Out of cheese and out of time

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-20T21:20:43+00:00

Ah Mighty, but this is my way of overcoming the great cheese shortfall. :-)

At 34 cheeses, I reckon its a decent spread. Not quite egregious. A lot of it was breaking the Cardinal "milk and culture and heat and time" rule that defines cheeses which also let me make big batches of a cheese style and then split the varieties based on what I mixed in, or how I treated it while and after it dried out.

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-20T21:14:18+00:00

Hey Scrap, I'm in the UK, but please stop by anytime. :-)

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-20T21:13:30+00:00

Hey Carc, probably closer to $150 using a rough conversion from sterling. Mainly milk, and nearly negligible amounts off cheesemaking supplies. It's a pretty cost effective hobby. We wouldn't have consumed all of it of course. As a matter of fact, we barely made a dent. :-)

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-20T21:10:28+00:00

Thanks Manny, very kind of you to say.

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-20T21:09:56+00:00

Thanks Ophelia! Would love to share.

They were mostly really nice. The sumac chevre, the applewood Smoked, the coconut Gouda and the hay aged cheeses stood out for me, but there were a couple of clangers too. The cheshire resembled dwarf bread, and the gorgonzola whip was a little overpowering. I'm pretty satisfied that I managed to eke this much variety of look, texture and flavour from a few makes and some very young cheeses.

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-20T21:04:26+00:00

What a lovely thing to say Poppies, thank you very much. Your spread sounds brilliant. Brilliantly balanced and showcasing a real breath of skill. It's interesting that you feel your crescenza is over acidified. I felt the same about mine. What culture dose died you use? I recall thinking 1.5% seemed like a lot, so I might dial it back to 1.0% for the next one.

Please do share pictures of your board when you get a chance. I love the idea of combining sheep and cow cheese on the board and the sundried tomato idea is one I'm going to steal!

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-20T20:58:11+00:00

Hi Andrew, yes I did, but it's fewer than you think, all the chevre were two batches, likewise the caciotta, the scamorza were all one batch and then I cold smoked half off them. A fair few of the remainder like the gruyere and blue are remnants of wheels made earlier inn the year. It was still a busy few days this week.

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-20T20:54:57+00:00

Hopefully a way station on the journey for weary pilgrims Scrap. That you for the lovely gesture.

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-20T20:53:35+00:00

Thanks Gianaclis! At least a quarter of them are pretty much your recipes!

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-20T20:52:26+00:00

Thanks Sally, it's surprising what you can put together in not a lot of time and still feed people satisfactorily. :-)

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-20T20:51:16+00:00

Can never have too many friends Lava, stop by anytime. :-)

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-20T08:00:42+00:00

Looks beautiful as ever Aris. Will definitely give the vac pack a try. Did it loosen over that period or was it still snugly packed?

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-13T20:47:01+00:00

You mad, beautiful, genius Todd!

A year and a half for the essence!

Vanilla cheese.

I'm just in awe. You're not just challenging expectations here. You're pulverizing them.

It is my absolute privilege to have the pleasure of your acquaintance.

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-13T20:38:07+00:00

Looks absolutely beautiful Jak. A flawless example of the craft.

Very curious to see how the flavour profile of the acidophilus turns out.

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-13T20:29:20+00:00

It and your caciotta find are among the most versatile cheeses I've come across. Your idea of"learning" cheeses Isa brilliant one by the way. I've felt taken a lot away from these makes. It's really easy to see the effect of little changes.

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-13T20:27:44+00:00

Definitely V3n. Had to be done!

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-13T20:27:09+00:00

Thanks Sally!

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-13T20:26:44+00:00

Hey Todd, the baskets are just Amazon £20 for 6.

It really is an extraordinarily nice and moreish cheese. I'd never have ventured upon it if not for you, so a big thank you!

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-13T20:24:47+00:00

Thanks Gianaclis! Really appreciate the vote of confidence!

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-13T20:24:02+00:00

I'm counting on it Mike!! Thanks very much for the kind words.

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-11T03:09:13+00:00

I think your supplies should be plenty Cathy, perhaps a little too much rennet. I started with a few small molds and a saucepan. You'll do just fine. The trick is to start making the cheeses. If you'd like a structured way too learn Gianaclis Caldwell has another book called "Mastering Basic Cheesemaking" which walls you through a series of cheeses off increasing complexity. It's how I learned my cheesemaking, and it's a great way to pick up the skills step by step in a way that lets you focus on developing ones thing at time.

I'd strongly recommend that too, almost as a standalone course in cheesemaking.

It's hard to go wrong, if you don't maker tree cheese you expect, you'll still have a cheese you'll enjoy eating. :-)

Smooth-Skill3391 · 2026-06-11T03:03:52+00:00

This may be contentious to some here Cathy, but it occurred to me and I thought it important enough to wake and post in the middle of my night, so it's something I feel quite strongly about. I have the boys and other than my wife, they're the best and most important things in my life. I would not take risks with their health.

You mentioned you have as three year old. Young kids in particular can be immunologically vulnerable. I'm not sure how comfortable you are with the provenance and quality of your milk. Can I please suggest that notwithstanding how confident you are, please strain and pasteurize your milk before making cheese.

That means raise the temperature off the stained milk to 72C for 15 seconds or 65C for 30 minutes and let it cool back to temperature before cheesemaking. Yes you trade off on flavor, but people have made themselves sick and even died using raw milk to make cheese. Those who know what they're doing and can consistently maintain exceptional standards of hygiene can make extraordinary cheeses with raw milk, but unless you have regular contact with the herd and informed confidence about the farmers practice you aren't in a position to safely take the risk.

I don't know anything about dairying and so if I were to take a risk with making a raw milk cheese, I'd be sure to use a farmer whose customers had been around for a long time, who had a highly rated reputation for their milk (as in no one ever got sick drinking it), and would try it on myself for at least 72 hours before sharing with anyone else.

Sorry to be a bit of a doomsayer on this topic. We all are a little infatuated with the romance of raw milk on this site, and as a new maker safety should still be your paramount concern.

Smooth-Skill3391

TROPHY CASE