Tasting the Brie.....mmm-good!

They liked it!

Today, I took Brie number two (the first one that seems to have the right height-to-diameter ratio) into work and sent out an e-mail invitation to my co-workers to come around for a sampling.  It was well received by everyone!

I cut out a good sized wedge and then split it down the middle - laying it open, with rind-side down.  Then, covered with a few walnut pieces and drizzled an apple-cider-molasses over top.  Popped it into the toaster oven for it to lightly melt, and voila!

So, I'm very happy with this success, especially since the whole process took only 4 weeks.

Here's something very strange; the original wine-cooler/cheese cave has risen from the dead to once again maintain desired temperatures!  We'll see how long it lasts.  I may get more milk tomorrow and build another brie. 

Cheesey-boy 

Bigger Troubles with the Cheese Cave

I had high hopes that the Visanni wine cooler would make a great cheese cave.  Even after reading reviews from the Home Depot website that were about 50/50.  After it was plugged in and running, though, the warmest temperature I could get was 53-degrees.  I would have liked to see 58.  The machines had six colder settings than #1 that I was using! Well it did maintain that 53 pretty consistantly (made it hard to get a relative humidity anywhere near the 80% I wanted) ... only for about 10 days!

Then it started keeping 42 degrees! No Way!  If I wanted it that cold I could just but the cheese in my refrigerator.

So I boxed it all back up and took it back to Home Depot for a refund.

The latest brie is in confinement down cellar and is showing a good growth of white mold.  The older bries are now wrapped in a special cheese paper and are stored in my refrigerator. (as per recipe directions)

After I cut one of the first ones open later this week, I'll post my impressions.

Don't know what the next cheese cave attempt is going to be, so until I get that figured out, I'll have to hold off on making any more.

Later cheese-whiz,
Cheesey-boy

Cave trouble!

Saturday morning while I was minding my own bees-wax, I began to hear a constant beeping noise.  It turned out to be the used, Emerson wine cooler that has been my cheese cave.  It was in death-throws. It has died. Of course, the three brie cheeses would not be too happy with this.   So...

I now have a new Visanni wine cooler/cheese cave. It is much larger, came with 5 wooden racks, and is a real refrigeration unit with a compressor, unlike the Emerson which regulated temperature with some bi-metal device and a bunch of circuit board magic.
Anyway, my three brie now have a new home.

Visanni 28 bottle wine cooler

The twin brie are looking good, seem to have a nice even coat developing.  Brie #2 is just beginning to show white growth.

the "twins" at day-12

later, 
Cheesey-boy

New Brie

Here's an update from the land of brie:
White mold developing rather nicely.

Having so much fun (and room in the cheese cave / wine cooler for more) I made another brie on the 26th. This time using 2 gallons of milk and getting all the curds into one of the molds (7.5" dia. by 3.5" tall).  I think this may be a better dimension for the aging process.

 Stay tuned, cheese-heads.
Cheesey-boy

'Nother Try at White-fuzzy Cheese
That cambozola got tossed into the trash (with buzzards circling) so I've been leery of venturing into that sytle again.
I did have a couple tasty cheese that were in the style of Swiss / Emmental with small eyes throughout, and since I've still got the cultures to make white,fuzzy cheese, and a new milk source (Stoltzfus Farms, in Vernon NY) I have bravely stepped back into the cheese factory.

We shall see.....
later
Cheesey-Boy

UPDATE on Cambozola

Not sure if this expirement is on track or off the tracks!  The cheese did begin growing a rather furry white coat of Penicillum candidum, however, that covering has now died back, leaving a slippery slope.  The cheese rind seems intact, but there should be a healthy white layer of mold by now.  Wishing to give this one the benefit of the doubt, I went ahead with the puncturing step that is supposed to supply air into the 'paste' (as it is called) where the blue mold is waiting.
Trouble is: this cheese stinks! Stinks so much that I moved it out of the house and into a shed out back.  If things don't improve very soon the next entry may well be the obituary for this baby.

That's all for now.
Stay tuned curd-nerd.
-Cheesey-boy

Cambozola

I made another advance into un-tested territory over the weekend with the creation of a Cambozola - or sometimes called Blue-Brie.  This recipe/style combines both aspects of soft-ripend, white-mold Camembert and Roquefort/blue mold.  The end result is a soft, blue cheese that is usually not as strong-flavored as many of the Blue Cheese family.  While shopping at my Regional farmer's Market this Saturday, I came upon the Ithaca Milk Co. and Fingerlakes Cheese booth.  So I bought a gallon of whole, un-homogenized milk plus a pint of heavy cream and hurried home to try using the newly purchased cultures necessary for these white and blue molds.  
This cheese came out very soft and squishy; mostly because the curds are not really heated and stirred much at all. After it drained overnight it looked like this.  I'll give it about a week and then attach a new picture. Hopefully by then there will be a solid, fuzzy growth of white Penicillium candidum.

Stay Tuned, curd-nerds!
- Cheesey-boy