GENERAL CHEESE NOTES.

[Rik vonTrense]

As I will only be making cheeses as required now I can make a list of any cheeses that are available to make .

There are a number of soft cream cheeses that are not for keeping but for immediate use and last no more than a week. These go under various names but are nearly all a derivative of Neufchatel. ie Gervais , Brandon. Swiss cream cheese, Cottage cheese, Lemon cheese . Queso Blanco etc etc.

The hard cheeses that are available are Cheddar various types. Derby. :Leicester. Gouda. Colby. Swiss. Emmenthaler. Mozzarella. Parmesan. Romano. Montasio
Monteray Jack. Caerphilly. Cheshire. Lancashire. Wensleydale. Double Gloucester .

Then you have the whey cheeses. Mysost. Gjetost. Ricotta . Ziegerkase.

Goats milk cheeses. Chevre. Herbed Chevre,. St. Maure. Feta. Cheddar. Ricotta.

Bacterial and mold ripened cheeses. Camembert and Brie. Coulommiers. Bresse Bleu. Gorgonzola. Cambozola. Brick. Mascarpone..

There are many area cheeses that we are not able to reproduce because of the conditions that prevail where they are made, either the milk the conditions or the weather are big factors and the majority of these are made elsewhere under different names.

So if anyone want a particular cheese please don�t hesitate to ask.

I shall do a step by step Cheddar but if you are looking for a very strong mature cheese that leaves a coating on your tongue it is going to have to be very well looked after and made under strict conditions which is going to harbour on professionalism.

.Rik vonTrense

.

[pokerpete]

Rik, I know nothing about cheese, but was thinking of having a bash at it.
The milk from the supermarket has a fat content of 3.6% and has been homogenised. I understand this to be a form of pulverisation.
My question is does this milk form in the same way as whole milk, when rennet is added?

[Rik vonTrense]

Yes that milk is okay.......

You can if you wish add some cream to it to liven it up but it is not necessary

What we do to make ordinary milk again is to use 7 pints of skimmed milk and a pint of cream this gives you pasturised but unhomogenised milk.

You can also use reconstituted skimmed milk powder with added cream at 7 to 1.


.

[Oddley]

Rik, I buy Tesco full cream milk for cheese making. I didn't think it was homogenized, it doesn't say it is on the label. or is it? I know you can buy homogenized milk out of Tesco. But didn't think it suitable.

What's your take on it?

[Rik vonTrense]

All milk except channel Island milk is homogenised.

I always used bog standard Tesco blue top for my cheeses.

Otherwise you would see the cream or milk fat come to the top but it doesn't
In Tesco the Blue top milk is full cream homogenised milk.
The green top is semi skimmed and homogenised and the red top is skimmed
which doesn't need to be as there is no cream in it.

If you look on the label it says

TESCO
British Pasteurised
Standardised
Homogenised
Whole Milk
3,408 Litres 6 Pints
.

I believe that waitrose do both homogenised and unhomogenised.
It is homogenised to break up the globules of fat into smaller ones that stay suspended in the milk and makes for longer shelf life as Unhomogenised goes off in three days even in refrigeration.

.

[Wohoki]

I'd have thought (and correct me if I'm wrong, Rik) that homogenised milk would make it easier for the milk-fat to remain in the curd when it's drained.

I'd prefer to use warm-from-the-cow milk, but.........

[Oddley]

Rik I use semi skimmed 2% fat for all my tea and such and the label doesn't mention homogenization of the milk.

TESCO
British
Pasteurized
Semi-skimmed
milk
2.272 litres e 4 pints

Thats all that's on the label, that's why I asked.

[Rik vonTrense]

I will look at the green top milk to see if it does say homogenised when I go to Tesco tomorrow......it should say that as the fat or cream does not come to the top after left standing and you have to shake it up to mix the cream and the milk.

Fortunately when you add cream and give it a good whisk up and add the rennet it actually sets within five minutes so the cream does not have time to separate and settle on the top of the milk.



I found a small carton of green top in my daughters fridge and the camera doesn't lie......


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[Oddley]

Yes you are definitely right the camera doesn't lie.

[markh]

Cameras perhaps... but supermarkets

[Rik vonTrense]

Now that is a mystery..............

Where do you find the sell by date on your cartons of milk Oddley ??

Obviously a different packing station but as I have the Area Transport manager for a son in law I shall demand some answers.


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[Oddley]

The sell by date is on the label, at the back of the container, underneath the nutritional table.

[Ken D]

Hi, Folks....curious to learn if one could use store-bought 'cottage cheese'
as the starting point for a harder cheese.
We can buy 500 grams for about one UKP. (2.89 CDN)
Generic extra old cheddar style is 1.49/100 grams or about .71 UKP per 100. Thanks. Best, KD