Little Green Cheese

Cheese making at home with Gavin Webber the Cheeseman

Romano Verdict

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I made a Romano cheese in January 2011, which has been aged for a 13 months in my little cheese fridge/cave.

This cheese was due to be taste tested in October 2011 after 10 months maturation, however as I have probably said a few times before, events got away from me.  It wasn’t until a request for an Alfredo pasta sauce that it prompted me to break the wax seal and try some of it.  Here it is devoid of its wax covering.

romano verdict

Romano verdict:  This cheese was made with Jersey milk, which is quite high in butterfat (4.0-4.2%), and I chose it specifically at the time because I was disappointed with normal “no name brand milk”, and I found that Jersey milk had improved the quality of my Caerphilly, so thought that it would help improve a Romano.  Let me tell you about it in my normal format:

De-waxing: No additional moisture under the wax.  The cheese had some fine white crystals over it, which is just hardened lipase.

Texture:  It cut well, with no crumbliness.  No holes or blemishes.  It grated very well.

Taste:  I tried it on a plain water cracker, and it had a full body and was very strong.  It was not as strong as some Parmesan that I have made, and it had a milder flavour.  If I remember correctly, it was very similar to the last Romano that I made, so I believe that my recipe is now tried and true.

I have another Romano in the cheese fridge that I made from raw milk, however that is not ready until December 2012 if I leave it to mature a full 12 months.  It is the cheese I made for my last video tutorial.

I highly recommend making this cheese for its delicious taste.  It is as easy as Parmesan to make, and just uses full cream milk instead of semi-skimmed.  Give it a go, but make sure you use good milk.

Poor Parmesan

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Cheese can be a funny thing.  Of late, I have made a few mistakes, which have come good in the end.  This example of a poorly executed Parmesan is no exception.

I was performing a cheese muster on the weekend to make sure that everything was okay in there after a bit of hot weather, and was curious about this cheese in particular.  Over time it had swollen and started to dry out, even though it had another month to mature.

poor parmesan

So without the benefit of a cheese trier, I had to cut this wheel in half.  I had a bit of a shock when I did open it, as it looked like an Emmental on steriods.  It was also very dry and hard to cut.

I did what any good cheesemaker would do, and decided to save the cheese by grating it.  Because it was so hard, it took just under an hour to grate just half of it, but it was definately worthwhile in the end.  The taste was not as strong as my normal parmesan would be, partly because of the dryness and lack of maturity.

To be frank, it was like a rock, and turned into very fine gratings.  The inside was a little more moist, however the outside just powered.  It reminds me of that underwhelming grated Parmesan that you can buy in the shops made by Kraft!  At least my version is made to the traditional recipe and not processed.

I have thought about why this poor Parmesan among many that I have made, turned into Mr Bloaty.  Here is the conclusion that I have come to;

a.  Not left in the brine long enough.
b.  Brine not salty enough, therefore allowing the culture to continue working
c.  The milk quality was not premium and was bog standard shop bought milk
d.  It was far to warm when drying at room temp for a few days.
e.  I oiled it instead of waxing it.

So these five factors contributed to an extremely hard and bloated Parmesan cheese.  It pays to buy good milk from a non-industrial source, and ensure that your brine is strong enough so that it retards additional, unwanted culture activity.

We all live and learn and at least I managed to save it.  It made the best Basil Pesto!

 

Farmhouse Pepper Blue

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Make no mistake, I must have a gift.  My cheese disasters seem to turn into fantastic creations!

Quite a while back in September 2011, I made two wheels of Farmhouse Cheddar with Peppercorns.  Kim and I opened one, shared half with friends and I wrapped the other half in cling wrap and put it into my big cheese box in the normal fridge at 4°C.  I sold the other wheel to one of Kim’s friends, who loved it.

To my surprise, when I opened the cheese box on Sunday, 5th Feb, the half was still in there.  It was now over 6 months old, and still in the plastic wrap.  However something wonderful happened.  Somewhere along the line, this cheese had become inoculated with penicillium roqueforti, and had grown blue mould.  It had turned into a Farmhouse Pepper Blue!

I believe that I did have some Stilton open in the same cheese box, so it must have passed the mould on.  I was a bit dubious at first, but had a smell, and it did not smell off, just blue.  So here is the verdict:
Farmhouse pepper blue

Texture:  Now I wasn’t sure how this cheese would taste, because when it was a Farmhouse cheddar it was sharp and very crumbly.  I didn’t know how far the mould had penetrated the cheese as I had not pieced any holes in it as I would when making a blue or Stilton.  The crumbliness had gone, which had developed into a rich creamy texture that was easy to cut.

Farmhouse Pepper Blue!

Development: Once I cut it in half, there was indeed some marbling in the top half.  As the Farmhouse cheddar had been so crumbly, there were air gaps and cracks in the top when I first put it into the fridge after de-waxing.  These gaps had helped the blue mould seep deep into the cheese, enhancing the flavour.

Taste: So then I had a taste.  OMG, it blew my mind.  This was a wonderful cheese.  The cheese was no longer sharp, but had a smooth creaminess to it, with a mild blue taste.  Then the pepper hits your palette to add to the complexity.

Farmhouse pepper blue

I have never tasted anything quite like it.  I am so pleased with this serendipitous discovery.  I wonder if I can make it again?  I might make it exactly the same, but spray it with some blue mould after two months normal maturation in the cheese fridge, wrap it up and store it in the normal fridge at 4°C for another four months.  I think I will pierce it a few times to help the mould develop inside just in case.

As I have said before, cheese making is more art than science.  What a fluke!

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