Monday, January 30, 2012

Blessed are the Cheesemakers - making Camembert in the comfort of your own home

Here is the idiots guide to making cheese (and superb cheese at that).    I get all my bits and pieces from http://www.oldmcdonald.ie/ .  They are not cheap and my experience of the delivery was very poor so just give yourself plenty of time - I might have caught them on a bad day.



It is VERY difficult to get unpasteurised milk in Ireland (yup). I had to make an 80 mile round trip to get quality raw, Jersey milk. It was incredible though. I stole a glass for my porridge and it was like pure cream.


Warm it up slowly.


When it gets to 31degrees add a litre of pretty ripe buttermilk (left overnight in a warm room with the top off). Also add penecillan candidum (spelling?). Leave for an hour.  Add a few drops of rennet and leave for another hour.


Chop it up and separate the curds from whey. Ladle the curds into moulds - these are bottomless rings of plastic with holes drilled in them so any remaining whey should drain away.



After an hour or more it settles and flattens.



I have, rather pretentiously, changed the name of the utility room to 'the dairy'.



You must turn it every hour for the next 8 hours but I was going out so I only did it for 6. It'll be grand.
Look at how much it has condensed already.



The following morning I popped them out of their moulds and covered both sides with sea salt.


Not a lot of cheese for 2 gallons of milk.



Its a waiting game from now on really.  There is not a lot to do for the next three months but keep an eye on it and turn it occasionally

By the way, the place does begin to pong a bit (I like it) so you might want to take this into consideration when you are considering where to store it.

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