Blue in the style of English Stilton
My resource for this cheese was "Practical Cheese Making",
a book published in England first in 1917
and very focused on farmstead cheese production
before the days of automation and shortcuts.
This cheese was produced with raw unpasteurized milk from a local farm. Even though I could have waited for the natural flora to do it's work, a prepared starter to develop acid was added along with an inoculation of p.rouqforti for the blue. This improves the chances of getting the proper cultures and making a more consistant cheese.
zzz
|
|
|
|
|
|
The raw milk is inoculated w/starter plus p.rouqforti and brought to 86F. Then rennet is added. We are now waiting
for the rennet to work.
|
Instead of cutting the curd, it is carefully ladled into the draining pan in large masses.
|
The curd now rests in it's
draining pan to develop acidity
as the matrix shrinks
and the whey is expelled .
|
The cloths are folded in as the whey begins to drain off.
At intervals the whey is removed and this slows down
the acid development.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As the whey drains off, the cloths are tightened and tied to encourage more whey to drain off.
|
The curd has now consolidated into a mass...
|
... which resembles a large lump of dough...
|
...which is reduced to smaller blocks to facilitate drying off
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Our goal here is to have the curd dry off at the same time that the final acidity is reached.
|
The curds are then loosely packed into forms and turned for the next several days as they settle
|
The final cheese just out of the mould.
|
Day 3-4.. notice the blue mold is just beginning to develop.
|
|
|
Between weeks 3-5 the cheese is still quite moist and giving off some very strong aromas. At 5 weeks the mold community on the outside should dry off a bit,
|
|
|
|
At 3 weeks the blue is beginning to dry out and a multitude of different colored molds are forming on the outside.
|
and then I will make multiple holes with a sterile needle to allow an exchange of gasses and the inner bluing should begin.
The final step is to put it into my aging chamber to finish out the 4 month process...
|
At 8 weeks the cheese has been pierced to allow the internal development of the blue molds and the ammonia has subsided to a wonderful strong blue cheese aroma. The exterior has now formed a very definite crinkle...
|
...and many of the molds have dried down to a good crust. The real secret here is to keep the humidity at a point where the surface doesn't crack nor become slimy at the other extreme
|
|
..... The only problem I can see at this point is waiting the next month or 2 until it reaches its peak
|
|
|
|
|
|
At 12 weeks the cheese is ready to cut. The crust is a coat of many colors and the blue has done it's job inside.
|
Notice the holes left by the earlier piercing to let air in and gasses out
|
The flavor at this point is medium strong and permeates the entire cheese, The texture is very smooth, creamy, and spreadable but cuts cleanly and easily without crumbling.
|
|
|
I will now be tasting this cheese over the next 4-8 weeks and expecting the flavor to get stronger. |
|
|