KING BLUE STILTON........

[jenny_haddow]

Kids, doncha just luv'm!

[Rik vonTrense]

Well the six weeks are up for a true stilton to be broached at it's earliest time.

This is my first Stilton made with sample of Roqueforte Cheese as a culture.

It has taken on the very dark green mold of a cave matured sheeps curd Roqueforte and the taste is fantastic. I don't feel it could possibly improve it's taste if kept until the 12th or 16th week but the veining is not like a very mature stilton but I put this down to the Roqueforte spoors.





and a closeup of the paste which is firm for cutting but could be spread on biscuits.



I really wish you could taste the intense Stilton paste as it really is something to linger on your palete.

But no doubt if you have followed instruction you will achieve this yourselves.

[saucisson]

Rik, I love your photos, you'll clean up in the photo competition!!

Dave

PS cheeses look great too!

[vinner]

It seems impossible to get anything but "ultrapastuerized" milk here. Can the Dry powder/cream method work for any kind of cheese? And what ratio to use?

[Paul Kribs]

That looks very good indeed Rik.. nice one.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[jenny_haddow]

Wizard stuff Rik, I can imagine how good they taste. I was surprised at the taste of my humble efforts.

Jen

[Rik vonTrense]

Any cheese can be made with reconstituted dry milk powder it can be made up as per instructions for seven pints and a pint of fresh cream added to bring it to normal unhomogenised milk.

If you cannot get cream then go ahead with eight pints of made up milk and this will be the same as a gallon of skimmed milk it will not have as much fat and therefor the paste will not be as creamy or fatty but this doesn't really matter. or you can do the seven pints and use a couple of cans of evaporated milk like Carnation etc.

I have made some interesting cheeses with dried skimmed milk powder.

Nothing changes in the method of making the cheese as the milk sol;ids are still there and it is only the water that has been taken away....you can try making a richer milk by increasing the ratio of powder to water in the making up.


.

[vinner]

Thanks, Rik. I will give it a go when my "equipment" arrives from cheesemaker.com. Since I wrote my question, I have made a few calls. I now know a small dairy within a few hours of here who will sell raw cow's milk to people with a proper introduction, for homemade cheese, very clandestine as it is not allowed. Also, a friend has sourced raw goats milk as well. I may pastuerize both, but being non homogenized makes me happy.
Tim

[Rik vonTrense]

If you are sure of the milk source why do you want to pasturize it and kill all the natural bacteria from the flora and fauna ?

You ask why French cheeses are so nice or that Roqueforte is so popular well the answer is that they use raw milk and not something that has been fried in the electric chair.

You will get a far better cheese with raw milk all the flavours that are impossible with the milk that we now get. It is pasturised because we may drink it as raw milk and possible pick up any pathogens that may be present.

In cheesemaking the pathogens are killed by the good bacteria and the cheese will defend itself after the curds have matted. The possibility of any one falling sick over eating such cheese is very limited to those with defective immune systems such as sufferers with HIV or the very old and fragile or very young babies.

I would imagine that you had some control over the people that would eat your home made cheese and there is no danger of it being sold to the unwary.

It is only banned in this country because of these reasons...........


.

[welsh wizard]

Well Stilton is now underway and I am looking forward to the end result. Talking of which you may like to have a look on www.coombecastle.com for some of their recipies. I can vouch for the stilton ones, they are A1.

Cheers a very tired WW.

[Rik vonTrense]

I thought for the minute that you had discovered a webgsite for cheese making recipes............




.

[Wohoki]

No stilton and watercress soup: call that a website! Humph.

(Some nice recipes there, cheers Wiz.)

[welsh wizard]

Try the Lamb, stilton and raspberry, it really is A1.

We are lucky in the fact that lamb is not a problem living next door to a farm and we grow enough raspberries to make them into jam at the end of the season, but if you can have a go at the recipe it really is worth while.

Cheers WW