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Post by shellymay on Apr 28, 2017 15:07:03 GMT
Although I could never do this myself, I think what you girls are doing is sooooooooo great, I do love cheese and pay the high prices for it....and I never have to see the mold part of the process, win win for me. LOL I also would love to be a taste tester of your products....
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Post by feather on Apr 28, 2017 16:37:16 GMT
Although I could never do this myself, I think what you girls are doing is sooooooooo great, I do love cheese and pay the high prices for it....and I never have to see the mold part of the process, win win for me. LOL I also would love to be a taste tester of your products.... The weird mold pictures that I showed, are not the norm. Most of the cheeses don't have the brainy mold thing, that was because I was using a ripening box, and it was really moist, too moist, and I haven't had it happen again. Some cheeses are purposely coated in mold, some of the muenster, brick, red molds, and the blooming rind type cheeses like camembert, and blue cheese, and I've only just started the blue cheese (in a ripening box). At the end of ripening the blue cheese, the blue coating is scraped off leaving the white cheese with veins of blue in it. Now that will be fun. If I can make cheese, you can too. I'm not particularly talented or terribly hard working lately, it really only takes a 'want' to get you started, and some equipment. I really think people that haven't made cheese ought to try making cheddar curds, as it takes no press, no mold, no cheese cave and no aging, and everyone seems to like them. Last time I bought curds they were $4.65/lb. I'd like to have taste testers. I made some smoke flavored gouda yesterday. Both my goudas did not press straight and so the tops are slanted, oh well. I'm tossing around the idea of making some colby that is white and orange, so a 2 gallon batch of each, then when I mill the curds I'll mix them, and the cheese will be a mottled mass of both colors. For fun.
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Post by shellymay on Apr 28, 2017 18:21:03 GMT
feather , For sure we all have talent, seems some of you have found yours, Me well lets say I am still looking for mine
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Post by feather on May 3, 2017 3:49:21 GMT
Mottled colby3 and yesterday Mottled colby4
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Post by feather on May 3, 2017 21:35:33 GMT
@redfish, I'm so happy for you, being able to make cheese! I'd suggest a cheese but there are so many to choose from and you know better than anyone what your family eats. Long aging or short aging, or ready in 6 weeks, gosh it's just like a candy store to make these choices.
Dh called and said milk would be on sale now again, $1.99/gallon, so I think we'll do up some cheddar again, and some parmesan, we never don't eat those, and we eat those the most after colby.
I waxed my goudas and then set one on edge so the wax would dry and came here to read, and I heard a big crash in the kitchen, OH NO. I was pretty sure one gouda hit the floor and probably split open. Yes cheese drama, who knew there could be drama with cheese? Yes it was a gouda and no it didn't split or get wrecked. I almost couldn't believe it. I will double check it before it goes in the cheese cave but what are the odds it would not split on falling off the bread board? While the wax is hot, I'm going to wax the gruyere. It is aging beautifully but the rind is hard and oily and I imagine it drying out over the next 4 months, so I could FoodVac it or wax it. I'm going to wax it.
DH is begging for grilled cheese sandwiches. Has anyone made them in advance and refrigerated them for future use? He's begging, really begging.
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Post by shellymay on May 4, 2017 14:02:24 GMT
feather, Okay now I am craving a hot ham and cheese on a nice big crescent type bun No help with your question about advance making a head of time, but I don't see why not, but I wasn't sure if you meant cooked already or just made up and uncooked, how long ahead?
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Post by feather on May 4, 2017 16:32:02 GMT
DH loves his grilled cheese. I wonder if I could cook them completely, getting the outside browned and crisp--dry enough that he could microwave them later, or for his dinner at work. If they could get heated up and not get completely soggy. I guess I'll have to give it a try, he's on his way home from buying milk and needs some grill cheese to survive the day, ha ha.
I have a choice today to make cheddar or brick. I'm not sure yet.
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Post by shellymay on May 4, 2017 16:44:10 GMT
Girl friend did this when young.......She made toast, then she would add cheese/ham and a little butter to toast and heat in micro and eat later.....worked great but you must wait for toast to cool before building samich and packaging up or it will steam in the baggie or Tupperware....
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Post by feather on May 5, 2017 2:20:19 GMT
Well, I started the afternoon with a Gouda. However, doe number three decided to kid about halfway through so we are just having cheese curds. Wow! So cool. A gouda day all around! That's a cool thing, if you are partially done and run out of time, there's always curds to be eaten. I bet you and your family are so excited with this next goat birthing. I'm looking forward to pictures when you get there. I spent the afternoon making cheddar5 and I feel a bit of confidence now that I've made this a few times. shellymay, toasting the bread and assembling them just might be the best way. I made 4 grilled cheese sandwiches and they fogged up the plastic bag before he even put them in his lunch and they were only just warm. DH has a family reunion in end of June. I offered to make 5 lbs of cheddar curds as his contribution to the pot luck. I'm pretty sure they'll wipe those out.
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Post by shellymay on May 5, 2017 13:42:53 GMT
feather , what a great treat it will be for the reunion folks, great of you to do that .....let me see if I can check the genology chart and find out if I am some long LOST cousin down the line somewhere @redfish , congrads on the new arrivals
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Post by feather on May 5, 2017 17:09:46 GMT
shellymay, if we are all related in some manner by the theory of 6 degrees of separation, you could well be a long lost cousin. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_degrees_of_separationI made the cheddar5 yesterday and it worked out just fine. The mottled colby4, was really wet and I left it in the press a whole 12 hours longer than the recipe called for, but it was still oversized. There was whey weeping out at a high rate after it was taken out of the press and the sides bulged in an unfamiliar fashion. It's not drying the way I would like to see and I'm afraid it might not be a good 'long keeper'. There's a crack in the side from the over bulging. I think I'm going to just cut it up to eat instead of aging it. I have cheeses to wax today, waiting to make the next cheddar Saturday or Sunday.
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Post by shellymay on May 5, 2017 17:44:51 GMT
SO THIS means I am invited right? .....Sorry to hear about the Colby, nice thing about your cheese making is you can EAT most of your un-successes and try again on a new batch.....LOL
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Post by feather on May 6, 2017 1:32:25 GMT
SO THIS means I am invited right? .....Sorry to hear about the Colby, nice thing about your cheese making is you can EAT most of your un-successes and try again on a new batch.....LOL Ha ha ha ha, I'm not going, maybe you ought to just stop by here while he is at the reunion. I'll make ya some cheese. Okay so I bit the bullet, I shuffled the cards, I committed myself to cutting into this bland shape of milk product. This is the mottled colby4. I feared it would be pretty tasteless because it hasn't been aged at all. It still has so much moisture coming out, which means instead of a solid mass of cheese, I've got something more like a sponge holding water, more likely to give off whey and possibly mold. I took pictures so I could show you it. YOU, cheese voyeurs. It is miss-shapened and if you look closely you can see the crack in it. Cracks and sharp edges are a bear to wax around, it takes me more dips of wax to coat those areas. So I sliced into it and you can see the mechanical holes in it, there shouldn't be many of those. (There are two kinds of holes. Mechanical holes are from the curds not knitting closely together, and holes caused by swiss cheese cultures where CO2 is building up and making holes, and worst case scenario holes due to spoilage from bad bacteria.) I honestly think I man handled the curd when I milled it and salted it, breaking the curd, creating an emulsion that wouldn't drain easily. I think this because the curds started really sticking to my hands making a mushy mess. Either the curds were too tender, not cooked enough or for long enough, or I'm a cheese man handler. I've done this 2 times, I won't repeat that mistake. You can see how spongy it is, especially along the outside edges by the bulge. I vac packed the halves, put one in the cheese cave and one in the fridge, reserving one small slice for tasting. I tasted it and I thought it tasted AMAZING. It had a little bite, like a medium sharp cheddar, delicious and I was surprised by it since it wasn't aged. Then DS came into the kitchen and he tasted it and he REALLY LIKED IT, remarked on the slight bite too. Better than any of our previous cheeses--we both agreed that it was! Woo HOO! So I decided to open the vac pack from the refrigerator and cut it in half, half to eat and half to watch. There was, in a couple hours, at least a few tablespoons of whey already coming out of it, in the vac pack. So it probably was a good choice to cut it and just watch it instead of taking the chance on waxing it. DH won't get to taste it until tomorrow and I'm excited for him to try it, since colby is his favorite cheese. So it is good news for today!
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Post by shellymay on May 6, 2017 2:45:01 GMT
You are so educated on cheese making and processing, ALL these years I thought the holes in cheese was caused by mice, true when they say we are never to old to learn...LOL So happy for you that the holey cheese blab mess turned out to be wonderfully tasteful, God is good! NOT going, didn't you say family reunion? aren't you family? ? Let me check my schedule and I just might join you in cheese eating heaven
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Post by feather on May 6, 2017 3:01:04 GMT
You are so educated on cheese making and processing, ALL these years I thought the holes in cheese was caused by mice, true when they say we are never to old to learn...LOL So happy for you that the holey cheese blab mess turned out to be wonderfully tasteful, God is good! NOT going, didn't you say family reunion? aren't you family? ? Let me check my schedule and I just might join you in cheese eating heaven That is just what one of my favorite aunts said, she said Cheese is God Smiling on us, and I think that is true. Yeah the reunion, I'm not feeling like I really like everyone and sometimes it is a little uncomfortable with exes, and I'm not sure everyone likes me, and people showing off, and well, I've made a slow entrance into important get togethers, funerals and weddings, trying to fit in somewhere with them, only a little at a time. I figure they'll like me in time, they aren't ferocious or anything. If I send cheese curds, well, who won't like me? ha ha. I'm not so educated on cheese. Honestly I've only been learning, learning deeply about it, by watching, by listening, by reading, in these past 6 months. I never even made one pressed cheese (a harder medium hard cheese) until the end of February, so I'm new to it. I'm amazed I learned so much but then anyone would be once they started into it. I try to share some of my experiences and what I was surprised about (like the holes) because no one really explains cheese when you are growing up, you just eat it and you never think twice about 'why' or 'how'. When mom says, 'eat this', well, it fills your belly and you have no idea what went into making it. Redfish has been a great help with her information, and over time I hope to learn more. It is so nice to have cheese friends.
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Post by poppopt on May 6, 2017 3:06:39 GMT
Feather, do you have a blog? Your adventures in cheesemaking would make for an interesting one. Thanks for sharing.
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Post by feather on May 6, 2017 3:12:29 GMT
Feather, do you have a blog? Your adventures in cheesemaking would make for an interesting one. Thanks for sharing. I could do a blog I suppose, I have some webspace out there on my joysgarlic.com website, but I have this little space here, so I hope you can enjoy it here. I would really like if other people that make cheese or people that take up making cheese, join in and share lots of stuff here. We are homesteaders, people that have the idea that we are helping ourselves and making our lives better. I feel like I've received a gift from the people that have helped me learn about cheese and I hope I can inspire a few into the same thing. Thank you for the kind remarks.
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Post by feather on May 9, 2017 0:24:48 GMT
Today was my most troublesome day. Such a failure, and with 30 batches behind me, that look like success then I shouldn't be too upset, right? My kefir failed today, it didn't thicken at all then 4 gallons of cheese failed, in the same day. The cheese curds were looking a little acidic and I could see it by the particles separating from the curd, like when I make mozzarella. I was making parmesan from 2% and the curds were floating. This is unusual because curds generally will try to mat together, they almost always sink to the bottom, really stick together and they weren't, they were free floating at temperatures between 95 and 126 degrees F. No attachment to each other. There was a foam developing on top of it all, there is usually no foam.
I'm feeling disgusted. I sterilized all the equipment first as usual boiling everything, I watched carefully as the temperature rose. It was a waste of 5 gallons of milk and I need to take a deep breath and throw it out and start over tomorrow. I've never had this happen or anything even like this happen before.
I think it was a bad batch of milk, with yeast or some kind of acid or contamination. I'm sure it is bound to happen, I just wasn't expecting it today. Dang! Another day but dishes to wash and no cheese made.
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Post by shellymay on May 9, 2017 12:46:53 GMT
Oh NO.....so sorry to hear this, hope the next batch works out......disappointing for sure, but chin up and try again.....good thing milk prices are low right now, doesn't help with the loss but might help with the emotional of trying again?
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Post by feather on May 9, 2017 16:52:37 GMT
thanks gals, I spent the night wondering if I over pasteurized it with heating it, but realized, pasteurization takes place at much higher temperatures so that was not the problem either.
I'm starting over again today, with new milk from a different place and everything scrubbed out and now I'm boiling everything, as usual. Two days ago I made this picture perfect parmesan, I was really impressed how well it turned out, and then yesterday I thought I'd just repeat that, and well, it didn't work out that way.
I gotta learn not to beat myself up over these things. Stuff happens, right?
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Post by feather on May 10, 2017 3:17:35 GMT
I made another batch of parmesan today, you know, like getting back on the bike and knowing it will be fine. All is well, curds were matting and clingy, and no foam, and it looked about right. Sigh, a relief, I thought I'd lost my touch for a moment there.
We transplanted a bunch of tomatoes again today, into larger pots. My blackberries are growing, yeah, and I'm enjoying this good weather, sunny, breeze.
My only dilemma is that the asparagus is gone, someone picked it, in my yard, and the only people out in the yard were the kitty corner neighbors. I never would have thought neighbors would come into the yard and take the asparagus. There aren't any other suspects. Maybe I should put some signs up, 'stay out of our garden' type signs? Do you think they are so hungry they needed to steal? I have no idea why they might do this otherwise.
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Post by poppopt on May 10, 2017 15:11:28 GMT
Glad things got turned around again for you, Feather! Sometimes the ingredients just aren't right and no matter how skilled the one trying to make something good out of them, they just won't work. Probably what happened on that bad day you had. I can't imagine all milk is created equal and wouldn't be surprised if there were quite a lot of variation in what's sold in the store as, "milk". Most of it probably works fine, but... every so often...
One day, I wanna try. Not quite ready yet, though.
Thanks for posting! I enjoy reading of the adventures.
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Post by feather on May 10, 2017 15:52:09 GMT
Well, when I bought this property 30 years ago, my husband and I dug trenches for this asparagus and put in manure, dug deep, bought asparagus crowns and it took a few years to get some asparagus. What galls me about the whole thing is I give all of my neighbors (this particular one too) free garlic and I give to the food bank in our area, and I'd be happy to give tomatoes to anyone during our surplus time (most people are overwhelmed with their own tomatoes and turn us away when we carry buckets of tomatoes to them), and yet, someone thinks they can trespass and steal asparagus from us.
So I wrote this note and put it in a glass jar to have in the asparagus garden. AND this matters because now I have even more things to steal, black berries and fruit trees, tomatoes, peppers, our entire garden, and GOD forbid these people think they can walk onto our land and take what they want. The note says: Thou shalt not covet the neighbor's asparagus. This asparagus is $18.99/lb. Woodman's sells it for $3.49 and it comes without a trespassing charge.
I'm not happy that this is happening. The last thing I need to happen is a feud between us and a neighbor. The last thing.
Redfish, how many day do you need to milk before the medicine is out of their system?
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Post by feather on May 10, 2017 22:54:18 GMT
The asparagus war will work out, it will. So my son comes up and says, anything new? I say, 'yeah I have pictures of our neighbors stealing our asparagus', he says, 'really?', I say no, no such luck I lied. The next time he comes up from the basement he says, got any goods on the neighbors. ha ha. I say, 'yeah, in the container, they put $18 in the jar for the pound of asparagus they took'. We both just laughed. It is silly and while the asparagus is disappearing, we aren't getting our undies in a bundle. It's asparagus.
Our parmesan from yesterday is brining and doing fine. @redfish,You have to wait 4 days!!! that's a long time to milk and not have any milk. I'm there with you in spirit.
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Post by feather on May 11, 2017 16:59:47 GMT
@redfish, you are teaching someone to make cheese, that is SO FUN and good for you for doing something good like this for someone else. You are providing a service to your community and mentoring others in feeding their family nutritious food. I'm really impressed.
You sold one kid! And you have only a few days more of milking before you can make cheese. I'm with you in spirit. It does seem like a lifetime to wait.
I'm making parmesan again, we eat a lot of it, so it's just being made to age for almost a year. I'm feeling more confidence about the parmesan now. I've made it 6 times and it's working out okay, no sticking cheese cloth to the cheese tearing up the surface of the cheese, no foam, no naughty curds. I've made all kinds of mistakes but I'm getting better at not making them anymore. I'm boiling equipment now. I'll be done making it at 7 tonight.
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Post by steveinpa on May 12, 2017 22:38:48 GMT
I've been following this thread and trying to convince my wife we need to give this a try. When I saw curds it was decided. I LOVE curds and haven't had them since my days spending summers in Canada. I just need to source supplies now.
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Post by feather on May 12, 2017 22:48:26 GMT
Here is a link to the video on youtube, making curds. Mine don't squeak but they do taste good. Good luck steveinpa,
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Post by feather on May 14, 2017 19:38:03 GMT
feather, shellymay, poppopt,@redfish, steveinpa,@redfish, happy mother's day, and tomorrow is MONDAY!!! steveinpa, The recipe above would be for about 1 lb and a few ounces of curds from 1 gallon of milk, but, I'd recommend making 4 gallon batches, because if you are going to dirty dishes and take over the kitchen, you might as well come out of it with 5 lbs of curds. We can polish off a lb of curds in an hour around here. I use an electric 18 quart roaster for the 4 gallon batch. Plus, it's just fun. There are other videos out there for making cheddar curds in larger amounts and they show how to cheddar them, layering them, turning them. I'm making cottage cheese, for spreading on toast (comfort food), for salads, for a small bowl for a fast meal, for scooping up on potato chips. I'm washing up all my cheesemaking equipment, and finding a place to store them together, for the next time.
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Post by feather on May 15, 2017 15:22:55 GMT
It's Monday! I have milk heating on the stove. I'm going to make a queso fresco since we just love fried cheese with our burritos (dinner tonight) and then a manchego so I've got some fresh cheese around, then during the rest of the week I'm going to have to make some cheddars to start restocking the larder. THEN I'm going to do something different. I don't know what yet, but something different. I'm so excited for you! If you get time to take pictures, please do. How much milk do you have with milking the goats?
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Post by shellymay on May 15, 2017 16:56:50 GMT
feather,.....Money is in the mail, sure was good asparagus LOL...........you and your son really made me laugh!
Then I read your post about the cottage cheese...........funny that there is soooooo many ways to eat cottage cheese, bet you could start a whole thread on how/ways do folks eat cottage cheese......I love cottage cheese, but it is the only food in the world that my DH won't put in his mouth, he would eat road kill before he would ever put cottage cheese in his mouth.....
@redfish, sorry about the goat rejecting one kid, but yeah for the sale and more milk for you How wonderful that you are back into the cheese making business, (supply of milk) love fried cheese as well.....Man I need to come visit you both (often) LOL
You ladies keep us posted with your latest makings you hear....
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