Little Green Cheese

Cheese making at home with Gavin Webber the Cheeseman

Komijnekass Verdict

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Komijnekass (Cumin Cheese) was a cheese recipe that I kind of made up as I went along.  The base recipe was a farmhouse cheddar, whereby I added cumin and caraway seeds to during milling.  I made two identical wheels from this batch.

This was way back in late October last year, and I have had this cheese in the cheese fridge/cave maturing for about 3 ½ months.  I did intend on tasting it for Christmas, but time got away from me.  I only remembered that it was probably time to try this cheese when I turned all the cheeses in the cave today!  Better late than never.

So the komijnekass verdict.

De-waxing:  There was no additional whey when I opened the wax, and the outside was very moist.

Texture:  When I cut into it, I could tell that it was a little crumbly, but did not fall apart.  The seeds were evenly distributed throughout, which was a good sign.

Taste:  It had a sharp cheddar tang with nice soft cumin overtones that hit the palette after a few seconds.  You could really taste the cumin after a while which took over from the sharpness.

It was a very nice cheese, that also got a big thumbs up from my wife and son.  I vac-packed the rest after we demolished 1/8th with some crackers and wine!  I find that by vac-packing the cheese and storing it in the normal fridge at 4°C, stops the cheese from aging and it keeps for a long time with no problems at all.

For those who want to replicate this recipe, you can find it at the original post titled “Komijnekass“.  During maturation, I turned it every day for the first two weeks, then once a week after that.  I kept it at around 13°C in wax.

Bon Appetit!

Blue Cheese Update #4

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Another Blue Cheese update!

Today my wife and I cracked open the blue cheese that I made quite a while ago.  This series of posts describes the process and each update.  It was a bit of a mess when I wrapped it up a few months ago, but it looked quite nice today when I unwrapped it and cut out the first wedge.blue cheese update

Kim said, “This cheese is the best blue cheese she has ever tasted!”  Well I can certainly vouch for that.  It was divine.  There was a slight blue marbling throughout, and a little bit of red and white mould on the exterior which added to the flavour.  It was really a cross between a sharp brie and a soft blue.  We demolished half of it for supper because it was just so good.  It went well with a nice bottle of Merlot!

So it just goes to show that even in failure there is always something worth saving!  May I suggest that if you do have a blue cheese disaster, persevere with the remnants.  It will taste like heaven if kept wrapped for a few months in the normal refrigerator.

Has anyone else saved a blue cheese from disaster?

Blue Cheese Update #3

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Time for a blue cheese update.

I could wax lyrical about all the cheese that I have made that went according to plan, but I don’t think I have ever mentioned one that has gone terribly wrong!  This is one of those times.

If you have been reading my adventures  about a Blue cheese that I have been chronicalling, this is the final post in the Blue cheese adventure.

It started out looking kind of nice and something like this.  There was enough curds for two small and one rather large cheeses.

Over the course of the last few weeks, I totally neglected these cheeses.  They required turning every 4 days and humid conditions.  At the 30 day mark I was to scrape off the mould and it would have looked nice.

Anyway, because of the neglect, this is what they looked like on Monday night!

blue cheese rescue

The large one had mostly had a melt down, but was salvageable of sorts, but the two small ones had totally lost their form and were runny inside.  A bit like blue cheese Camembert I suppose.  As for the taste, well they were fantastic.  A great creamy blue cheese flavour.

This is what I managed to do with them.

Blue cheese rescue

I scraped all of the mould off of the large cheese, then wrapped it in cheese wrap and put it into the normal refrigerator to see what happens.  I could use it now, but it would be just good for spreading on crackers like a blue cream cheese.

blue cheese rescue

As for the two small ones, we stored them for a day in the fridge and turned them into a wonderful blue cheese sauce.

Kim cooked up some Penne pasta and lots of cauliflower, broccoli, carrot and corn, mixed it all together with the some rue which she added the cheese to make a blue cheese sauce and baked it in the oven.  The flavour was amazing and the meal was delicious.  Ben went back for seconds as did I!

If this is what is known as a disaster in the cheese world, then I am happy with it!  I love it when we learn from mistakes that can be turned around to something edible and yummy.  It just goes to show that cheese making is not all about recipes and following rules, it can be about serendipitous mistakes as well!

I will leave you with this cheesy quote of the day:

“People who know nothing about cheeses reel away from Camembert, Roquefort, and Stilton because the plebeian proboscis is not equipped to differentiate between the sordid and the sublime.” – Harvey Day

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