Release Party for The Cheesemaker's Apprentice

We finished the draft nearly a year ago, and completed the final revisions early this year. Now the book is available on Amazon and it is time to celebrate!

Join us from 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday December 5th at Sasha's new venue Cyril's at Clay Pigeon Winery, is located at 815 SE Oak St, Portland, OR 97214 

Building a Home Cheese Cave

The questions that most often comes in through the web site (see the contact information on the home page joyofcheesemaking.com) have to do with building a cheese cave in which to age cheese at home. I wrote an article on this very topic for Culture Magazine that appeared in their Spring 2011. I used to point people to this article online, but it seems to be no longer available. Sasha Davies and I cover home cheese caves in The Cheesemakers Apprentice, but the information was condensed to fit the format of the book. Therefore it seems to me that it is about time to have a blog entry on the subject.

Fresh cheeses such as cream cheese, quark, fromage blanc, and fresh chèvre are ready to be eaten as soon as they are made. Fresh cheeses are the best place to start as a home cheesemaker since you get results so quickly, and good results are usually a lot easier to achieve. However, if you love cheese you probably love the flavors that develop in cheese when it is aged in the proper environment for an extended period of time. Think of how cheddar curds taste, squeaky and fun to chew, but bland. Then consider the full, complex flavors in aged cheddar cheese. Aging cheese at home requires a lot more time and attention, but it is also pretty rewarding to taste and share one of your aged creations.

During aging bacteria and enzymes (and molds in some cases) break down fats and proteins in the cheese. As aging continues, the bacteria run out of food and die, allowing the enzymes within to escape and cause even more break down. It is a counter intuitive, unappetizing process that makes cheese taste so good.

The proper environment in which to age cheese is always moist and cool. How moist and how cool depends on the style. The ideal temperature and humidity fall between 45°F and 58°F (7°C and 14°C) and 80% and 98%, respectively. Traditionally, this environment was provided by a cave, either natural or dug into the ground, and today we still refer to the environment in which aging takes place as a cheese cave.

Some home cheesemakers successfully age cheese in their basements. This can work if the basement maintains a cool temperature less than 60°F (15°C) without too much variation. To keep humidity high, you can place the cheese in a clean shoe box or in sealable plastic container with the lid cracked slightly. This method can work for cheeses like tome, asiago, gouda and havarti that has been waxed or vacuum packed, and perhaps cheddar, all of which are a bit more forgiving. As you get more and more serious about home cheesemaking, you will probably become disappointed with the results from using a basement.

Refrigerators that are built to store wine maintain a temperature in the perfect range for aging cheese, and can usually be set to any temperature between 45°F and 65°F (7-18C). Unfortunately, they usually also use circulation fans. This won’t be a problem for waxed or vacuum sealed cheese, but the air circulation will dry out cheeses that have natural rinds causing them to crack. The best solution is to keep the cheese protected in a ziplock bag, or in a sealable plastic food container. In either case leave the seal or lid slightly cracked to keep the environment surrounding the cheese from getting too humid.

By far the best solution that I have found is converting a mini-refrigerator (dormitory style) into a cheese cave. Start with a small refrigerator without any circulation fans (to avoid the drying and cracking described above). These are the ones that have a small freezer compartment inside at the top with a drip tray underneath. You will probably be able to find cheap mini-refrigerators by searching Craigslist and garage sales. Get an external thermostatic control for about $70 from a local cheesemaking or homebrew supplier, or search the web for external refrigerator thermostat. Plug the refrigerator power into the thermostat and place the thermostat's sensor bulb inside the refrigerator, being careful not to kink its thin tube. The external thermostat will now start and stop the refrigerator, maintaining the proper temperature.


An external refrigerator thermostat


Use a piece of tape to affix the tube to the edge so it does not kink

To increase the humidity, keep an open container of water or a damp towel inside the cave. You monitor the humidity in the cave using a hygrometer, search for a cigar humidor hygrometer for an inexpensive option. To get really serious, buy a remote digital weather station that measures humidity and place the receiver somewhere you look every day, such as by the TV, so you can check it often. An expert blue cheesemaker once told me that it takes months to age a blue cheese, but only 5 hours of the wrong environment to ruin it. It is very disappointing to discover after months of waiting for you cheese to mature, that it has dried out and cracked because you have not been monitoring it closely enough, and I speak from experience on this one.

Most home cheesemakers find they need to build a second cave for blue mold varieties because all cheeses that age with blue cheese tend to become blue themselves. This is less of a problem with bloomy rinds and washed rinds, though I have had cheeses sharing space with washed rind cheese get the characteristic orange hue of their neighbors on them. This didn't bother me as I love the washed rind flavor, but your consumers may object.

The Cheesemaker's Apprentice

I am pleased to announce that on October 1st, 2012, The Cheesemaker's Apprentice: An Insider's Guide to the Art and Craft of Homemade Artisan Cheese, Taught by the Masters from Quarry Books will be available for purchase. Cheese authority Sasha Davies and I worked on this book, Sasha writing the majority of the text while I developed all of the home cheesemaking recipes. The book is now available for pre-order from most online booksellers.

This book is part of a series of books from Quarry, all of which include interviews with experts on the given subject matter. The Brewer's Apprentice, The Vintner's Apprentice, and The Pastry Chef's Apprentice are other books in this same series. For me, the interviews with cheese experts that Sasha put together are one of the major highlights of this book. Aspects of artisan cheesemaking are explored that I have not seen in any other books targeted to the hobbyist. For instance in the chapter on cheddar cheese, Jamie Montgomery of Montgomery's Cheddar gives his opinion on what it means to be a traditional cheddar. Likewise in the blue cheese chapter, an interview with Joe Schneider of Stichelton Dairy is featured. Joe Schneider and Randolph Hodgson of Neal’s Yard Dairy are working to resurrect the original recipe for English Stilton that features raw milk.

Last fall I found myself in a mad scramble last fall to research, develop, make and photograph over 16 recipes for book to meet our writing deadline. The recipes start from the easy fresh cheeses such as cream cheese and chèvre, and progress up to the harder bloomy rinds, blues and washed rinds. I am proud to say that I am confident in each of the recipes, and that with very few exceptions the photographs that accompany the recipes are of the actual homemade cheese for the recipe. This was not an easy feat to accomplish in the three months we had to shoot. Leela Cyd Ross, the photographer with whom we worked, did an amazing job making each cheese look it best.



Keep an eye out for book signings in the Portland area. There will be posts on Twitter and Facebook when these are going to happen. You can find links to the Facebook page and Twitter feed in the left sidebar of this page.

Debbie in Italy, Part 4: Sardinian Pecorino

This is the fourth post from Debbie Driscoll documenting what she learned in Italy during her visit in Fall 2010. Debbie, owner of Debbie's Delicious Cheese, teaches home cheesemaking classes in Portland and beyond. You can find a listing of her upcoming classes at debbiesdeliciouscheese.com.

Pecorino Fascere

Fascere is a traditional Sardinian cheese. Giovanni and Giovanna were both originally from Sardinia and moved to Tuscany about 25 years ago. As the people of Tuscany moved abandoned their farms and moved to more urban areas in latter half of last century, it became common for Sardinians to purchase the farms and take over the Tuscan cheesemaking traditions. In the case of the Porcus, they still keep their Sardinian cheesemaking heritage alive with their Sardinian milk sheep and their Pecorino Fascere.

This was my favorite cheese at Podere Paugnano. It was the least sheepy and had a little sharpness and great flavor without being too strong.

The steps are the same as the for Stagionato except for slightly lower cooking temperature and the use of a special wooden hoop mold, pictured below.


Pecorino Fascere


Cheese molds: the Fascere hoops are on the right; the tall cylinder of molds all the way to the left were for Pecorino Stagionato; round, partially conical molds are for ricotta.

Instructions:
1. Heat milk to 37-38C.
2. Add rennet and stir for 1 minute.
3. Let set for 20 minutes, or until clean break.
4. Cut curd into rice size pieces, then continue to agitate for 15 minutes, maintaining the curd at 37-38C.
5. Pour into the Fascere molds. (These are tear-drop shaped hoops of wood secured with twine - see photo.)
6. Use hands to press curd in molds and expel whey. As curds compress, add more curd and repress so that curd is level or nearly level with top of mold.
7. Maintain temperature of curd at 37-38C while allowing to drain freely for 45 minutes.
8. Flip the entire mold (do no remove the cheese from the mold).
9. Tighten the hoop to return the curd level to the top of the mold (the curd contracts/shrinks as it loses whey during draining)
10. Return to 37-38C environment for 45 minutes.
11. Flip and tighten again.
12.. Return to 37-38C environment for 20 minutes.
13. Keep cheese in molds and transfer to room temperature rack (low 70s). Store at room temperature for 1 day.
14. After the day at room temperature, unmold, flip, apply a generous coating of salt to the surface of the cheese and return to mold. Let sit for 5 hours per kilogram of cheese. (For example, if you have a 1 kg cheese, let salt sit on cheese for 5 hours. If you have a 2 kg cheese, let salt sit on cheese for 10 hours.)
15. After the salt has absorbed for the appropriate amount of time, unmold and rinse salt from cheese.
16. After rinsing salt from cheese, place unmolded cheese in 12-16C environment for 10 days.
17. After 10 days at 12-16C, apply a thin coating of oil or tomato juice.
18. Return to the 12-16C environment for:
      Small (<1 kg): up to 3 months
      Large (2+ kg) 5-6 months

Wash mold from cheese with water and pat dry before cutting/serving.

Debbie in Italy, Part 3: Aged Pecorino

This is the third post from Debbie Driscoll documenting what she learned in Italy during her visit in Fall 2010. Debbie, owner of Debbie's Delicious Cheese, teaches home cheesemaking classes in Portland and beyond. You can find a listing of her upcoming classes at debbiesdeliciouscheese.com.

Pecorino Semi-Stagionato, Pecorino Stagionato, Pecorino Vecchio and Grating Pecorino

The only difference between these four cheeses is the aging period. Semi-stagionato (semi-aged) ages for 2-4 months. Stagionato ages for 4-6 months. Vecchio (old) ages for 6-12 months. Pecorino suitable for grating ages for 12 or more months.


Pecorino Marzolino Lucardo on the left and Pecorino Stagionato on the right

It was very eye opening to realize that in the US we typically only have access to pecorino that is aged long enough for grating! Podere Paugnano hardly had any of this variety - it definitely did not seem preferred and I don’t think they ever sold it. This could have had something to do with limited aging space, but it seemed more to do with their taste preferences.

Once again, the instructions are nearly identical to the Base Recipe: Pecorino Fresco Bianco. In this case, the target temperatures are slightly different, the curd is cut into smaller pieces, a greater amount of salt is applied (though for the same amount of time) and the temperature of the aging cave is slightly higher.

The longer the pecorino ages, the sharper the flavor. So the semi-stagionato is softer and mostly mild, while the stagionato and vecchio get progressively firmer, sharper and more flavorful.

The instructions are identical to the Base Recipe: Pecorino Fresco Bianco, but with slight changes in all of the target temperatures and a longer aging period.

Instructions:
1. Heat milk to 40-42C.
2. Add rennet and stir for 1 minute.
3. Let set for 20 minutes, or until clean break.
4. Cut curd into rice size pieces, then continue to agitate for 15 minutes, maintaining the curd at 40-42C. (The higher end of the temperature range results in a firmer cheese, which is typically preferred for stagionato.)
5. Pour into molds (no leader needed). (They typically used approximately 8-inch high, 8-inch diameter molds)
6. Use hands to press curd in molds and expel whey. As curds compress, add more curd and repress so that curd is level or nearly level with top of mold.
7. Maintain temperature of curd at 40-42C while allowing to drain freely for 45 minutes. The Porcus used a covered draining table that they filled with steam.
8. Flip cheese in the mold. (No need to apply pressure again.)
9. Return to 40-42C environment for 45 minutes.
10. Flip again.
11. Return to 40-42C environment for 20 minutes.
12. Keep cheese in molds and transfer to room temperature rack. Store at room temperature for 1 day.
13. After the day at room temperature, unmold, flip, apply a generous coating of salt to the surface of the cheese and return to mold. Let sit for 5 hours per kilogram of cheese. (For example, if you have a 1 kg cheese, let salt sit on cheese for 5 hours. If you have a 2 kg cheese, let salt sit on cheese for 10 hours.)
14. After the salt has absorbed for the appropriate amount of time, unmold and rinse salt from cheese.
15. Place the cheese in 12-16C environment for 10 days.
16. After 10 days at 12-16C, apply a thin coating of oil or tomato juice.
17. Return to the 12-16C environment for:
     Semi-stagionato: 2-4 months
     Stagionato: 4-6 months
     Vecchio: 6-12 months
     Grating cheese: 12+ months
18. Wash mold from cheese with water and pat dry before cutting/serving.




Pecorino Stagionato in the "aged cheese" aging room, kept between 12 and 16C

Pecorino Marzolino & Pecorino Marzolino Lucardo

Marzolino is identical to Stagionato, except:

• it must be made with milk produced from March through July
• it undergoes additional/firmer hand pressing when placed in the mold
• the aging environment is slightly more humid. This is achieved by covering the cheese with a cloth for the first month of aging. Be sure to rotate the cheese so that it does not become lopsided or stick to the cloth.

Pecorino Marzolino Lucardo in the aging room

The only difference between Marzolino and Marzolino Lucardo is the pressing method. The Lucardo is pressed in a linen sack (it looks a little like a sock for a very large foot) and hand squeezed very firmly. The salt is applied while the cheese is still in the sack.

Since the late spring/early summer milk is the best milk (the sheep are grazing on the best grass at this time), this is considered one of the best cheeses. I found the flavor to be great.