk so I tossed in 1 tbs cheese salt. I dried my onions in my dehydrator. Just chopped one up and dried it. I got dried chives from the store. The cheese was great. It goes good on a salad, or on a hamburger. Some people said that a melted cheese dip would be good, but I didn’t try it. I found a recipe on the internet for a toasted egg, ham, and cotswold sandwich that was good too.

I know I am commenting on old posts but not many new ones!  I just wonder about a fresh herb in an aged cheese, and how that would affect things.  I think I may try this with some garlic I am going to dry this weekend.  We grow fantastic garlic and I always have way more than we can use fresh so I dry it.  I added fresh diced garlic to a chevre I made and aged in olive oil, it was really good but not sure how long I would be able to keep it in the oil before it went bad.