4 pounds of sage cheddar today!

Today I made sage flavored cheddar -- the Farmhouse Cheddar recipe so it will be ready early.  I should still have made it a few weeks ago, but I didn't.  Life goes on.  At Thanksgiving it will be milder than it will be at Christmas and that's fine!

I made 4 pounds of it in my new full sized steam table.  Worked like a charm.  Much easier to deal with than pots and trying to raise heat slowly using a sink full of water.

Waxed it tonight.  It's beautiful.  Will try it for Thanksgiving and then wax it back up to save for Christmas.

Asiago

Starting it today.  Two gallons of milk -- one pound to try in a few weeks and one pound to save and save and save.    I put in a bit of lipase powder to get that piquant flavor.  I'm thinking it's going to be good.

The thing is, it's 95 degrees with humidity to drip for.  Why am I cooking milk today?  Can't answer that.  I just needed to make some more cheese.  I've wanted to try Asiago for months.

The first one was fabulous.  The second one got a tad dried out and I opened it in a panic after my parmesan disaster.  It's still quite good and not as badly dried as I'd thought.  All is well.

Parmesan

I have two Parmesans in my cheese fridge.  They smell like heaven.  I haven't tasted them yet as the directions say wait 10 months to a year.  The older one was started around New Year's Day and the younger one is just two months old.  I think I need to start a third.  It's amazing how strong the Parmesan flavor is, even though the ingredients are nearly the same as for Cheddar.

I oiled the younger one today to seal in the moisture it still has.  It's going to be a very cheesy Christmas.

Alas.  I opened the first one.  Sorta.  It was way way dried out.  The flavor is still OK, but it's so dry I could only grate it.  So...I finally softened it by wrapping it in a paper towel.  I chopped it up and am soaking it in white wine.  Plan is to make a white wine, garlic and parmesan sauce and freeze it.  I am learning....

Why am I blogging?

I've started this page to find more people who are interested in making cheese and gathering about making cheese.  I live in New Hope, MN and love to make and eat cheese.

I have two cheddars and two parmesans in the cheese fridge in the basement.  There are several soft cheeses in the fridge as well.

Today I decided that I need to try a Tomme de Marc.  Cheese and Wine?  Why not!