Goat/Cow #2 - 7 week tasting

The lactic Goat/Cow cheeses are stating to look like fossilised brains! The taste is becoming more more complex and very goaty. I think next time I'm going to make them bigger as the are quite small after the mold has been cut off. If the mold is eaten you get more of a bitter taste, not sure if this is healthy? The paste has also firmed up, I have just 2 left so Ill try them in a few weeks.

Goat/Cow #2 - 1 month tasting

A nice powdery blue rind has now formed over goat #2. I decided to taste one today and leave the rest for next month to see how they develop. After just one month the cheese has started to develop a typically strong nutty taste. The cheese was slightly chalky in the center and overall a lovely complex taste. I'm very keen on trying raw goat milk next time, if this wonderful taste can come from pasturised store goats milk I'm sure raw can only get better.

Goat/Cow #2 after 1 month

First tasting..

Goat/Cow #2 lactic after 3 weeks

So, as my second batch of goat cheese had no Penecilin Candidum, no white fluffy rind appeared. There was a little build up of the white mold but it soon turned blue with another mold. I'm sure this is fine, I hope it will soon die off and start to produce a hard protective rind.

Goat/Cow #2 lactic after 2 weeks

As i didn't add any penecilin candidum the rind took a little longer to develop. You can see by the photos below the white rind starting to cover. Also you will notice some blue mould appearing. I had them close to a cheese that had a number of coloured bacteria which I think has attacked these. I'm not sure how this will affect the final cheese, I'm not to worried about it but the next batch will be kept in a tupperware container to prevent any other bacteria from attacking.

Goat/Cow #2 lactic cheese

Today I'm going to make some goat cheese without using any geotrichum candidum or penicillin candidum. This batch is going to be left for 2 months to develop a more natural rind. I could only buy 3 litters of goat milk so I added some organic store bought milk to make it up to 1 gallon. Due to the milk being pasteurised I added 1/8 tsp of M400 culture, 1/8 tsp calcium chloride and 1/8 tsp of lipase. I'm not sure if I'm using lipase correctly, I was told to use it in hard cheese if using store pasteurised milk? Lipase is an enzyme that adds flavour but is damaged during pasteurisation Once everything is added to the 1 gallon on milk I leave for 10 minutes to ripen before adding 1 drop of rennet. This cheese is a lactic cheese so it should take around 24-36 hours to coagulate at 21c.


After 24 hours the curds were ready to cut. I scooped then thinly into a cheese cloth and let it hang overnight. I wanted to get this dry so I could hand role them into little balls. I left one as it was. The other 4 I sprayed with Geo Candidum and dry salted. The remaining 3 I just dry salted.

After 24 hours the curds were around ph 4.5

After 24 hours of draining + 1kg pressing the curds were ready to role.

First 4 cheese were sprayed in geotrichum candidum + dry salted. The 3 on the right were just dry salted and 1 was left as it was.

Rinds

Natural Rinds are very difficult to maintain as there is always food on the rind for microbes to feed off. Inoculating the cheese before pressing will help promote that particular bacteria that will hopefully dominate the cheese and protect it against unwanted bacteria.One example is Geotrichum candidum mixed with a liquid such as brine, brandy, wine, beer or even oil. This can also be inoculated into the cheese curds, added to brine or used as a wash.

Goat #1 48 hours after pressing

Once most of the whey had drained I salted the top and left overnight, turned and salted the other side. This helps expel the rest if the whey and flavour the cheese. After 48 hours I moved them to the cheese cave (old fridge) and left at around 7C for a number of weeks. I'm aiming for a mature goat cheese so I'm going to leave them for around 6 weeks.




I read on a blog by a Brooklyn based cheese-maker that charcoal could be used as a supplement of ash coated goat cheese. I used willow charcoal which I will ask is ok to use. Ash acts as a neutraliser for goats cheese.

After just a few days you can see the penicillin appearing on the cheese.

Below you can see the penicillin appearing on the ash cheese

Goat cheese #1

I'm going to base this goat cheese on a Crottin recipe from my Making Artisan Cheese book. I don't have any Flora Danica starter, can't seem to get hold of it in the UK so I'm going to use some MA400 instead. So, step 1 is to start the process of coagulation. I start if warming 6 liters of store bought goats milk. I'd rather use raw but there aren't too many goats in London. Once the temperature hits 22c I add 1/4 tsp of M400 and leave to ripen for 20 minutes. As this is pasteurized milk I now add 1/4 tsp of calcium chloride and leave for 5 minutes. I usually dissolve in half a cup of spring water. Its now time to add 1/4 tsp Penicillin Candidum and a pinch of Geotrichum Candidum, instead of a pinch I added 1/4 tsp which may have been too much? I decided to add 1/4 tsp Lipase, this is an enzyme found in raw milk which helps with flavor. Once added I stir gently being careful not to break the surface and add 1/4 tsp liquid animal rennet diluted in half a cup if water. The temperature is meant to maintain 22c but I accidentally heated to 24.5c. This may speed up coagulation time so I will keep an eye on tonight as this should take a minimum of 18 hours to coagulate. I'll know when it's ready when I get a nice clean break in the curds.


Stage 1: 6 l