Surprise

Sep 03 2007

16L 2% Beatrice Milk

1L 18% Beatrice Milk

1L raw Goat milk

Mesophilic starter

CACL 1tsp

Bio Rennet 11/4 tsp

Reason for the name surprise is that all the bovine milk is a week expired and the 18% has coagulated, still smells ok but past its time so Its going to be a surprise what it turns into with the extra culture in their.

12:56 94.7F added starter. Reason I didn't wait for cool down was because the cream had curdled I didn't want the culture in their to overpower the Meso culture, hopefully.

13:58 93.8F Thick but not solid, think going to have problems cutting it. Leave it another hour.

14:26 Just realized I didn't add the rennet :( so much for that, so Rennet now added.

15:20 91.8 not solid, just very grainy :(

16:30 92.1 Cut curds and heat to 100F (curds very soft, not tight at all)

17:30 98.1F stirred curds, curds look good, just the top that looked spongy but the curds in general look firm. :)

18:05 101.8F switch off and let sit.

Add salt to batch and pour into cheesecloth and shape.

Place in hoop and press, using 20lb.

Thinking back, this is probably the same as people using buttermilk as a starter, so probably will turn out as a farm cheese, see what happens. Added a tsp caraway, could find any more so its real small compared to the size of the wheel. Added some Proprionic culture for the heck of it since I have not had luck yet in making a swiss cheese with holes, so trying to get the gas to form one way or another.

Also noted that the curds were more rubbery reminding me of mozzarella, noting that their was a high acid content from the curdled cream. their may be that quality added to the finished product.

Sep 04

Flipped cheese and added 32Lb of weight and let drain for the day.

April 07 2008

Cracked it finally, very dry and tangy taste very hard to describe, maybe a parma type outcome. Nice in salad and on fish I tried so far :)