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

Let's Hear It for Hops!

As I mentioned earlier, I have tried an experiment with adding hops to the curds when the cheese is being made. The recipe that I used was the basic hard-cheese recipe that has worked well for me in the past.  The bacteria culture would be called a mesophilic, Farmhouse blend; though it contains both some mesophilic and thermophilic strains.  Its been about two months since then, so I figured it was time for a sample.

My Version

  I'm pretty happy with the results.  The texture of the cheese is pliable, sort of elastic; much like a slice of Swiss cheese would be.  The hops add a bit of aroma that is a combo of pine and broccoli - odd, yes, I know.  There is a slight bitterness that has come from the hops, but not enough to make this not taste like cheese.  It melted well between two slices of bread, too.  (The red tinge showing in the picture was caused by the red wax that I had coated the cheese with.  Not something funky)

Harpersfield Tilsit

A few days after I opened this one up, I planned a day off to visit a local farm that is licensed to sell raw cow's milk.  I've made one cheese using their milk so far (and after pulling a small core from it to taste, I'm happy with the way this one is aging) and I wanted to try another.  They are Grayrock Farm, located near Cazenovia, NY.  But when I arrived I found the self-serve refrigerator empty!  Many of their cows are dried-off right now with the mama's expecting calves in spring; they sell milk-shares as part of their CSA operation which meant the demand exceeded the supply.  Anywho, on my return trip home I stopped at a local food co-op near Syracuse University to see what they have for milk. Their Ithaca Milk Co. milk was no cheaper than where I bought it before, so I just browsed the store.  At their cheese cooler I was surprised to see a Hop Cheese from a company located in southern New York called Harpersfield.  They have created a Tilsit-style cheese that has hops added to it.

Now, a Tilsit cheese is a cousin of Muenster Cheese which makes it a rather strong-smelling variety to start with.  Their Hop Cheese ends up being more bitter and less enjoyable than what I made.  I can guess that using a hop variety with the lowest alpha-acid level would keep the bitterness low while still providing the aromas that make hops so wonderful.  

So, I think I'm onto something here and I'll try another variation on the hops-theme soon.

later,
Cheesey-boy

What's in a Name?

For some time now I've been thinking how the previous name of this blog, "Bread, Beer & Cheese" was a little bit of a misnomer.  Truth is: I haven't bought a loaf of bread in months, let alone bake any bread. Just been cutting the bread out of my home-diet.  My toaster collects dust rather than bread crumbs.
So, this name "Fromage Garage" has become a better moniker for my recent concentration on all-things-cheese. (pretty clever Photoshop image, eh?)  Cheese making, tasting, and researching have occupied me for several months, once again.

 This last weekend I cut open the three-month old Asiago-style cheese I made in November. It made me very happy! The cheese is very firm; good with the slicer and the grater.  Its flavor is on-target, I think; a little salty, a little nutty, and delicious. I grated some on my salad and later cut some into my morning omelet.  I will try to repeat this one soon using what I hope will become my new go-to source of milk: Ithaca Milk Co. pasteurized, whole (or skimmed) non-homogenized Jersey Cow milk.

Also, I cut open the oldest Tomme cheese I made in early December.  While I followed a recipe from Peter Dixon for Tomme, this cheese had no surface molds on the rind; so maybe 'Tomme' is not entirely accurate.  It looks very similar to Havarti, with all the small openings.  Its texture is soft and pliable, again much like Havarti.  Its flavor is OK, but it borders on 'tart' rather than sweet and creamy. All-in-all it was enjoyed by all.

I finally sampled the Port au Salut cheese that I purchased many days ago at Danny Wegmans.  This particular cheese was made by a company named Atalanta, from somewhere in France.  Port au Salut is soft cheese for people who don't like soft cheese with strong aromas.  It spreads easily and has a cream flavor with very little aroma that most associate with Brie or Camembert.  In fact, Port au Salut does not have a bloomy rind.What you see is a thin plastic, breathable label that gives the reddish appearance.


That's all for now, but I did pick up a few more cheese samples that I will report on, soon.

'til then....Peace,
Cheesey-boy

Sheep and/or Goat Cheese sampling:

Here is a sample of a French cheese made from a blend of goat and sheep milk. I enjoyed the earthy flavors and the aroma was not too strong. 
From the website "WB Cheese" (world's best cheese) comes this description:
Onetik, one of the largest producers of Ossau-Iraty, makes this 2-3-month aged tomme. Whereas most Basque cheeses are made entirely of sheep's milk, sheep and goats' milk are used here to create a well-balanced cheese, with a friendly, nuanced flavor that will please the palates of novices and gourmands alike. Nutty, sweet and herbal, with a clean finish. It has a toothsome, semi-firm texture, and is covered with a rustic natural rind. 

The first cheese that I sampled after the trip to Wegman's Cheese Department was called Miti Cana Oveja.  It is a sheep's milk cheese from Spain with a semi-soft center and a bloomy, white rind.  It was not over-powering in either its aroma or flavor, just a tasty, slightly-salty center section surrounded by a layer just inside the rind that was creamier.  The cheese is made in the shape of a log, about 3 inches in diameter. (not my picture, but very true to the piece I bought)

Hope this inspires you to try something different from the cheese-monger near you.
Peace,
Cheesey-boy 

Mid-winter sampling

In an effort to not let this Blog sit too long between entries, I will tell you of some sampling I have done and will do.

I stopped by the cheese department of my local supermarket named Wegman's and picked up a variety of imported cheese to sample. Also grabbed a 6-pack of Brooklyn Brown Ale and Ruthless Rye from Sierra Nevada for good measure.  Maybe a Rhine wine would be good for this project too. (more later about my own "Braggot" experiments).  I will try the Port Salut this weekend,......













but I did open a small 'puck' of Saint Vernier. Saint Vernier a soft washed-rind cheese that is made in the Haute Jura region of France. The rind is washed with a local wine 'Affine au vin de Savagnin (Jura)' that gives the cheese its stickiness and the rind also shows the red bacteria "b.linens" that makes a strong aroma that might scare you at first.  But, have faith and give this cheese a few minutes to air-out. The flavor of the cheese is extremely rich and soft; it has a delicate sherry-like flavor and when you cut the cheese it is so creamy and soft it runs for your crackers. Quite delicious!

More to follow, gotta go shovel snow from Winter Storm "Nemo" - great! now the Weather Channel can hype winter storms, too.

Peace
Cheesey-boy

Braggot outcome & Cheese Experiments

It is almost 60 days since my first cheese after my hiatus, so a sampling will happen soon.  I have battled the blue-molds and the cheese has a nice hard rind. Think I'll look for a "trier" (a tool that allows you to sample a small core from your cheese) so that I have a better handle on the aging process.  Since the first, hard cheese, I've now got two, softer Tomme cheeses aging in the pantry. 

But the wild experiment I just tried I'll call a "Hop Cheese".  Its a hard cheese that has a small amount of hops mixed in with the curd. The idea came to me last fall, as I sat and talked with a dear friend at the Madison County Hop Festival. Other herbs are routinely added to cheese, so why not hops? Stay tuned and we shall see.

The "Fumee` Braggot Noir" is now in the sampling/evaluation stages.  My initial reaction is that the recipe needs tweaking because you would not know there was 3 lbs. of Buckwheat Honey in the mix - and that's the whole point of a Braggot Ale - it's half honey.  What I have (and this is not a bad thing) is a smoked porter. The chocolate malt and the smoked malt overpower any flavors the buckwheat honey may have contributed.  It is a very good tasting smoked porter, but a little disappointing just the same.  I have a second attempt at a Braggot sitting in the secondary fermenter now that also uses the Buckwheat honey but the base-ale is really a wheat beer.  Maybe this will work better.

Until then... Peace
Cheesey-boy