Epoisses style

So far the cheeses I wrote about in the previous post don't show any sign of wanting to turn into a smear rind cheese. I have washed the cheeses for almost two weeks now with mildly salted water. The rind should have starting to turn orange by now as evidence of the presence of the Brevibacterium linens. Nothing of the kind happened but as one can see, the rind has developed  some white mold and there is probably where the problem lies. When I made the cheese, I added Geotrichum candidum to the batch. This now has developed a white bloomy rind which might inhibit the growth of the linens bacteria.  

For now I will stop washing the cheese and start eating it as the cheeses are starting to get runny already as can be seen in the picture below. I made a new batch of lactic cheeses without the G. candidum and will start a new attempt at making the intended cheese. 

Epoisses style

After visiting Epoisses this summer and eating some excellent Epoisses cheese, I found the time ripe to give it another try myself to make an Epoisses inspired cheese. So far the results seem promising. The cheeses are much smaller than the real ones. I used some crotin molds and some molds I made from old yoghurt containers. I washed the cheeses in the top two containers with some mildly salted water. I will wash the cheeses like this for about two weeks, every other day. After that I will wash the cheeses for two weeks with Marc de Burgundy which I brought back from France. 

The cheeses in the in the lower container shall remain unwashed. Consider it the control cheese.

Fromage de France

Some of the regular readers of this blog might have wondered why it has been so silent recently. Well, I was with my family in France. My wife had persuaded me to take a vacation abroad, cheese being the draw. And of course, I couldn't resist. France is still a heaven of cheese and plenty of other delicious food.
We spent the first week with friends in Ain, the foot hills of the Alps. A perfect place from which to make trips into the Haute Savoie in search of cheese. My friend, who grew up here but also lives in Brooklyn, was so kind to make phone calls. She made contact with several local cheese makers. We visited a Reblochon maker and I spent a morning in the mountains watching the making of Tomme Des Bauges. I will write about this in the next few weeks.

After a week we drove north to Burgundy. Here we stayed for three days on a farm in Epoisses. We visited the only producer of raw milk Epoisses in Origny-sur-Seine, some 50 km north east of Epoisses. They make an excellent cheese, but more later.

The cheeses in the pictures came from the cheese shop of Pierre Gay in Annecy. I had heard of this shop in New York as being a good source for cheese and makers. The owner is very nice and he did give me some leads towards cheesemakers in the area. I will give a brief description of the cheeses. 

On top, we find a Saint Felicien in the ramekin, a lactic cow. This one was mild and buttery. The large pink wedge is a Vacherin des Bauges, a bit of a disappointment. Too dry for a vacherin, perhaps not the time of year and according to my friends' father not the right area for good vacherin. Next to that, a trusty Comte, sweet and nutty, flanked by a petit Bornard Chevre and a Seez de Tarentaise. Both nice goat cheeses, the taller tarentaise a harder dryer one, the smaller Bornard soft and lemony. Under this a Romans Fermier, a lactic coagulated raw milk cow cheese. This cheese is made similar as the Saint Felicien but is ripened on rye straw, hence the blue mold on the rind. To the left a Crotin Chavignol, a little dry goat cheese, which to my pleasant surprise was very similar to the cheeses in this post. Moving left we find a Saint Nectaire, soft and earthy, honest without bravoure. And last, a fantastic piece of Blue du Haut Jura, also known as Blue de Gex. According to my friend a real find.

Curd Cutters

Recently I made some new curd cutters. I have been using a knife to cut the curd but I found it very difficult to cut the curd to small particles. Most cheeses require the curd to be cut into rice grain size to drain out the whey.
To build the cutters, I welded some stainless steel frames and stretches stainless steel fishing wire across. The wire isn't very tautt but the thickness of the wire makes it stiff enough to cut the curd. It works great.

Goat Cheese

Here are two little goat cheeses I made a while ago. The one above was made one May 25. I am not sure about when I made the one below but I think it was around the same time. These were the last ones of these batches and, having sat around for almost 3 months, they have developed a wonderful and complex flavor.

Architectural Plans for Creamery

I have been working with an architect for a while on the design of a creamery. Here are the preliminary drawings. The plan is to build the entire structure out of concrete, partly dug into a hill. The aging cave is five feet below ground, which is approximately the frost line. This way a constant cool temperature and stable humidity is achieved. The ceilings of the cave are vaulted to promote airflow. It also prevents water from dripping on the cheese. Aging rooms often accumulate condensation on the ceiling. When the ceiling is flat, this drips on the cheeses. When the ceiling is vaulted, this water runs off along the ceiling and the walls. The vaulted ceiling also adds to the aesthetic appeal or the room. To avoid having to add any load bearing beams in the cave, I added some columns in the center. This allows me to partition the cave in the future if I decide I want two curing rooms with different climates. The ventilation system of the cave has to be worked out still.

The rooms in front of the cave are for drying and brining the cheeses. This part of the building is three quarters below ground. In one of these rooms I hope to install a walk in cooler in the future.

The making room, cleaning room and office in the front are above ground. The cleaning room was added after I read the state regulations for dairy processing plants. State regulations prohibit cleaning milk containers in the making room when the milk is not produced on the premises. I do not intend to start a dairy but plan to make cheese from milk bought from local farmers.

The making room will get a cheese making vat in the center. Around the walls sinks and draining tables are planned.

I haven’t worked out the heating system for the building yet. Although the winters are long and cold in upstate New York, by building the structure in a hill from thick concrete walls insulated from the outside, I hope the building will not require a lot of heating. A small central hydronic system fired by propane might do. I hope I can use the same system to heat the water for the cheese vat as well as other running water.

The plant has two septic systems as required by regulations. I will write about the septic systems in a separate post later. Being located in the New York City watershed adds an enormous amount of restrictions and regulations to these systems and makes building outside municipal systems often cost prohibitive. Whether this will be the case with my plans is to be seen.

Press

From Diner Journal, No. 12 Summer 2009

Goat Blue

Here is one of the Goat blue wheels I made on May 13. After more than two months of aging, I was curious to how it would be. Well, it might not be the best blue I have ever had, but it is certainly not the worst. The paste crumbly, perhaps a little dry. It is musty, a little ammoniated, and definitely strong. I will let the second wheel age for another month or so. It might just improve with time.

Cheese in the Dryer

I have temporary reverted to the dryer as a cave again. Since I made these two wheels, I haven't had a change to bring these upstate. I don't want to put them in a refrigerator, afraid they will dry out. Having nothing else vermin free around and no time to built something, this was the easiest solution. At 70F too warm perhaps for a extended amount of time. But with a humidity of 90%, they'll just age a little faster for the two weeks they will have to spend in here before I have time to move them upstate.

First Alpine Cheese

On July 4th I cut into my first Alpine style cheese. It had been aging for a little over six months. As expected it suffered from butyric gas produced by the Clostridium tyrobutyricum bacteria due to bad fermentation in the silage which had been fed to the cows. This condition produces a taste which is detected by a mild tingling at the tip of the tongue. I was surprised by the mildness of this condition. I had expected it to be much worse. Apart from this defect, which is also the producer of the multitude of holes, the flavor is typical Alpine; sweet and nutty. The paste is firm and melts in the mouth.

Training & Workshop

Last weekend I attended a two day cheesemaking workshop at Consider Bardwell Farm, a goat dairy farm in Vermont. The workshop was taught by Peter Dixon, a master cheesemaker and dairy consultant. He is also in charge of the cheesemaking at this farm.

After a brief introduction and history of the farm by farm owner Angela Miller, Peter arrived with the milk which he had picked up at Jersey Girls, a partner farm with Jersey cows. After filling the vat, we made a Pawlet, an Italian style toma cheese. Peter took us through all basics steps of making the cheese. He talked extensively about starter cultures. He explained the flocculation technique he uses to determine when to cut the curd. After that he took us through the cooking stage, the draining stage and finally the hooping of the curds into the molds. All basic steps of cheesemaking were very well explained and there was plenty of time for questions and discussion.

After a wonderful lunch of garden fresh salads prepared by Angela and, of course, cheese, we went into the caves. We washed and brushed rinds and talked about cave design.

After a good night sleep at the farm we were fresh the next morning to put the cheeses we made into the brine. Before proceeding with this, Peter took the Ph of the cheeses. He took this opportunity to explain the use of Ph as a target in various stages of the making process. Finally it was time to brine the cheeses at which time brine and brine recipes were discussed. After this it was time for cleaning the tools and equipment, a major part of cheesemaking.

After another terrific lunch, it was time for some theoretic discussion of affinage. Using overhead projection, Peter explained all stages of affinage and talked extensively about the different rind developments and different bacteria and other micro organisms and their influence on various types of cheeses.

Driving home, I felt filled with a plethora of new information and can't wait to put it into practice.

Chaource style soft cheese

The mold is starting to grow in nicely on this batch of lactic cow cheese. I have kept the cheeses in a refrigerator set at 50F. The humidity fluctuates a bit and is not ideal. But as long as the cheeses develop a decent rind and don' dry out, I won't complain. For the cheesemakers out there, I used the penicillium strain ABL. A medium to slow growing mold variety.

Lactic Cheese

After struggling with gassy curds from goats milk that hasn't been too clean, I wanted to make some lactic cheese without any problems. I had planned to do this from Ayshire milk but when I arrived at that farm, the tank was empty. Not wanting to drive back empty handed to the city, I went to the farm with the holstein cows. Plenty of milk to be had here. After the usual pleasantries other chats, I filled up my pails.

Back in Brooklyn I put the milk to coagulate overnight, and there it was, smooth as silk. No bubble to be seen. Even the set milk in the test tube only shows a few air bubbles. This milk was very clean. Too bad this farmer has only Holsteins. 

Creamery

I haven't posted anything recently as I've been occupied with other things. I did make some cheeses and will write about this in the next few weeks. Right now I would like to add another topic to this blog. Soon after I started making cheese I began to consider the idea of starting a small creamery. The cheeses I had made were well received, even cheesemongers spoke encouraging words. I have enough land in upstate New York to build a cheese making facility. The area is full of dairy farms where I can buy milk. I don't plan to produce my own milk as this would involve starting a farm which would need a lot more capital and is an entirely different endeavor. There are still plenty of dairy farms around and they can do with a boost--some of them are suffering badly from the low price of milk. In fact a lot are on the brink of extinction. 

 I've begun to think of a business plan but haven't decided on a name as yet. These are the names I'm considering  (no particular order): Dunk Hill Creamery (this is the name of the hill); using my own name-Vulto Creamery, or I could name it after the stream: Dry Brook Creamery (lots of water at present) or Pricklebush Creamery (the local name for the rosebushes which crowd out untended fields), or Walton Creamery (after the nearest town). I'm still pondering and hope the name will evolve with help from others.