Making cheese - part 1

Since we started selling cheese at popups and markets people have been asking if we make our own cheese and until now the answer has been "no, but we plan to soon". Well that moment is here now and we have started making our own cheese. For now it's all about practice and getting things right but over time we hope our cheese will be front and centre in the shop.

On Monday, 27th June 2016 we began our cheesemaking journey. Our first attempt was a cow's milk crottin so we got our cheese molds, cultures, unhomogenised milk, rennet and all the equipment we thought we needed and set about cheese making. It was fun!

There were so many high points to the day but breaking the curd for the first time has to be at the top. We followed the procedure set out in front of us, temperature control, adding rennet, waiting, cutting curds, more waiting, then came the fun but messy task of putting the curds in the molds. We got there in the end as you can see below.

 

It was then a case of waiting for a while, flipping a couple of times and then leaving out of their molds overnight.

The next day, we gave the firm cheeses a little brine bath and then left them to mature in our 'cave' for 4-6 weeks. It's been a bit of a battle keeping the temperature and humidity right but we're getting there. We can't wait to cut one open.