Rick's Ramblings

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

More on Cheese

I haven’t posted an update to this site in a very long time. No news, I guess…

But, I want to update you on my cheese making progress.

The Farmhouse Cheddar cheese is quite good. Especially after it had some time to age after breaking the wax mold around it. It has become somewhat sharp and has a great flavor. I’m going to make more this weekend.

And, I’ve made many other cheeses that I am anxious to try. Click “more” for the details.

Since making the Farmhouse Cheddar, I’ve also made: traditional Cheddar, Gouda, Swiss cheese, and fresh goat cheese.

The traditional cheddar is made in a more traditional method. I’m going to let it age for 6 months or so before eating it. It is in a fridge in the basement, waxed, and aging nicely. There is some mold growing under the wax, I’m not sure why, but I can cut it off easily once I break into the cheese.

When Lynne and I lived in Holland, one of the great cheese discoveries we had was “overjaarige” Gouda. I might have spelled that wrong—never was much good at Dutch! Anyway, it meant “overaged cheese”. It was traditional Dutch Gouda cheese (pronounced “howda”, by the way), that had been aged until it was quite dry and crumbly. It was also somewhat salty. It was the best cheese ever.

So, I plan on saving and aging the Gouda cheese I just made for a long time before eating it.

And, I’ve made a traditional Swiss cheese. It is a complex recipe and did not come together quite right. However, after pressing it, it looks good and smells good. It is in the fridge downstairs now and comes up to the warmer kitchen next week. There, it is supposed to “expand” taking on the well-known Swiss cheese holes as it ages and ferments. Then, back to the fridge to age for a while. We’ll see!

This past weekend I made four nice fresh goat cheese rounds from 2 quarts of goat milk. I’ve sprinkled some herbs on one and fresh ground pepper on the other. The other two are still just plain goat cheese.

Tonight we tasted them, and they are great! The flavor is mild. I really like the one that has the herbs on it. The consistency is creamy and moist. Yum!

Well, that is it for the current cheese making saga. I’ll keep you updated.

Comments:

1. This past weekend was a biggie for cheese around the house. We were at home all weekend and I made three new batches of cheese—another Farmhouse Cheddar, a Montsario (an Italian cheese made by Monks that can be eaten soft as a table cheese, or allowed to harden into a grating cheese) , and some fresh goat cheese. At the same time, I’m turning and washing the Swiss cheese and the Gouda cheese I made a couple of weeks ago.

   Lynne said the kitchen looked like a “cheese factory”. It will be great, many months from now, when all these cheese are ready to eat!

   Posted by Rick  on  12/08/2003  at  11:01 AM

2. I can now add a Parmesan cheese to my collection. I made a round this past weekend, but it needs to age for 10-11 months before I can eat it!

   Posted by Rick  on  12/15/2003  at  03:21 PM

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