Anyone interested in a recipe for Epoisses?  Got it off a French website.

Sure that would be great Thanks!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Époisses_de_Bourgogne_(cheese)

Epoisses
6/12/7

2 gallons raw milk

30°C (86F)

¼ tsp Meso II
1/8 tsp geo

Ripen two to three hours

Add 4 drops rennet (in 2 oz H2O)

16-24 hours lactic ripening

Cut curds in 2in cubes.

Put into molds at pH 4.5

Drain 24-48 hours; flip 2x

Unmold at pH 4.3

Dry salt 1-2% (1 Tbl)

Spray with B linens, and/or put it in brine (raises pH to 5.5!)

Wash every two days for 6 weeks, first with brine, then with ever increasing amount of grappa diluted in water.

Note:  Alternatively, one could add 1/8 tsp B. lines to milk with starter & geotrichum.

Whats “geo”, geotrichum. Any idea if just regular Penicillum Candidum can be used or is their a large differance ?
What are u using for PH reading?

Thanks!

Hi,

“geo” is geotrichum.  Helps neutralize rind.  P. candidum is for camembert, B. linens is for washed rind (stinky) cheese.

I can hardly wait to try this!

Rick,

This cheese is an oddity in that it is a lactic curd washed rind cow;s milk cheese.  The body is crumbly friable at first.  That’s why you have to drain it so long—so it holds together.  Next time I’ll add the B. linens to the milk.  I made a large cheese as it does come in two formats though here one only finds the smaller size.  In France they wash it first in brine then with water mixed with marc de bourgogne, distilled grape pommace.  Grappa is the same idea.

I do a lot of cheese research on the web in other languages, so I have cobbled together recipes for other cheeses.

Good luck with it!  Epoisses is not only an interesting cheese—it almost disappeared in the middle of the last century—it is also extra yummy.

Has anyone made Epoisses? It’s a great cheese—nice and stinky!

I’d like to try making it and would welcome tips from those who have made this cheese. The recipe is kind of vague for me as my experience level is still in its infancy.

Hi Heathers,

I posted the original recipe and I’d be glad to clarify any vagueness.  This is a tricky cheese to make.  I have some in the works now.  I have discovered that one needs to dry the cheeses for three days to eliminate some moisture.  Otherwise, it can develop “slipskin” or “peau de crapaud” (toad skin!), which happens when the skin separates from the body of the cheese.  This is a washed rind cheese, like muenster or taleggio.  The b. linens bacteria gradually make the cheese get soft and creamy.  It also produces that pungent aroma.  This is a pretty acidic cheese since it ferments so long.  The geotrichum candidum helps lower the acidity so the b. linens can do its work.  All of these strange cheese cooties can be bought at Glengarry Cheesemaking, which has the best offering of such things.  They are also very nice and helpful. 

I am also making a similar cheese, Brie de Melun, which is a rustic cousin of the usual Brie.  It’s also a lactic curd cheese (acidic), very fragile, with the difference that it contains penicillum candidum instead of the b. linens.  So it gets that cool looking white bloomy rind (which makes this cheese soft and creamy).

Since you are just starting out, you might want to make something more straightforward.  Munster for a stinky cheese.  Or camembert for a bloomy rind cheese.  Camembert is fun because the white felt stuff starts appearing on day 5 or so and is complete after two weeks.  Two or three more weeks and it’s done.  The website cheesemaking.com has a photographic demonstration of how to make munster.

Good luck,

Mark

Hi Mark-

Lucky for me you’re still around the forum!

So far I’ve made Brie, Camembert, Goat Crottin and French Coloummier in addition to some harder cheeses so I think I might be ready to make the washed rind cheeses I love so much. I ordered some B. Linens a few days ago.

I don’t have a way to measure ph and have been relying on recipes with precise timing. What technique do you use to get the ph readings?

Heather

Hey by the way, Mark, I have experienced this slip skin effect but would like to know more about the toad skin effect. What does that look like (aside from looking like a toad ha ha). I have some soft cheeses and they have a wormy texture under a thin layer of white mold on mostly the sides. Is this toadskin?

Hi Heather,

I’m glad you’re only one Heather.  You don’t sound like a novice at all.

I use a pH meter.  It’s about $80.  You could rely on the times indicated in various recipes.  In Ricky Carroll’s book, by the way, she tells people to wax their muenster!  Munster isn’t an acidic cheese and it’s fairly easy to make.  I made it without the geotrichum and it turned out fine.  It can take up to 8 weeks.  I used the reblochon molds from Glengarry. 

Munster means church and this cheese was originally made by monks long ago, when they obviously didn’t have pH meters.

Mark

PS.  Isn’t this fun?

Well I can’t say yet if I’ve done any of these with success so the jury is still out. I’ve just made a lot of cheeses in a short period of time since I started my obsession at the end of December. I am only one Heather afterall.

And I suppose I will eventually buy a ph meter. I’m just trying to spread out my cheesemaking purchases. If you made Ricki’s Munster with success, maybe I’ll start with that one as my first washed-rind attempt. Waxing doesn’t make sense. I don’t remember seeing that step…did you wax?