Little Green Cheese

Cheese making at home with Gavin Webber the Cheeseman

LGC059 – Lactose Free Cheese

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During this week’s show, I answer questions from Leah Bear about using lactose-free milk in cheese making, issue further information about making lactose free cheese, and discuss why people are lactose intolerant.  Special thanks go to Carol Willman for contributing to this piece.

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OTHER QUESTIONS ANSWERED DURING THE SHOW WERE;

  • Bob asked about wax temperatures before waxing his cheese,
  • Santiago wants to know why his recent cheeses all have an acidic/ bland flavour,
  • Chuck is not sure when his Jarlsberg is ready and I give a tip about which season not to make this cheese,
  • Bill wants to know why his cheese is crumbly,
  • Dianne asks when to add dried apricot pieces into her White Stilton,
  • John has a plan to add unhomogenised skimmed milk and 38% cream together to make unhomogenised milk for cheese making,
  • Amanda inquires about the best way to smoke cheese.  For further reading on this, check out Smoking Your Cheese, and
  • John asked about the best way to defrost sheep milk for making a Pecorino Romano.

ASK A QUESTION FOR THE PODCAST

Don’t forget that you can leave a voicemail message that I will answer and feature on the show.  Just remember that I cannot answer them straight away, so please don’t expect an instant reply.

This podcast is sponsored by Little Green Workshops where you can pick up cheese making kits and supplies.  We stock a large range of cheese making gear and ship to Australia and most countries throughout of the world.lgw-email-headerUntil next time Curd Nerds, Keep Calm and Make Cheese!

What Does 2 Year Old Romano Taste Like? Let Me Tell You!

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Look what I found lurking at that back of the cheese fridge!  It is a 2 year old Romano that I made way back in 2011.
I cannot believe that I managed to keep from eating it for so long.  You will notice that I originally planned to age this for 10 months, but something must have gone wrong in the time-space continuum, and it got lost somewhere in that wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.
Dr Who references aside, this was the first cheese that I made with raw milk, playing it safe with the choice of cheese.  The milk I received from a friend, hoping that it would be the best cheese ever.  Well, I think I got pretty close.
So let’s have a look at this 2 year old Romano aged beauty, shall we?

The wax was intact, and no whey leakage as I removed it.

It was oily to touch, and quite hard.  At this stage I thought it might have completely dried out.

I cut it apart gently with two knives.  It had a few small holes in it, but nothing like the eyes of the swiss style cheeses that I have made previously.

The texture was oily and had a waxy feel to it.  It did smell incredible.  Not as strong as an aged Parmesan, but still quite pungent.  The centre still had moisture to it, but I could only press my fingernail into the cheese.  Slightly hard.

It was difficult to cut slices from, so to keep all of my fingers intact, I decided to shave some off using a vegetable peeler.

This method worked very well, and I created some quite amazing shavings.  I vacuum packed a one half and shaved the other.

But what about the flavour?

Well, it was simply amazing!  Sharp tasting, that lingered on the palette afterwards.  Blown away by this cheese and how incredible it is (was).  It just goes to show how patience, a long maturation period, and great ingredients can all come together and make something truly wonderful.It really compliments pasta dishes, and is particularly excellent on homemade spaghetti and meatballs.

I think I need to make some more Romano.

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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