One for Gromit

Well I couldn't quite last the entire 6 weeks until tasting my first ever Cheddar - I succumbed with just 3 days to go!!

It's still young at 6 weeks but I needed to know that I had the basics right. It tastes lovely, albeit immature. Slightly zingy already and a really lovely aftertaste, almost goats-cheese like.

I have another one on the go which is only a week old and I'll be cloth wrapping that one in the traditional manner and saving it until December. I was very happy with the natural rind that I achieved on this one, just brine washing and turning every few days, so if the cloth wrapping is too fussy I'll go back to natural. In the next few weeks I'll be getting my first 10 litres of raw milk (unpasteurised) and shall be making another cheddar and a hopefully a blue, but I need to sort out some storage now that the house is heating up.

Unfortunately I shan't be able to sell my cheese until I can get in to a registered kitchen (bloomin' regs) so for now it's for family and friends only....

Say Cheese!

Well, this is my first attempt at making cheddar cheese! I spent about 4 hours yesterday making it from scratch (10 litres of farmhouse milk, rennet, culture, big pans and a lot of patience!). I removed it from the press today (above) and will brine it and store it. This one I intend to test/eat in 6 weeks time. I'm making two more this week - one I will leave to mature until when my folks arrive and the other I will (try) and keep for 18 months.

I learnt this craft on a one-day cheesemaking course run by NZ's famed cheesemaker and author, Katherine Mowbray. The course was held at Langdales Winery just down the road from us in West Melton. It was a great day and I met so many interesting ladies (no men turned up!) from all walks of life - there were geologists, food writers, artists, chefs, hoteliers and even a lady from Zambia who used to run a huge cheese factory there...

We learnt to make feta, cheddar, ricotta, haloumi and mascarpone! Now I need to find a local dairy farmer who can give me 10litres of raw milk at a time!

Can't wait to taste it along with our wines which have now been racked off and are clearing nicely!