Little Green Cheese

Cheese making at home with Gavin Webber the Cheeseman

LGC 003 – Cheese Making Basics

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This week, in the absence of an interview, I talk about cheese making basics. I step you through how cheese is formed and what properties within the milk assist it into separated curds and whey. I also talk about cultures, rennet and salt.

The News of the week came from this link in the Scotsman.com; http://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-news/top-stories/harrods-snaps-up-mum-s-home-kits-for-making-cheese-1-2924733. Well done to Ailsa and her future endeavours.

cheese making basics

The Cheese of the episode is Colby. I describe how this unique washed curd cheese is coloured with Annatto, and how many commercial cheeses are dyed with this food colouring.

There are many listener questions which cover topics such as Lactose free soft cheese, a swollen parmesan, sour farmhouse cheddar, and a correction to the quick mozzarella recipe. Keep sending them in, as I love reading them on air.

Thanks for to the many listeners for subscribing. It would be a great favour and help raise the profile of the show if you could leave a comment/review and rate the show within the iTunes store. In this way, more home cheese makers will become aware of this free resource.

Until next episode curd nerds!

Unwanted Moulds on Cheese

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I received this email yesterday about unwanted moulds on cheese which I thought would interest the wider curd nerd community.

Here is the email from Aida.

Dear Gavin,

I need your advice asap! I just made Havarti cheese 10 days ago, it is in the
cheese cave ( adapted freezer unit ), yesterday I noticed reddish, maybe pink or
orange at the top of the cheese, it is minimal and faint, the rind is a bit
oily,anyway I wiped it with vinegar salt solution, it is probably in a humid
atmosphere, maybe that’s what caused to color, but I am so concerned, because I
saw the same discoloration again today…is this dangerous and should I throw
cheese away?

Please advise asap, this problematic cheese is still in the cave
with other cheeses, will it infect other cheeses? or is this faint discoloration
normal, how do I know if it’s a mold or bacteria …dangerous or not?
thanks
Aida

Well Aida, I am sure this is a question that many new cheese makers need to ask, because we are taught from early on in life that moulds are bad things.  Sometimes that is just not correct.  Moulds are sometimes good things, especially on cheese.

The good news is that I believe that the mould you have on your Havarti is a red mould called Brevibacterium Linens which is found on Limburger, Brick, and Muenster washed rind cheeses..  However without a photograph I cannot be sure.

unwanted moulds on cheese
Caerphilly displaying green/blue and orange moulds.  Totally edible, and delicious.

So before you go throwing away your cheese, lets list the types of unwanted moulds that I have experienced in my cheese making adventures;

  • Black moulds that look like cats hair
  • Red moulds on heavily salted cheeses
  • Orange moulds
  • Green/blue moulds similar to P. Roqueforti, and
  • Brown moulds

I wouldn’t exactly say these are harmful in small doses, they just need to be treated correctly.

You need to ask yourself why the moulds grew in the first place.  Did you observe proper sterilisation techniques at the start of the process?  Is there cross contamination between cheese types (use a ripening box for mould ripened cheeses).  Did you use enough salt?  Was the cheese dry before aging?

Once you determine the cause, then you can take action.  For a soft cheese, you can save your cheese by carefully cutting off a slice of the offending area, rubbing salt into the wound, and hope it goes away.  For hard cheeses, brine and vinegar as you have already tried, or try cutting off the affected area, re-salt, then letting air dry again before putting back into the cheese fridge/cave.

All that said and done, a small unwanted mould will not destroy your cheese, and may even add flavour.  The only real bad one to avoid is the black moulds which should be treated immediately.  Not because it is really harmful, but because it leaves a terrible taste in the cheese.

Moulds have not killed me, and I am still alive. I have had all sorts of unique, but friendly moulds in my cheese cave at various times!  Just make sure you sanitize well, and clean out your cheese cave with a vinegar spray every few months if you want to stop the moulds from taking up house in your aging area.

Hopefully that has cleared up any misconceptions about cheese moulds.

Flocculation Method For Better Curd

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Yesterday, I mentioned flocculation for better curd.  David over in Manitoba, Canada picked up on this, and asked me to expand.  By the way, David was recently featured on the New England Cheesemaking Co. blog.  You can read all about him at this link.  Well done mate.

Anyway, let me explain the flocculation method which is a better method for curd set.

The times given in most cheese recipes are great for beginners and experienced home cheese makers alike.  You can check for curd set by the tried and true “Clean Break” method, however there is a better whey to determine curd set for your cheese.

The flocculation method for better curd is a way to test the point of coagulation after adding the rennet to your milk.  Using a factor (determined by the type of cheese you are making, you multiply the time taken for the flocculation point to help you predict the best time for curd set.

So here is the process.

  1. Add your rennet when the recipe states.  Start a timer so you know how many minutes have elapsed.
  2. Leave the milk for five minutes, then take a sterilised small plastic bowl and place it on the surface. It should float.
  3. Then spin the bowl gently, whereby it should rotate freely.  Do this every minute or two.
  4. You should notice that at around the 8 minute mark you may find slight resistance from the milk, test by spinning every 30 seconds.
  5. Between 10 and 15 minutes, the bowl should become ‘stuck’, indicating that the curd mass has formed.  This is the flocculation point.  It may take longer, so don’t panic.  Keep testing till the curds set.
  6. Once set, don’t try to spin the bowl any more, just remove it gently and note the time elapsed.

Watch what I mean in this video.

Now you have to multiply a factor by the total time it took for the curd mass to set by a figure listed in the table below. (Source: Cheese Forum Wiki)

Cheese type
Factor
Swiss & Alpine types, Parmesan, Romano2-2.5
Cow’s milk Cheddar2.5-3
Monterey jack, Caerphilly3.5
Feta & Blues4
Camembert & Brie5-6

The factor (normally between 2 and 6) is multiplied by the time it took to reach flocculation point, giving you the time to cut the curd.

So if flocculation time is, for example, 15 minutes, then for Parmesan, total time since adding rennet to when cut is 37 and a half minutes.  This is the optimum time to cut the curd for the type of cheese you are making.

The Cheese Forum states;

“The reason for the different multipliers for different cheese type recipes is because the curd at time of cutting will have different strength, young curd set will more readily release water when cut versus older curd set will release less.”

So as I mentioned in my previous post;

A soft cheese usually has a higher flocculation time, and a larger curd cut, keeping more moisture in the cheese.

A hard cheese on the other hand has a lower flocculation time, and a smaller curd cut, releasing more whey for a firmer, drier cheese.

I hope this explains the flocculation method in more detail.  I tried this method during the last Caerphilly that I made, and I did notice an improvement in the curd structure during stirring.

Try it out on the next batch of cheese you make.  I would be interested in your results.

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