Making Komijnekaas

Komijnekaas or translated Cumin Cheese, is very popular in the Netherlands where this type of cheese was first made.

Normally it is made with semi-skimmed milk with 5% buttermilk added to it, as well as the obvious cumin seeds.  So without being too fancy, I decided to make my own variety of komijnekaas using my basic farmhouse cheddar recipe as the base.

Usually the Dutch use Gouda as the base for this cheese, but from experience, my Gouda does not taste very nice, so I went with a cheese that I knew was very easy to make and tasty.

I made the cheese as normal in my 14 litre pot with 13.7 litres of milk.  As I was heating up the milk to 33°C, I added 5 ml of calcium chloride mixed with half a cup of water.  This was because I was using homogenised milk.

In a smaller saucepan I bought 1 tablespoon of cumin seeds and 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds to the boil in ¾ cup of water.  Once boiling, I simmered for 15 minutes, then strained the seeds and kept the water.  When the milk reached the target temp of 33°C, I added the cumin water which was a nice yellow/brown colour.

I then proceed to make the cheese as normal until milling.  After the 2 tablespoons salt was added to the milled cheese, I added the cumin/caraway seeds and mixed well, then pressed as per my normal recipe into two 1 kg moulds.

This is what it looks like now that it is out of the mould and air drying for the next week.

As I have mentioned before, herbs and spices can add such a different perspective to an ordinary cheese and turn it into something extraordinary!

I am so looking forward to tasting my creation in two months time.