OK, I’ve studied my cheesemaking book. I’ve got the supplies. I’ve made one batch that didn’t turn out right, diagnosed the problem, and fixed it. Will this weekend see the creation of a proper batch of camembert? Here’s hoping.
I’m seriously addicted to cheese, so I got the itch to try to make some of my own. I studied up on the subject, and it turns out you need a few special supplies (easy), and a cheese cave (not so easy). Luckily, we already have an old fridge in the garage which has been tinkered with so that it can hold steadily at 55 degrees (we keep our wine in it). Cheese likes to ripen in the same conditions as you would find in a wine cave.
I made my first batch of camembert about two months ago, and things were going fine. I put the pretty white cakes of fresh cheese in the fridge, sprayed them with the special mold solution, and waited. Camemberts should grow into white puffballs, but these did not. We then discovered that a cheese cave should be humidified to 85%, so we fixed that aspect with a humidifier, but it was too late for the poor camemberts - they were almost as hard as hockey pucks.
I was too lazy to toss the cheeses, so they sat in there for a few weeks. Yesterday, I decided it was eviction time, so I got them out and decided to cut one open before tossing it and see if I could learn something. You know what? They were firm and silky and yummy on the inside, sort of like a gouda or a swiss. Hmm!
Well, I still want to make my own camembert, seeing that I probably eat about two per week. I’ll brew up a new batch on Saturday and I hope I can perfect the method. Long live American food artisans!
Oh! Oh! What’s the name of the book? How did you do it? I’ve wanted to make cheese fooorrrrever, even bought a “kit” from someplace. Made what was supposed to be fresh mozzerella, it turned out to be more like Farmer’s Cheese. Further inspection showed me that the rest of the cheeses in the book were variations on the Farmer’s Cheese recipe. Tossed book out. Haven’t made cheese since.
That is the coolest damned hobby I have ever heard of. Good for you! I’m glad the batch turned out nicely after all.
FWIW, you shouldn’t eat hockey pucks.
Athena: The book is “Cheesemaking Made Easy,” which I bought online (together with all the equipment) from the New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. Here’s their website:
My tale of camembert-making is a little involved to describe here, but if you’d like, I’ll email it to you.
Wow, I’d love to be able to make homemade mozzarella. It seems a little involved, however. Don’t you have to cook the curds and keep them hot while you mold them into balls? Still, there’s nothing like fresh mozzarella.
Yeah, farmer’s cheese is pretty basic and easy and a little boring. Real cheesemaking involves more time and some science; however, the results are worth it, in my opinion.
pugluvr…
PLEASE keep us updated, at least me by email, on how it goes and how it turns out! I LOVE camembert and brie and could so get into making my own if it can work at home. Between making beer, wine and then cheese, I may never have to leave the house again!!!
Mr. L has been making Cheddar every weekend for the past three months. And he, too, has an old fridge in the garage, just for the cheese. It really is kinda cool, though, and will save money, as we are all chesse addicts.
His other too current obsessions are photography and leatherworking. He made me a pair of leather knee high moccasins last weekend, then took lots o’ pictures of 'em (while he was waiting for the curds to cook).
Are you giving your wonderful homemade cheese for Christmas presents?
Tequila Mockingbird: I’ll let you know the results, with pleasure. In the meantime, you can look at photographs of camembert-making at a website I found:
Lyllyan: I’ll give 'em away if there are enough and I know anyone who likes camembert, like we do. Most people I know get a case of the “ewes” (ewwww! ewwww!) regarding a lot of the things I like.
The Big Cheese: If you have heard that rennet is an enzyme derived from calfs’ stomachs, you heard right. However, there are nowadays lots of products of vegetable origin which do exactly what rennet does, and there are artifically produced rennets which are chemically exactly the same as calf’s rennet, but are not of animal origin. Addition of rennet to the milk is necessary to cause the milk to form curds.
OH OH OH! I just HAVE to do this. In fact, I am going to buy one of the kits today. I love cheese so much I am MADE of cheese. I could subsist on nothing BUT cheese. You get the idea.
[sub]Anybody know a good recipe on how to make Velveta? …BWAAHAHAHA! runs away arms flailing[/sub]
The cheeses have landed. In the fridge are three plump white lovely fresh camemberts. The humidifier is chugging away, making the inside of the fridge as damp and clammy as a real wine cellar. My only worry is that I now remember that I touched the cheese curds with a spoon that one of my pugs had licked. Hopefully the pug bacteria will not grow in the curd medium and turn the cheeses into little puggensteins.
Well, now we just sit and wait. If all goes well, they (the cheeses, not the pugs) should be fuzzy with white mold in a week or two.
Houston, we have mold. Six days after the cheeses were inoculated with penicillium candidum, they are starting to get fuzzy with white mold, like the good little camemberts that they are.
[sub]lessee, I can already make bread. Add wine, beer and cheese, that should take care of the four basic food groups. . . . ::walks away mumbling::[/sub]
