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Hi Jim
I popped over to our Facebook page and asked there were other Curd Nerds are buying their supplies from in the US. Below are the replies.
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If you think your pH levels are out of range, the only real way to make sure you are achieving them is to use a pH meter. Cheddar is one cheese that I think a pH meter is almost essential for. Without one you can end up with all sort of issues or, at best, an ok cheese. If you want a good cheese it’s worth investing in one and checking those levels at each step to make sure you are within range and heading in the right direction before you start aging.
The other thing to keep an eye on is the moisture around your cheese (i.e. collected whey), temperature and humidity. Do you think these are all suitable?
It’s absolutely fine not to use lipase if you believe your milk has enough of it’s own. As you can imagine, traditionally made cheese never had additions of ingredients such as lipase added. They just worked with the milk and cultures they had, and their unique profiles and made certain cheeses accordingly.
Let your cream settled and then carefully spoon it off, getting as much of it as you can. This will reduce the fat content nicely and allow you to make your Parmesan.
Let us know how you go! : )
That’s exactly what I do ranzi.
Once you can feel that all the salt added has been absorbed into the cheese, then apply more. But if it’s still on the surface, wait until the next due salting time and check again.
The density of your curd and the rind formed will impact how much salt is assimilated so directions on a set amount of salt and application do not always apply.
If you got a curd, your Rennet probably wasn’t the issue.
The stretch comes when you have the right balance of heat and acidity. Too much heat and your curd will just melt away. Too little and your curd will break. Likewise, if your acidity is out you’ll probably struggle too.
My thought is that 4 days, with 1-3 day old milk, is probably too long.
Perhaps try to leave it for just 36-48 hours and see if this helps.
Let us know! : )
Hi Sarah
They should definitely soften with age. These kinds of cheeses ripen from the edge in towards the middle so you;ll notice the softening in the middle, last.
Take a look at this post about Camembert maturation and it might give you a few extra tips for keeping an eye on your aging process.
I use a similar type of thing for my ripening ranzi007.
They are actually Starmaid Microwave Fish Poachers but they work perfectly for my Cams, Bries etc.
They cost me around $8 NZD.
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Hi Roger
ranzi007 has the current situation for images correct, but we’re looking at allowing images to be directly uploaded to the forum as we speak. We’re just testing storage allocations etc and then you will see the attachment button pop up shortly and we’ll let everyone know when it’s ready to be used.
For the short term, just click on the img button and it will ask you for the url of your image. Photobucket is one site for getting your url, as is Tiny Pic.
Hi Lesley
For that amount of raw milk, I wouldn’t use more than a 1/4 teaspoon of culture, even leaning towards slightly less if you can. And then for the Propionic I would try around 1/16th of a teaspoon, or just a very small pinch. You really don’t need a lot.
Hi Lesley
Great to hear of your Camembert success!
It sounds like your patience paid off with some delicious cheese.
Keep up the great work!
Hi Rosalie
Yes, it’s possible to remove the cartoon avatar. We’ve just added an extra bit of code to make that possible.
To change your picture, go into your profile and scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will see an option to upload a picture. Save your profile once you’ve uploaded the photo and you’re all set : )
Hi Rob
Thanks for letting me know about the General Question area being closed. This should now be open to use.
To change your avatar, pop on over to a site called Gravatar. This site lets you associate a picture with your online accounts so that you can appear as yourself (or anyone else you like), and not the crazy yeast beast.
