Friday, December 4, 2009

Cheese


It seems like it has been years since I have had the time to make a good hard cheese. Summer for us is so crazy and this fall I was recovering form the summer and just did not feel like making cheese. I was really missing cheese making so yesterday I dusted off the cheese pot and got to work. I had to find my cheese stuff... it had been at least a year since I made cheese. I was worried about the rennet not being good but it seemed to work just fine. I found my trusty recipe and by lunchtime I was snacking on warm cheese curd. I got the curd in the press and this morning I was anxious to see how things had gone. The cheese looks great. Now we let it air dry for a day or two. After it is nice and dry I will wax it and put in the cheese fridge to age for three months. I bought a special gadget that keeps a fridge at just the right temperature to ripen cheese perfectly.
When we first started milking I would make cheese every week I learned a ton and made some really great cheese and some that lets say should be in a 1950's horror movie called "THE CHEESE THAT WENT BAD". I can just see women running with baby buggies screaming from a giant blob of stinky moldy cheese. I hope that my return to cheese making is rewarded with a beautiful creamy yummy Gouda.. only time will tell!

1 comment:

Jeannette said...

Ah cheese...a favorite food I am not eating right now but it makes so much sense to me that someone who has done the work to get the milk and make the cheese...can physically "afford" to also eat it. Hope it is great and that you enjoy it fully!
Eat a little nibble for me, please.