Little Green Cheese

Cheese making at home with Gavin Webber the Cheeseman

Vintage Farmhouse Cheddar

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Farmhouse Cheddar is a really simple hard cheese to make.  The recipe that I use can be found at my farmhouse cheddar post that includes a video tutorial.

Anyway, I had this round of Vintage Farmhouse Cheddar hiding in the back of the cheese fridge, which I made under a year ago.

vintage farmhouse cheddar

It was made on 16th September 2011, so technically it is 11 months old, which I class as Vintage for a cheddar.  Some may categorise it as Sharp.  It looked like there was a slight seepage at some stage, however I found the wax intact so it must have come from a cheese stored above it as some stage of its maturation.  There was no excess whey present under the wax when I removed it, however the surface was just touch dry.

vintage farmhouse cheddar

As with all Farmhouse Cheddar, it was semi-moist, and slightly crumbly.  Easy to cut, with a mild yellowing of the cheese.

The taste was outstanding.  Sharp like a true vintage cheddar, with the peppercorns adding to its boldness.

Normally I do not leave my cheddar this long to mature, but as I made two rounds with the same batch of milk, it was easy to leave one mature for longer.

All in all, a fantastic cheese that improves with aging.  I will certainly be making a double batch of this one in the near future so I can eat one at the three-month stage, and leave the other to acquire vintage status!

A Bit Like Feta

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Feta style cheese is so easy to make, and only needs 4 litres of milk instead of the normal 8 that I use for a harder type cheese.  I can’t really call it Feta, so lets go with a bit like Feta.

With minimal stirring after cutting the curd, and a pressing of only 4 hours, what is not to like about this cheese.  Here is a batch that I made last week.

bit like feta

I don’t use a normal press, with this two litre milk bottle filled with water serving as the weight.  It doesn’t need much pressure to form the block.  The curds starts off in both moulds, then at the two hour mark, they have shrunk enough for me to squish them together in a single mould forming one block.  If you look closely you can see the join line.

Once pressed, I make up a strong brine by adding half a cup of salt to two litres of the leftover whey, and a quarter of a cup of white vinegar.  This was the first time that I had used the whey as the base for the brine, and found that it worked very well and it improved the final flavour of the cheese.

I let is soak in the brine for two days before cutting it in half, and storing it in two smaller containers that fit in the fridge.  I use the same brine to keep the divided cheese moist.

The finished product is a firm, crumbly, yet creamy feta that can be stored for at least 6 months in this manner.  It is great crumbled on top of pizza or cubed into a Greek salad with lots of home preserved black olives!

It is just so simple to make and took me 3 hours from start to press, then about 15 minutes with the brine and putting it in the fridge to mature.  If you want the full recipe, check out this post titled “Feta – Video tutorial“.

Enjoy this cheese that’s a bit like Feta 🙂

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.

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