Somehow, since returning to the Finger Lakes, I have been a cheesy kind of mind. We have driven to a cheese place. (This is the start of a trend initiated by my partner who has been wanting to do this for a very long time.) I ordered and used a cheese making kit, And, all this led to other thoughts.
The first step in all of this was I had a shopping spasm and ordered a cheesemaking kit from Williams Sonoma. Yep. I bought to have researched and ordered directly from the firm but I did not. I indulged myself and I am glad I did. The kit is from urbancheesecraft and the most critical inclusion for me is the recipe pamphlet. The notion of a kit made me feel more secure - and the recipe pamphlet is very straightforward.
Challenge #1 was to get the right kind of milk. And we did by going to Jersey Bell Farm in Waterloo, NY - where you pay on an honor system, including a deposit for the jar, and get milk that is 100% grass fed and no hormones or antibiotics are used. And, to be honest, I loved the huge jar the milk came in. And, I felt victorious when I left with the milk!
This same day we wandered off on an adventure which was a trip to nearby Muranda Farms - because we saw the sign and it said 1.6 miles to Muranda Farms. Since we wanted to go to cheese places, well, we just went - together with our dog. And, we truly enjoyed the cheese tasting we did. (Ok, the dog was enthralled by the sight of cows and we were thrilled that she was well enough behaved to be allowed into the tasting room.) We had the tasting of 13 cheeses and then sat on the back porch for a bit staring off into the fields. A reminder of how beautiful the Finger Lakes can be even when the lakes are not the center of your visual field! In any case, we bought three cheese, all of which tasted much better than I have been imagining in my head when I see Muranda cheeses in the store!
What did we get and how did it taste?
Blue Cheese: soft, not too in your face, flavorful and salty.
Red Rover: a red pepper hot cheese which turns out to be really swell on corn chips, broiled, which we claim are nachos.
Farmhouse Parmesan: not quite gourmet but it shreds well, has a distinctive taste and made us happy.
We used up all the cheese very quickly which was unexpected!
And, back to the beginning - making cheese. I did it the next day. It turns out a gallon of milk makes about a pound of quest blanco which - also - is the same thing as quest fresco. Basically the issue is heating the milk to the right temperature (190 degrees), adding citric acid and eventually flake salt. The sight of curds and whey was fascinating - especially the color involved (yellow).
Here's what the cheese looks like shredded!
And, what I made was not perfect but certainly tasty cooked into various things including some poblano peppers with corn, chicken and. . . quest blanco. We used up all the cheese fairly quickly (it holds forum to 5 days) and so I felt victorious.
More on cheesemaking, possibly, later! You never know.
