Stilton #1 after a month

As you can see the the penecillin rochfortii is developing well on Stilton #1. This cheese has another 2 months of maturing and then it will be ready for eating.

Catal #3 - Blue pressing

The
following morning the curd acidity had dropped to about PH 5.2. They
are now ready for milling and pressing with my new milling machine. This
will mill them move evenly and take half the time. The first half was
pressed at 20lb for 30 minutes, 30lb for 1 hour, 4olb for 2 hours and
then 40 lb over night. As this is hard pressed the curds are well
knitted with no air holes, this may prevent the Penecilin rochfortii to
develop. The second cheese will be pressed very lightly causing larger
air pockets inside which should promote the blue mould.

The following day the curd was ready to mill and press. As it was lef unsalted overnight the PH had dropped to around PH 5.2

Preparing the curds for milling

Curds being milled

Action shot of curds being milled

The first batch was scooped into a small mould and pressed at 20lb, then 30lb and over night at 40lb

This is what happens when you forget to pressing with cheesecloth. Make sure the cloth has been soaked in a solution with a similar PH as the cheese so it prevents it from sticking

Cheese number to was scooped and pressed at a lighter weight

Cantal blue pressed at 40lb

Cantal blue pressed at 10lb

As part of this experiment I decided to develop the curd in half and see
how a different pressing will affect teh cheese. I'm going to let one
press under its own weight with maybe a little weight to help it knit.
The other I will press at 40 lb. As the Penicillium Roquefortii needs
air to help promote growth so I have a feeling the natural precessed
cheese may have more blue development. Stiltons are usually helped along
by push holes through the cheese to help the Roquefortii develop so
with this in mind the heavy pressed cheese may not get any development
what so ever.

Cantal #2 -after 1 month

The rind on Cantal #2 is developing very different front the first. Ive not really done much to it apart from turning every few days so I hope it will develop a nice natural rind.

Catal #3 - Blue!

I decided to experiment a little with my Cantal recipe by inoculating it with roquefort mold. This means it will no longer be a Cantal but I'm going to label it as Cantal #3 Blue.

• Added 6 liters of pasturised semi-skimmed milk + 600ml double + 300ml single cream and warmed it to 32c
• Added 1/8 tsp Lipase (mild), M400 starter and 1/8 rockfort mold and left for 45 minutes
• After 45 minutes I added 1/8tsp Calcium Chloride and 1/2tsp liquid animal rennet and left for another 45 minutes for a clean break
• cut curds into 1/4" cubes, as its hard to cut the curds at the bottom of the pan I spend about 10 minutes spooning to surface and cutting. I then left it for a further 10 minutes to heel the curds.
• pour curds into cheesecloth and let it drain into a pot allowing them to be submerged a little. Leave them for 30 minutes.
  
• Drain for 10 minutes and return to pot and add 2 tbs of Malden salt. The curds were slightly sloppy and reduced in size.
  
• Re-wrap the salted curds and press gently overnight
• In the morning I took the lump of curd and milled it into 3mm - 5mm pieces.
• Place the milled curds in a cloth lined press and press lightly for 30 minutes. Turn and press on medium weight for an hour. Turn and repress at heavy weight for 12 hours and then turn once more and repress at same weight for another 12 hours
• Return to cave and wash every few days for the first few weeks. Then once a week over the next few months. The humidity is usually around 80% and 12c

As much as I like to try to use raw milk its not always easy to get hold of in London. As its homogenised milk I usually buy semi skimmed milk and add double/single cream

Once heated to 32c the Lipase is added first, followed by the starter and rockfort mold

After adding rennet, it took 45 minutes to get a clean break

Curds cut into 1/4" cubes

Curds left in whey to acidify

At salting the cures were quite sloppy, maybe a little too sloppy

A light pressing overnight to acidify

Cantal #2 - extra milling

I learnt a great deal from Cantal #1. For my second attempt at I basically followed the Cantal #1 recipe but made a few minor changes. Cantal #1's milled curd's were too large so it was hard to get them to knit, even at 50lb of weight on a 1.5kg wheel. This time I milled the curd's smaller and used raw milk rather than pasturised, note how yellow the curds are without any anito colouring.

Curds 30 minutes after cutting and healing

Curds cut after 30 minute light pressing. This was repeated twice

The curds were then wrapped and left overnight to acidify

Then milled finer than Cantal #1

The finely milled curds were then salted

The salted/milled curds were then pressed for 24 hours at 50lb

Stilton #1 after a week

Once the rockfort gets hold of the cheese its spreads pretty quickly. As it does the holed that a made through the cheese have to be redone to allow air to circulate and help promote the blue mold. Once this is done the cheese surface is smoothed out to prevent any nasties from building up on the rough surface (like Cantal #1)

After a week the blue rockfort mold has taken hold of the interior of the cheese

Once the blue mold has taken hold the outside of the cheese surface can then be smoothed out to help prevent other bacteria building up in the cracks of the cheese.

Cantal 1 after 1 month

Over the past month Cantal #1 has been washed every week with a mild brine. As the knit wasn't great you can see how the natural bacteria in my cave has thrived on the rind. Even though the rind development has hardened and protected the cheese, it may still influence the flavour.

Stilton #1

Today's cheese is Stilton. Its a relatively hard cheese to make but I thought Id give it a try. Here is the recipe I based the Stilton on.

• warmed up 12 pints of (store bought semi pasturised milk + 300ml single/300mil double cream) to 31c
  
• Added 1/16 Lipase mild, 1/16 roquefort mould, 1/4 M4001 Starter, 1/8 calcium chloride
  
• left for 1 hour to ripen
• added 1/8 liquid animal rennet and left for 90 minutes
• Once clean break is accomplished the curd is spooned in thin layers into a colander lined with cheesecloth and left to drain and sit in it whey for 1 hour at 30c
• The cloth it then hung for 1 hour
• Place the matted curd under a wooden board and add a light weight (6 pint carton filled with water) and leave overnight
• In the morning cur the curd up into 1" cubes and toss in 1.5 tbls of Malden salt
• Place the salted curdes into the mould and turn every 30 minutes, 2 hours, 10 hours, 24 hours over 4 days at room temperature
• Push a sterilised piercing tool through the cheese about 15 times. Make sure the holes are open and not sealed with curd. Air has to get in.
• Place the cheese in the cave at 90% humidity 13c for 3/4 months turning once a week.

There was one slight error I made as I always seem to do with the temperature. I accidentally raised it to 39c during the overnight light pressing. I guess this accelerated the acidification process which may dry out the overall cheese? After the pressing stage it smelt and looked fine so Ill see how it goes over the next few weeks..

Curds draining and sitting in there own whey

Curds hanging to drain off whey

After a light pressing overnight at 38c the curds has matted together and ready to but roughly chopped into 1" pieces for salting

Salted curds

Final Stilton after 4 days of natural pressing at room temperature and turned every day