Little Green Cheese

Cheese making at home with Gavin Webber the Cheeseman

How to Make English Coulommiers

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The English Coulommiers is a fresh, soft and spreadable cheese that unlike its French cousin, is not mould ripened.

In this recipe, you can substitute in Aromatic Mesophilic in lieu of Mesophilic to achieve a more buttery texture. It only matures for 2 days in the fridge to achieve the desired flavour. Use within 2 weeks.

 

English Coulimmers (aka English Farmhouse Cheese)

INGREDIENTS

EQUIPMENT

METHOD

ADDING INGREDIENTS

  1. Sanitise all of your equipment.
  2. Heat milk to 32°C/90°F. Turn off heat.
  3. Sprinkle Mesophilic starter culture over the surface of the milk and allow to rehydrate for 5 minutes. Stir culture through milk using an up and down motion for 1 minute.
  4. Add Calcium Chloride and mix thoroughly.
  5. Add Rennet solution and stir for 1 minute. Cover and allow to set for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
  6. Check for a clean break. If necessary, wait another 10-15 minutes then test again.

CUTTING THE CURD

  1. Cut the curd into large vertical squares.  Move pot over to draining area.

PRESSING AND Salting THE CHEESE

  1. Using Skimmer or Ladle, place thin slices of the curd into the 6 moulds or hoops.  This may take up to 6 hours, but don’t be tempted to add more hoops.  The curd will fit.
  2. Once filled, let drain for 12 hours.  Flip each cheese top to bottom and allow to drain for another 12 hours.
  3. Unmould each cheese and sprinkle ½ teaspoon of cheese salt on the top and bottom surface of each cheese.

AIR DRYING AND MATURATION

  1. Place each cheese on a cheese mat in the ripening box and ripen for 2 days at 4°C/42°F and 80-90% humidity.  The kitchen fridge will be fine for this cheese.
  2. Drain any collected whey daily and wipe the box dry with paper towel.
  3. Eat and enjoy!  You can wrap each cheese in foil to store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Coulommiers is French for columns, and the regular mould is two stainless steel hoops with the top hoop fitting into the bottom one, standing 15.25 cm (6 inches) tall and 10cm (4 inches) wide. They are filled with curd and once it sinks below the level of the top hoop, it is removed and the bottom hoop is flipped.

As you can see, I substituted Camembert hoops/baskets, which were perfectly fine for this cheese, with a bit more patience for refilling every hour for six hours until all the curd was used.

Camembert Kit
Camembert Kit

If you are interested in making this cheese, I recommend our Camembert Kit (plus two more moulds).  You will then have enough equipment and ingredients to make this cheese.  The added bonus is that once you’ve made this simple cheese, you can then advance to making Camembert which has a similar process!

How to Make Cheddar Cheese – Traditional Method

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Cheddar cheese, the most widely purchased and eaten cheese in the world, is always made from cow’s milk.

It is a hard and natural cheese that has a slightly crumbly texture if properly cured and if it is too young, the texture is smooth.  It gets a sharper taste as it matures, over a period of time between 9 to 24 months.

Shaped like a drum, 15 inches in diameter, Cheddar cheese is natural rind bound in cloth while its colour generally ranges from white to pale yellow. However, some Cheddars may have a manually added yellow-orange colour (like mine).

Cheddar Cheese

Makes about 1 kg of cheese

Ingredients

Equipment

Method

Adding Ingredients

  1. Sanitise all equipment.
  2. Warm your milk to 31°C (88°F), stirring gently whilst bringing up to temperature.  Turn off the heat.
  3. Sprinkle culture over the surface of the milk and allow to rehydrate for 5 minutes.  Stir thoroughly in an up and down motion without breaking the surface of the milk.  Cover and allow to rest for 40 minutes at the target temperature.
  4. Add the Annatto solution and mix well.
  5. Add the Calcium Chloride solution and mix well.
  6. Add the rennet solution to the milk and mix thoroughly using the same up and down motion for no more than 2 minutes.  Cover and allow to set for 40 minutes.
  7. Check for a clean break.  If necessary, leave for another 10 minutes then check again.

CUTTING THE CURD

  1. Check for a clean break and cut the curds into 1.25 cm (½ inch) cubes.
  2. Rest for 5 minutes to allow curds to heal.
  3. Return to a low heat and gradually raise the temp to 39°C (102°F), stirring gently and continuously, during the period of 45 minutes.  Don’t heat too fast.  This slow process allows more whey to be expelled and avoids bitterness in the fully aged cheese.
  4. Once the target temperature is reached, turn off the heat.  Let the curds rest for 40 minutes maintaining the temp at 39°C (102°F) .

Cheddaring, Milling, and PRESSING

  1. Drain curds and whey through cheesecloth lined colander.  Return the curd slab back to the pot for cheddaring, place pot back into the double boiler to keep the curd slab at 39°C (102°F).
  2. Cut the slab in half and cover pot and allow curds to stand for 10 minutes.
  3. After 1o minutes, turn each slab over.  Let stand for another 10 minutes.
  4. After 1o minutes, turn each slab over.  Let stand for another 10 minutes.
  5. After 1o minutes, turn each slab over.  Let stand for another 15 minutes.  That’s 45 minutes cheddaring time in total.
  6. Drain the two slabs through cheesecloth lined colander, then place the slabs onto a chopping board.
  7. Cut the curd into 5 by 1.25 cm (2 by ½ inch) fingers.
  8. Using your pot as a container, break each finger in half and then toss the salt through the curds.  This is called Milling
  9. Line a 165 mm cheese mould with cheesecloth and fill with the curds.  Cover the curds with the corner of the cheese cloth, top with a follower, and press at 11 kg (24 lbs) for 1 hour.
  10. Remove the cheese from the press, and slowly and carefully unwrap it.  Turn the cheese over, rewrap it in the cloth and press at 22 kg (50 lb) for 12 hours.

AIR DRYING AND WAXING

  1. Then place on a cheese mat and board and let air dry at room temperature until it is dry to touch (usually 2-5 days).  Turn twice daily to allow for even drying.
  2. Cloth band or wax the cheese and allow it to age for 3 months for mild, 6 months for Tasty, 12+ months for Vintage Cheddar.  Ripen in a humid cheese fridge at 10-12ºC (50-54ºF) at 80-85% humidity.  Don’t forget to turn weekly, to allow for even distribution of the fats and flavour.

I have tasted this cheese at 3 months and it is quite mild.  I recommend that this Cheddar Cheese is aged for 6 months or more for a sharper flavour.

If you are interested in making Cheddar cheese at home, I highly recommend the Hard Cheese Kit, as it contains most things you need to make this cheese.

Little Green Workshops

Making Jarlsberg Cheese at Home

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Jarlsberg cheese is a mild, semi-soft cow’s milk cheese of Norwegian origin. It resembles a Swiss Emmental with distinctive, open and irregular ‘eyes’ although it tends to be sweeter and stronger than Emmentaler.

Jarlsberg is a semi-firm yellow interior that is buttery, rich in texture with a mild, nutty flavour.

I found Jarlsberg quite easy to make, and the hardest part is waiting the 8 weeks for it to mature.

 

Jarlsberg Cheese

Makes about 1.1 kg of Jarlsberg

Ingredients

Equipment

Mould – 165mm cheese mould

METHOD

Adding Ingredients

  1. Sanitise all equipment.
  2. Warm your milk to 33°C (92°F), stirring gently whilst bringing up to temperature.  Turn off the heat.
  3. Sprinkle culture and P. Shermanii over the surface of the milk and allow to rehydrate for 3 minutes.  Stir thoroughly in an up and down motion without breaking the surface of the milk.  Cover and allow to rest for 30 minutes at the target temperature.
  4. Add the Calcium Chloride solution and mix well.
  5. Add the rennet solution to the milk and mix thoroughly using the same up and down motion for no more than 2 minutes.  Cover and allow to set for 45 minutes.
  6. Check for a clean break.  If necessary, leave for another 5 minutes then check again.

Cutting and Washing the curd

  1. Using a balloon whisk in an up and down motion, cut curd into 0.75 cm (¼ inch) cubes.  When the curd is cut, continue stirring for 2o minutes.  Let stand for 5 minutes.
  2. Drain off the whey to expose the curds.  I use a sieve and ladle to ensure that I only drain out the whey.
  3. Replace the whey with an equal amount of warm water (about 60°C (140°F) to the original level of the whey to bring the curd temperature up to 38°C (100°F).
  4. Turn on heat to low to gently warm the curds to 42°C/108°F over a period of 30 minutes, whilst stirring continuously.

Draining and Pressing

  1. Let the curds settle and begin to mat together.  Drain off into a cheesecloth lined colander allow to drain for 1 minute.  Bundle up the curd filled cheesecloth and transfer to your cheese mould.  Fold the cheesecloth over the top and put the follower on top.
  2. Place the mould in the cheese press and press at 11 kg (24 lbs) for 30 minutes.
  3. Remove the cheese and re-wrap in cheesecloth and place it back in the cheese mould.  Cover with the excess cheesecloth and replace the follower.  Press at 22.5 kg (50 lbs) for 8 hours.
  4. Release from cheese press, turn and re-wrap in cheesecloth and press as before at 22.5 kg (50 lbs) for 8 hours.

Brining

  1. Remove cheese from the cheese press and unwrap.  Place in the saturated brine solution for 12 hours, turning over once at 6 hours.
  2. Remove from the brine and let air dry on a cheese mat at room temperature for 2-3 days.  Turn a couple of times daily until touch dry.

Affinage (aka Maturing)

  1. Coat the cheese in 2 layers of cheese wax.  Ripen at 10°C (50°F) and 85% humidity, for two weeks, turning daily for even ripening.
  2. After two weeks, continue ripening cheese at 18°C/65°F for 4 to 6 weeks, turning the wheel twice weekly.
  3. You will notice the cheese begins to swell at the 4-week mark.  If wax splits, then re-wax to avoid drying until fully matured.
  4. The Jarlsberg cheese is now ready to eat and should have fully formed eyes.

Jarlsberg Cheese

You can pick up supplies for Jarlsberg cheese at our shop https://www.littlegreenworkshops.com.au. I recommend the Italian Cheese Kit with the addition of Propionic Shermanii, as it contains most cultures, supplies, and equipment you’ll need to make this cheese.

Little Green Workshops

Little Green Workshops