The Greening of Gavin

Archives for July 2009

Emmantal (Swiss Cheese)

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Remember back to the post where I told you about the Propioni Shermanii culture that I bought from Green Living Australia.

Well last weekend I used it in my first batch of Emmantal cheese.  Emmantal is a unique type of swiss cheese that has large holes or “eyes” as they are known distributed throughout the cheese.

I didn’t take any pictures during the making session, but be assured the procedure is not that dissimilar from other hard cheeses I have made.  The only real difference is that you add the Propioni Shermanii to the milk at the same time as the Thermophillic culture and let it ripen for the specified time.  Add Rennet, cut the curd, stir for a long time, then press.

Once pressed, you have to leave it in the cheese cave for a week, turning it daily, then remove and keep it at room temperature (21°-24°C) for two to three weeks.  This is to let the eyes develop and the cheese swells at the top, bottom and the sides begin to bulge.  This is unlike any other cheese I have made.  You also have to turn and wipe with a brine solution daily to help the rind form.  It even smells like Swiss cheese now after a week.  Here is a photo of the week old cheese.  Note the swelling sides.



After the eye formation is complete it gets returned back to the cheese cave for another three months for final ripening and is turned three times a week and wiped in the brine solution at the same time.  I am looking forward to the day that I crack open this cheese. 

Foodie Sunday

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Home baking is the best!

Kim got stuck into making a few yummy things in the kitchen whilst I was working in garden planting an apricot tree and a nectarine tree.  We now have 10 fruit trees in the front yard which from now on in is designated as “The Orchard”.

So what did Kim make?  Well, first she baked an Almond slice with a home-made plum jam base.  She made the shortcrust pastry base from scratch which is then spread with plum jam, and mixed up ground almonds, castor sugar, icing sugar, egg white and almond essence and spread that on top.

I think I might see if I can get a dwarf almond tree for the orchard so that we can grow our own organic almonds. 

They are oh so yummy, and will be a welcome addition to lunch boxes during the week.

Then she made some Granary Scones, topped with some of my Caerphilly Cheese.  They were our afternoon tea.

She is resting now, because it took a fair bit out of her being on her feet for a few hours.  Well done love.  You rock my world.

Caerphilly is the Shiznit

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The jury has considered its verdict and the verdict is good. Caerphilly cheese is one fantastically tasty creation.

It has a rind that is about 5mm thick and it tastes divine. There is a little white and blue mould bloom on the surface which I think is a bit of cross contamination from when I was making 2 cheeses at once or from the cheese cave, but no matter because it adds to the exquisite flavour of the rind.

The middle is white, contains a little moisture, and is slightly crumbly. I cracked open the wheel on Saturday night, but then realised that it was only 15 days old, and should have matured for until 21 days. The damage was done, but I put half of the wheel back into the cheese cave for to see what it tastes like at full maturity.

Kim believes that the rind tastes like Edam, and the middle has is similar flavour but not as strong. More crumbly than Edam though, but really, really nice with a plain water cracker biscuit.

The top and sides were a bit swollen, but that was just from natural ‘eye’ development as the cheese matured. You can see small eyes in the second photo.

It is so good that I will be making some more tonight. With only three weeks maturation and very edible at 15 days, I highly recommend it if you are into cheese making and want a quick result. So far we have eaten a quarter of the wheel already, with Ben, Kim, Amy and I sampling and loving it. I was so generous that I gifted a small wedge to my friend David last night. He thinks it is a great cheese as well!