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Small Blue Cheese (Petit Bleu)

21/02/2016 By Gavin Webber 4 Comments

Want to make a small blue cheese in less than 40 days?  Easy!  Make it small or as the French say Petit Bleu.

This cheese uses aromatic mesophilic (aka Flora Danica) and Penicillium Roqueforti to create a delicious, quick to ripen, small blue cheese.

small blue cheese after scraping off mould

I’ve made a video tutorial to help guide you through the process.  It took 40 days to make, as I filmed every step that I took so that you can replicate this cheese at home.

 

So to help out even further, here is the written recipe.

Small Blue Cheese (Petit Bleu)

Ingredients

  • 4 litres (~1 gal) full cream milk
  • ¼th tsp Calcium Chloride diluted in 1/4 cup non-chlorinated water
  • 1/8th tsp Aromatic Mesophilic (Flora Danica)
  • 1/8th tsp Penicillium Roqueforti
  • ¼th tsp Liquid Rennet (190 IMCU/ml) diluted in 1/4 cup of non-chlorinated water
  • 1 Tablespoon non iodized salt

Alternatively, instead of the aromatic meso and P. Roqueforti, you could use a sachet of Blue Mould Culture Blend, as I did in the video.

Special Equipment

  • 4 Camembert moulds or hoops
  • 2 draining boards
  • 2 draining mats (sushi mats)
  • Ladle
  • 2 maturation boxes

Method

  1. Clean and sanitize all of your equipment.
  2. Pour the milk into an 8 litre pot (2 gal) and heat to 30°C (86°F), and then remove from heat.
  3. Sprinkle the starter culture and mould over the top and allow rehydrate for 30 seconds, then stir to ensure the culture is dissolved and well mixed throughout the milk.  Allow to rest covered for 45 minutes for acid development to occur.
  4. Add the rennet solution, stirring gently for 1 minute.
  5. Cover and rest for 60 minutes or until a clean break is achieved.
  6. Cut the curds into 13mm (½ inch) cubes.  Let cut curds rest for 10 minutes.
  7. Work the salt into the curds by stirring for 2 minutes.
  8. Gently ladle the curds into the Camembert moulds filling to the top.  Allow for some drainage to occur then fill with remaining curds.
  9. After 4 hours of draining, flip the cheese in the moulds so the top is now at the bottom.  Flip them again in 2 hours then allow to drain overnight (for at least 12-24 hours).
  10. Remove each cheese from the moulds salt both top and bottom with an extra ½ tsp of salt (¼ each side), and let air dry by placing on a mat for 2 days at room temperature, turning every 12 hours.  You can use the maturation boxes with a tea towel or addition sushi mats placed over the top.
  11. Using your thermometer probe or bamboo skewer, pierce about 15 holes into one surface of the cheese.  Place cheese back into maturation boxes on a mat to ensure they are elevated.  Fit the lid to ensure a constant humidity of approx 80-90% RH.
  12. Mature the cheese at 10-13°C (50-55°F), turning each cheese every second day for the first week.  The mould should start to appear on the surface of the cheese in about 4-6 days.
  13. After the first week, turn the cheese at least once a week.  Let it age for a total of 35-40 days.  The cheese should be entirely covered with blue mould.
  14. With a flat knife, gently scrape off the mould layer from each cheese.  Wrap in aluminium foil or cheese wrap and store at 4°C (39.2°F) until consumed.  Remember that the mould will still grow at this temperature, but a lot slower than if in your cheese fridge/cave.

If you like your small blue cheese milder, then you can consume it at about 25 days, however mould will not have penetrated the cheese entirely and the paste will be quite firm.  For a smoother paste, then allow full maturation to occur.

This cheese is absolutely delicious with a delightfully blue flavour that lingers on the palate.

Small Blue Cheese

You can pick up all the ingredients and most of the equipment required to make this cheese at Little Green Workshops!

We now ship to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Little Green Workshops

 

Filed Under: Recipes, Video Tutorial Tagged With: Blue, Moulds, Technique, Video Tutorial

Chili Queso Fresco

17/02/2016 By Gavin Webber Leave a Comment

Chili Queso Fresco is such a simple variation to the original Queso Fresco recipe I’ve previously shared on this blog.

Because the original is a fresh cheese, I often thought it may be lacking something.  It needed a bit of a kick, so I decided to create a new version of this cheese by adding dried chili flakes into the process.

Naturally, I recorded a video tutorial for you all to watch how I went about making this cheese, so sit back and enjoy this variation that I called Chili Queso Fresco.

Quite simple really, and ready to eat the same day you made it.  Fresh cheese is the quickest route to quell your cheesy cravings, so they are certainly great to make at short notice when you are planning a party or event.

The only real change is that you prepare your dried chilies in advance by crushing them and adding them to 3 Tablespoons of water in a small pan.

Boil them for 15 minutes to rehydrate, then strain, keeping the chili water in reserve for addition to the milk when bringing up to the initial target temperature.

Add in the chili flakes during milling and resting.

Also, just a note; I used 190 IMCU Vegetarian Rennet in this recipe.  You may need to adjust your rennet quantity based on the type of rennet you use.

Chili Queso Fresco in the press
Chili Queso Fresco in the press

It still needs 6 hours in the press, but you don’t need to unwrap/re-wrap during the process.  It is a great cheese for a beginner cheese maker to begin their craft.

Chili Queso Fresco
Chili Queso Fresco

However, with that said, I found that this cheese improved in flavour and kick after 24 hours resting in the kitchen refrigerator.   You can also increase the salt content slightly if you like a saltier cheese, but I wouldn’t go much past 1½ Tablespoons of salt.

Since posting the video tutorial on a few cheesemaking Facebook groups, many people have tried and thoroughly enjoyed making and eating this cheese.

If you’re looking for a kit or ingredients to make this cheese and live in Australia or New Zealand, then I highly recommend that you check out Little Green Workshops.  Owned by my wife Kim and I, we strive to stock all essential cheese making gear for the home cheese maker.

Whilst there, you can pick up a Soft Cheese Kit and any other cheese making equipment that you may need.

So what are you waiting for; give this cheese a try.  If you’re into chili, then this fresh cheese is for you!

Filed Under: Recipes, Video Tutorial Tagged With: Kits, Queso Fresco, Video Tutorial

Queso Fresco Video Tutorial

22/04/2015 By Gavin Webber Leave a Comment

Queso Fresco is a breeze to make, and I have even taught my son Ben to make it now.  It was his first cheese, so I now consider him a baby curd nerd!

Queso Fresco video tutorial - Ben making Queso Fresco
Ben making Queso Fresco

For those of you who missed it, I posted the recipe for Queso Fresco here.  However, I can now present the Queso Fresco video tutorial that goes with it.

Enjoy the tutorial!  If Ben can make it, you can too.

If anyone has any questions, please leave them below via comment.

 

Filed Under: Video Tutorial Tagged With: Queso Fresco, Video Tutorial

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