Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.


Thursday, May 19, 2011

Cheese reference and my blue got loose!

If you are even remotely interested in cheese making you have to run right over and check out Dr. David B. Fankhauser's, (Ph.D.), extremely interesting cheese site, Fankhauser's Cheese page. Wow does he know his stuff and he has tons of recipes. The best thing about Dr. Fankhauser is that he makes the science of cheese making approachable. And he's been known to be extremely gracious in answering slightly hysterical emails from...ahem... someone we all might know. Thanks Dr. F for all your great info - and for teaching us how to get 'er done.

That wasn't there before.....

In totally unrelated news..... apparently my blue mold got loose in my cheese fridge! Remember when I attempted to make a Roquefort-goat blue cheese? Well. Honestly, I'm a little afraid of that cheese. Its there - looking at me. Actually it looks like its about to crawl away. So its been sitting in the cheese fridge while I gather up the gumption to do something with it.

While I'd been hiding under the table trying to avoid the Roquefort - the blue mold, apparently, had gone on walkabout. And it got into the gouda that was curing just above it. When I finally opened the fridge I saw the distinctive blue veining you'd see in a lovely blue cheese - in my gouda!. Upon closer inspection I found that there was a small hole in the light yellow cheese wax I'd used. A-ha! The entry point for the blue bacteria spores to creep into the gouda.

I was calmed by a noted cheese expert and instructed not to throw out the cheese! But that I could still use it. And yep, the blue mold just kinda found its way into the gouda since they were sharing a space. Since I wanted to cure the goudas for a bit longer I decided to rewax them.

This time I used black cheesewax from Leeners - which I received by next day delivery -no extra charge! It just showed up the next day. I love those guys. However, my UPS guy who hates us anyway, is now convinced I'm a loon. I heard the truck while I was milking and ran around the corner, clomping along loudly  in my barn boots and muddy work clothes and yelling YOOOO-HOOOO!!!! I was trying to get his attention but instead gave him a huge laugh. I swear I'm gonna be on "People of Walmart" on day... sheesh!

Waxing my cheese.

Anyway. The pix aren't great but the black cheese wax is just beautiful. I think its going to be stunning when I finally open these cheeses. You can see that I melt the wax in an old pan (in a double boiler) and use a natural bristle brush. Mostly I can just dip the cheese into the wax and use the brush to touch up with missed spots. The black wax allowed me to get the whole surface waxed and not leave any holes - unlike the light yellow wax which was the same color as the cheese.

Hopefully the blue mold will remain contained - or at least will stay out of my gouda.  If not I think I've invented a new cheese.  We can call it Barnyard Blue.

Happy Thursday everyone!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

blue cheese is amazing melted into a basic beschamel and poured over hot pasta.

David P. Offutt - The Gastronomic Gardener said...

Am I blue? Shooby dooby doo. How dem hogs doing?

Gingerbreadshouse7 said...

I can't catch up with your regular cheese making least of all the special things your doing...learn well so you can teach me :o)

Carolyn said...

I love his website! And I agree, he does take the "mystery" out of cheesemaking. What a great cheese guy!

Summersweet Farm said...

This is not a mistake - you are just cutting edge! I actually saw a blue gouda at Whole Foods the other day, for some outrageous price. My two favorites combined - be still my heart! I was tempted to try it, but had already amassed far too much fermented dairy product in my cart. ;)

Ohiofarmgirl said...

Sounds GREAT Allie! Yum....

Shooby-dooby.. hey David! Pigz are good. They have decided that I'm their mommy and that they love me. Boy aren't THEY gonna be surprised!

Thanks Ginny - I sure will! The best part is learning all these new, fun things.

Carolyn - isnt he wonderful? So much information.

Hey SSF! Look at me all cutting edge. Maybe I'll sell my Barnyard Blue for a lot of $$! hee hee hee and wow do I miss the cheese selection at Whole Foods. its one of the reasons I took up cheese making - not a lot of other options here.

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