what’s a ballpark cost per camembert? This sounds like a cool hobby I might have to get into…
Making cheese is simple. Anybody can make it given a lax enough hygiene policy. Making cheese that people will want to eat … now, there’s a challenge!
Kudos to the cheesemakers - the real ones, not the ones who don’t wash - of the world!
Yes…Blessed Are the Cheesemakers!!!
"Fromagier"?
China Guy: I’m not so bright at bookkeeping, but lessee - once you make an initial investment in the form of an old fridge, a thermostat, and a humidifier, then all you will need is a few supplies and milk. Everything except milk and occasional new purchases of bacterial starter, rennet and penicillium candidum is a one-time investment. Here’s my cost rundown:
Old fridge: already had one - purchase for maybe $100?
Thermostat: $60
Humidifier: $35
Assorted cheesemaking supplies: $60
Add lots of patience. It takes a day of staying home to supervise setting the milk, cutting the curds, and forming the cheese. After the cheeses are put into the cheese fridge, it requires doing nothing but impatiently checking the cheese every day for a week to make sure the mold is forming. Even then they must ripen for another 2-3 weeks before becoming soft and runny. However, it’s a lot of fun.
[obligatory Monty Python reference]
Would you have any Lithuanian Beaver Cheese?
[/obligatory Monty Python reference]
Actually, having followed this thread and your fuzzy friends, and witnessing a partial episode on the Food Network, I’ve been inspired to try my hand with some homemade mozzarella. Apparently it involves me sticking my hands into extrememly hot water, but it sounds quite doable.
Well, let’s see . . .
::getting out the calendar::
It has been a little over three weeks since making the cheeses and we brought one out and cut into it last night. Voila! Creamy, runny interior - check. Tender, white crust - check. As good as an imported French camembert - well, mm. Don’t get me wrong; it’s very good. It seems to have a sharper, more pronounced taste than camemberts I’ve had in the past, and there was a bit of “bleu” flavor in it, as well. I believe this may have been because I kept the cheese environment a bit too damp and thus encouraged wild bleu mould spores to move in and take up housekeeping. Still, it’s a lot of fun and I love to look in my cheese fridge and see the neat white camembert discs in there.
I’ll try again, this time with goat’s milk, and I’ll make some fresh and some ripened cheeses.
rundogrun, did you ever make that mozzarella? That’s something I’d like to try, too.
I was inspired by this thread to order one of the kits for my husband’s birthday. He is seriously excited. Thanks for the hint, pugluvr!
[hijack]Have you ever read this book? I’m into dachshunds, myself, but it is one of the funniest dog books I have ever read. I recommend it![/hijack]
The Punkyova: Post and let me know how your husband’s cheesemaking went. Thanks for the book tip. Yes indeedy, I have that book and you’re right, it’s hilarious. I have a few books by Margo Kaufman, and they’re all very funny. Did you hear she died earlier this year? Breast cancer, dammit.
NO! 
This is awful. I suppose it explains why I haven’t heard her on “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me!” for a while. I’m really sorry to hear this. I felt like I knew her, a little, through her books, and she was a funny, spunky person, the kind you’d want to be friends with. My sympathies go to her husband and son. (And the pugs.)
Pugluvr, I’ve been dying to mention this in a thread somewhere and this seems like the right place. If you love Camenbert, then you are going to go crazy on this new cheese I discovered last week. It is called Fromager D’ Affinois (i.e., The Cheesemaker of Affinois) and it is quite simply one of the finest cheeses I have ever had. It is an extremely buttery style of breakfast cheese and is more towards a St. Andre than a Brie or Camenbert.
I just bought some more an hour ago and it awaits my morning’s breakfast plate tomorrow. Be sure to bring it back to near room temperature before ingesting it. The bouquet is gentle and superb. This stuff is just plain wonderful. I found it at Zannotto’s gourmet section. The nearest one to you is in Scott’s Valley, but if you’re up here in Silicon Valley, you definitely want to scoot over to one of their stores and put the glom on some of this dairyland dynamite. Best wishes for your cheesemaking adventures, it is something that I have considered doing as well.