Stilton #1 - rind development after 8 weeks

I decided to check up on the Stilton as its been nearly 8 weeks in a vac-bag. As you can see the rind development has been running wild. It spells like a Stilton and seems to be maturing well. I noticed one area was a little too damp so I left the vac-bag open a little to see if it will dry out slightly. There was also some pinkish mold which occurs if the cheese is too moist. Hopefully there will be some blue viens inside, Ill test the cheese at the end of July.

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.

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.

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