Last weekend, I made two Caerphilly cheeses, and the week before that, I made the biggest Parmesan that I have ever made.
The only problem I have is that it has been so cold here of late, that the cheese will not dry and form a rind. The Caerphilly above, which are the two wheels at the front, have been sitting at room temperature for 7 days, and have only formed a slight rind on the edges. Because they have been moist, I have had to wash with brine to inhibit mould growth.
Not so bad though for the Parmesan at the back. Because it is a brine dipped cheese, the rind forms really easily, with minimal mould formation. I will wax it this week, as I find this helps it from drying out. As for the Caerphilly, I will wait for the rind, and then put them in the cheese cave for a few more weeks before vacuum packing them to stop them from aging further.
Today, because it was raining heavily and I couldn’t do much outside, I decided to make another big Parmesan. It took me about 4 hours from milk to press (as shown above), and tomorrow I will brine it for 24 hours. In ten months it will taste absolutely delicious!
This morning, Kim found some Feta in the fridge that I had made about 3 months ago, still in the brine and looking very healthy. I tried a little and found it to be sharp, very edible, with a crumbly texture to the cut, but when spread on toast it was smooth and creamy and delicious. I remember following my standard recipe for this one, and it just goes to show that if kept submerged in brine in a sealed container, Feta can last for a long time. Now that we have discovered this, I think I will age all of my Feta for this long!
