de-mystify

This is one of the cheeses I showed yesterday and as you can see it has been put through a mold (look, a pun) and it is starting to change a little. Lets be official, I started the cheeses on Saturday and I took this picture this morning, 5 days later. Now let me try and de-bunk some of the bunk. Cheese making is not that difficult you simply have to be clean about it, thats one key point to remember, other than that a basic farmers cheese or a mozzarella is really not that hard to do. The cheeses I have here are a farmers cheese and a cream cheese both inoculated with a mold to create a blue cheese. I have made the basic rennet, or vinegar or lemon juice cheese for years, a little acid in the milk the milk curdles and voila its cheese. This cheese is also called paneer, queso fresco or countless other names from countless other cultures (hey is that a pun?) This website offers the most comprehensive instructions I have seen yet so if you are interested this is the place to learn. I learned from my grandparents how to make the basic farmers cheese and I have been involved in its production since I was a kid. We had a milk cow and some goats so the cheese was made from the milk of either one at various times. Ok ready for a secret short cut on the mold inoculation - you take a teaspoon of uncontaminated blue cheese and you mix it with some water this is the starter mold and this gets mixed into your freshly made curds before you put it into a mold (cup, bowl, can, whatever you want) as the cheese sits the mold does its trick, I think. This is my first attempt at blue cheese that is why I am trying it with two different types to begin with - I want to see what is what.



As far as eating is concerned, if I cant pick it up with my hands I havent eaten it lately.



Bratwurst on a bun with some Texas 1015 onions grilled till sweeter than sweet.



Eggamuffin, bacon egg and cheese on a toasted english muffin - good to go. Lazy bones around here lately - all the heavy rain is making everything boring.