Thursday 15 October 2015

First shiver, first cheese, heat awaited.......


Finally got round to making some soft cheese, 
with the milk given so far from our cows going to the dogs, pigs, and cooking,
but no cheese, which I felt guilty about, but which was beyond my control.
OK, so......
I had already bought some cultures to make cheese with
so all I had to do was read the recipe, 
which seemed simple enough,
..... heat one gallon of milk to 86 C,
add 1/16 tsp of Mesophilic starter culture series 4001-4002,
then 1/8tsp rennet (vegetarian)
both purchased from The Cheesemaker company in America,
then a good gentle up and down stir of the milk,
lid on pot,
leave at room temperature (around 72 C) for 12 hours,
or if you were me...
until you remembered to have a look to see if the curds and whey had arrived.
Muslin into colander,
colander put over big pot,
curds and whey into colander,
and drained for several hours.

And this is what I got after I had added salt and herbs to the cheese....


.....quite a dish full of soft cheese, which is going to last us for a while,
so I need to find some recipes online to use this cheese up.
I was surprised at how much cheese just one gallon of milk made,
and will be definitely making the recipe again. 
I think I could add make this cheese sweeter by adding sugar, honey, or fruit,
so lots of experimenting ahead.....

And the first bit of shivering.
The over night temperatures have gone down,
although the day time temperatures are still holding good for the moment.
So, scarf (to keep my neck warm) and fleece top, but no thermals yet, that is what I am now wearing.
And trying not to get grumpy about the cold.

However......


....... pipes! And attached to the Rayburn! 
Could this be the end to my early winter grumpiness about the cold?
Because today the fire will be lit in the Rayburn,
and the pipes will be tested for leaks,
and with any luck,
and all fingers crossed, 
it just be possible that we shall have heat this winter!
And do doubt there will be plenty of arguing between me and Lester as to who is going to be sitting in the chair beside the Rayburn!

11 comments:

Diane said...

Wow that cheese looks good Vera well done. Yes a definite drop in temperature and not to my liking. I am told we have all the signs that we are going to have a very cold winter!!! Keep warm Diane

Vera said...

Diane, oh! A cold winter! Oh, Oh, Oh! Well let's hope that Lester can get the Rayburn running otherwise it will be double thermal underwear for me this winter!

Dawn said...

Great news on the cheese front and the rayburn, but if you are running around in just a scarf and a fleece you will be shivering put some clothes on woman :-)

Cro Magnon said...

I have a small antique cheese press. The curds go in, the remaining water is pressed out, and the resulting block of cheese left to mature.

When we had an Aga my favourite position was having my back to stove, holding on to the bar. Warm bum.... nothing like it.

Vera said...

DAWN....oh so that was why I was still feeling chilled....I needed to wear more clothes other than scarf and fleece!

CRO MAGNON, ahhhhhh! I have already been practising leaning up against the front bar of our Rayburn even though it is not alight at the moment, but just getting ready for when it is!
I might have a go at using my 'non antique' cheese press to get the next batch of soft cheese processed...just to see what happens!

Ohiofarmgirl said...

i'm SO excited about the Rayburn!!! i love the cheese - great work! we havent had any fresh cheese this year so i'm totally jealous. it looks wonderful.

Horst in Edmonton said...

HI Vera, I looked at the photo of the easy chair next to the Rayburn and thought oh my, the easy chair will go up in flames if they don't move the chair further away. I hope you realize that coal and wood stoves get very hot and burn things that are too close. Hope you stay warm but not to hot ;-) Bye for now have a great Sunday.

Kerry said...

Love the idea of making your own cheese, what sort of cheese would you liken it too? Don't argue over the chair, just get another chair :) x

Kirsty said...

Oh beautiful Rayburn x

Vera said...

OHIOFARMGIRL, you must really miss not having fresh cheese, OFG....I remember some of the cheese that you have made in the past, and they looked gorgeous!

HORST, the fire was not lit when I took the photo, but when it was, then the chair was moved slightly away from the Rayburn so it would not burn. Bless you, thank you for caring.

KERRY, good idea about getting another chair...I thought one of the summer plastic chairs covered with a throw would do because it is light enough to get out of the way if we need to cook or put logs in to the Rayburn. As for the cheese I made...it was called 'Lactic cheese' and tasted vaguely like Philadelphia soft cheese although not quite so creamy. It still tasted good though!

Vera said...

KIRSTY, when we leaned against the safety bar and roasted our backs on the warmth from that Rayburn we thought so too!