Little Green Cheese

Cheese making at home with Gavin Webber the Cheeseman

Reader Question – Parmesan Recipe

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I received an interesting comment on my Greening of Gavin blog today about my Parmesan recipe.

Marianne asks;

Hi Gavin,
Did you realize the youtube video is different to your recipe. I have tried it both ways and the video is the best using light milk, I am though having a problem with the rennet after 45 min it’s still not set, any suggestions?

Well, interesting observation and question.  I watched the youtube video with the recipe in hand, and noticed that yes the milk quantities were different in the video, however the resulting milk fat content is the same.  When making Parmesan style cheese, you are looking for a fat content of around 2 to 2.5%.

I have experienced this problem of no curd set before with poor quality milk. Sometimes milk is
ultra heat treated which affects the structure of the caesin which even with the addition of calcium chloride will still not set. Find a really good source of non-homogenised milk and the 2.5ml of rennet should work better.

Liquid Vegetable Rennet

Additionally, I have just changed the recipe in each version of the ebook to reflect 1/2 teaspoon so the US measurement dosage is slightly higher. Those people who were using 2.5 ml will be fine.  This is to allow for dubious quality some commercially produced milk.   I am sorry if this has caused angst during anyones cheese making session.  Just remember though, try and source the best quality milk possible that has not been heat treated other than normal pasteurization.

If anyone with an older PDF version would like a newer version, please send me an email with proof of purchase and I will gladly send a coupon code so you can download a replacement free of charge via my shopping cart.  If you purchased via Smashwords, you will be able to download the updated version right now without additional cost.

Sincerely,

Gavin

Parmesan Technique

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Cheese making can be daunting and confusing when you first start out.  I know that it was for me, but I found that by taking a basic cheese making course before I made any type of cheese really helped me learn enough to get started in this hobby.

I realise that many people do not have the opportunity to attend a class, so this is the main reason why I offer to answer readers questions as best I can.

Today’s question comes from Nadim in the UK, who has lots of questions about starting out on his cheese making journey, mainly about Parmesan technique.

Hi Gavin

I am Nadim from UK, I recently seen your web blog and it is extremely help for home-made cheese maker, I am a fan of cheese but when tried at home cheese making, but after looking at your blog, you have now inspired me to make it at home!, I want to try either with parmesan or cheddar, but I am stuck with few question, if you please could help me with this then I shall highly appreciate.

As this shall be my first time so i was thinking if it is possible I make cheese in small wheel, probably 300 g – 500 g..? or it has to be in minimum 1 kg wheel..?

I am currently living in share house, so i wont be able to buy wine fridge, do you think if I can store cheese in wooden box in my balcony for aging ..? or any other recommendation ..? I have read somewhere that normal kitchen fridge would not be suitable due to its lower temperature,bacteria contamination and moisture..

Also could you please tell me what would be minimum best time to try the cheese..? 9 months is bit long time, not sure if I would be patient enough to wait this long after making my first cheese!!

last but important, do I need to rotate and wipe out cheese every week even after waxing.? what if I wax it after removing from brine water and drying out..?

looking forward to hear from you soon. thanks

Nadim

Good questions Nadim.  I will answer your questions in respect to making Parmesan cheese.

The wheel on the left is a 3 week old Parmesan before waxing.  The other is a Caerphilly.

 

Recipe size – If making parmesan, I would stick to using the full 8 litres of milk that the recipe asks for.  The cheese does shrink quite a bit, so you end up with about a 800 gm wheel of cheese at the end.

Maturation Temperature – It doesn’t really matter how you keep your cheese at 13°C as long as you can maintain it over the long aging period of 9 months minimum.  Some people use basements, some use insulated boxes, some just use a cupboard lined with greaseproof paper.  It doesn’t matter  how, as long as you keep the cheese at the target temperature.

Aging time – For a 1 kg wheel of Parmesan, the minimum time before trying would be 9 months.  The longer the better really.  In the last week, I tried a two-year-old Parmesan, and it was extremely tasty, much better than one aged for only a year.  If you want to make a cheese that is full of flavour and has a short maturation time, try a Caerphilly.  I highly recommend this semi-hard cheese for beginners, which is very tasty.

Waxing – If you do decide to make Parmesan, then for this sized wheel I highly recommend that you wax the cheese after 3 weeks of aging.  Normal wheels of Parmigiano Reggiano weigh about 38 kg when fully mature and are able to maintain their moisture content.  For a much smaller wheel like the one in my recipe, you need to wax the cheese so that it does not dry out whilst aging.

During the initial 3 weeks without the wax, wipe the surface with a brine solution daily to prevent/inhibit mould growth.  The cheese needs this 3 week period without wax to dry out a little, otherwise if you wax it straight after brining and air drying, it would be far too moist and whey will collect between the cheese and the wax, ruining the flavour of the Parmesan.  After waxing you do not need to do this as the wax coating prevents oxygen from reaching the cheese which does not allow the mould to develop.

Summary – Hopefully this post has been informative to all beginners as they take their first steps towards milk’s immortal!

For all readers, let me know via a comment if you would like more of these types of post.  I would love some feedback, good or otherwise.

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!

 

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