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Stinky Cheese = Christmas Joy

12/23/2012

Our latest batch of St. Marcellin has moved from the cave to the fridge in their new ceramic crock homes (pictured here). These beauties will spend the next few days softening up under plastic wrap before a Christmas tasting. These cheeses can age in the fridge for up to six weeks. For us though, Tuesday will be our first day of tasting. There is no sense in not enjoying the spoils of our work on Christmas Day!

Our Christmas Dinner Menu: Reblechon, Valencay, St. Marcellin, Herbed Chevre, Fromage Blanc, Chorizo, Salami, Fresh Fruit, Artisan Sourdough, Oil & Balsamic for dipping, and a couple select Christmas wines. Yum!
Happy holidays everyone!

Tommy Reddicks & Kelly Wensing
www.cheesedesert.com

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What Did You Do on Your Friday Night?

12/16/2012

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Pouring the pasteurized milk

Perhaps we're bad hosts, but we had our friend Joyn (Manager of Bru Burger Bar downtown) over after dinner and what did we do? We made Chevre.

Joyn is a foodie and hopefully didn't mind the show. He hadn't seen our pasteurization process (and the wonderfully annoying, old-school sound our pasteurizer makes when it reaches temp).

We made two Chevre logs and a Hungarian Paprika Pyramid.

Tommy Reddicks
www.cheesedesert.com

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The Reb is Ready

12/14/2012

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Can't wait to try the latest Reblechon. Went for a drier aging cycle after the washed rind process to allow for a more traditional texture. The rind has firmed up just enough to allow for wrapping in the fridge. It hasn't lost it's stink though. Good Foot!

Tommy Reddicks
www.cheesedesert.com

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"10" on The Foot Scale!

12/12/2012

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My indicator for true stink in a cheese is The Foot Scale. It's my 10-point system (10 representing the ultimate in stink) for rating stinky cheese.

I tried the Stinking Bishop in London this fall, and it was a 9. I reserve a score of a 10 for cheeses that can rival scents like a Durian fruit. Today, however, I opened our cheese cave today and it gave me a true 10. Whew.

Inside the cave (pictured here) we've got two batches of Valencay, 1 batch of Saint Marcellin, and a single round of Reblechon. That combination is truly aromatic! We may not be able to bottle this scent, but when bottled up, it has a life of it's own.

Tommy Reddicks
www.cheesedesert.com

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Saint Cheese!

12/11/2012

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Our Saint Marcellin is done developing at room temp (48hrs). Our 4 little pucks are headed into the cave for 14 days with an ETA of Christmas Day!

They will be turned daily and the container wiped out daily until Christmas. Then they will go into their ceramic crocks- ready to stink up the dinner table and scare away the Christmas Goose!

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Saint Marcellin - a 7 on The Foot Scale!

12/10/2012

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Our newest cheese looks good after three days. The Saint Marcellin is truly a stinker and we can't wait to try it homemade. If you read our notes page on this cheese you'll see that this cheese had the honor of getting kicked out of the family home in Wheatland, WY. Mom just couldn't take the smell.

This one is a "7" out of 10 on my beloved Foot Scale (stinky feet scale). Hopefully it lives up to memory!

Tommy Reddicks
www.cheesedesert.com

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USA vs FRANCE: Valencay Cheese

12/9/2012

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Well. We've taste-tested our latest batch of Valencay and we're pleased to say we've given our French cousin a good run for her money. Pictured above, our US version is on the left and the French version we tried in Europe this past October is on the right. Ours is a bit younger with a creamier middle, but we're very happy with our aging and affinage this time around. We paired our new superstar with some Artison Sourdough Bread, Figs, apples, and dehydrated apricots (and a healthy dose of Olive Oil w/Balsamic). It was FABULOUS!!!

We controlled the humidity and airflow with more precision this time around. The patting method I used actually held back the gc/pc growth, shutting it down a little earlier. Our next batch will be done without as much patting to see if we can get a little longer mold life and some better rippling from the mold growth in the rind.

As for aromatics, the extra airflow actually lessened the stinky-factor to a 5 or 6 on what I lovingly call The Foot Scale. The Reblechons we're working on (seen in the back left of the US Valencay photo) are certainly winning the stink award (about an 7 on the Foot Scale) in the house at present. But, with the start of a new batch of Saint Marcellin, we'll see if we can add a cheese to our cave that can compete with the Reb's.

Tommy Reddicks
www.cheesedesert.com

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Taste Tests Bring on Great Suffering!

12/8/2012

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We had the pleasure of taste-testing one of our latest Reblechons today. This one finished well, but started out a bit too humid. If you've been following our previous posts on humidity, you know we've been adjusting to the more humid fall indoors (40% rh indoors in Indy this year). This led to a very tender and thin rind, which needed extra babying during washing. We saved this cheese from near-death by fixing the humidity issue early. If left to it's early humid track, the rind would have over-molded, and would have lost its ability to support the cheese.

In the end all worked out okay, and the reward was today's taste test. It had a great salty-butter outer rind with a nice buttery cream paste on the inside. Admittedly, I ate about a third of this round in a sitting before wrapping for later.

A taste test is indeed great suffering, but someone has to ensure quality control!!

Today we start a new batch of FETA. We're also excited to start a batch of St. Marcellin. It's a cows milk cheese made in smaller molds and finished in 4 small ceramic crocks. This was a cheese that always made appearances at our cheese parties. For whatever reason, we saved our ceramic crocs from those days in Colorado. Now they enable us to put the true finishing touch on this oozy gooey stinker!

Tommy Reddicks
www.cheesedesert.com

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Ode to Humidity!

12/5/2012

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It's amazing how Mother Nature wreaks havoc with moisture! Over time water can cut a rock in two. It can change the course of landscape, and even turn New York Subway systems into tide pools. But, in the world of cheese making, moisture is a fickle beast. Too little, and your cheese dies (at least the part that's supposed to grow). Too much and you get UFO's (ugly fungal objects) and you have to start scrambling with UFO killer (salt, vinegar, airflow etc.), which can taint the outcome or maturation of the cheese. Some cheeses like less humidity (harder cheeses prefer between 40-60%) during aging, while softer cheeses want more humidity (65-95%).

So, what happens when the house humidity is 40%, the cheese fridge humidity is 50%, and you have one cheese needing 65% and another needing 90%. Perhaps you put the house inside the fridge so you can combine their collective humidity to reach 90%. Or, maybe you buy two fridges in order to have each at a different level. Maybe you use a reptile humidifier pumped into a fridge to get to 90%. May you boil water 24-7 near the cheese to increase relative humidity? All ridiculous notions aside, it is frustrating that in a world where cheese appears at nearly every turn there have yet to be dedicated cheese fridges that can also set themselves to dual zone temperature "and" humidity control. Dual zone temperature can be found on upscale wine fridges. But a fridge with hygrometer controls would be a revolution for the home cheese maker.

For us, we are finding that the days of air conditioning in the hot Indianapolis summers kept our house dehumidified, but the lack of AC and lesser need of heat in the fall/winter has our house at a higher humidity and is playing havoc with our cheese development. And, with tender semi-frim cheeses, each time mold has to be addressed with a salt or vinegar solution, the cheese is at risk. So, we have been adding access to ventilation and open air in the cheese making process and are seeing a correction in our aging process. Having grown up in dry Wyoming, and spent a great deal of time in Colorado, I took too much for granted in terms of seasonal variations in humidity. Note taken!

Tommy Reddicks
www.cheesedesert.com

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The End of Raw Milk??

12/3/2012

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Goat's milk Valencay

Say it isn't so!

Our friend Anna has informed us that there is a new bit of legislation being introduced that could either stop the sale of raw milk in Indiana or open up sales statewide with better safety standards. (Click here to view the link she shared with us.) I sure hope for the latter!

While there is plenty to be made from store-bought milk, access to raw milk enables the home cheese maker to really perfect the craft without having to own a farm! Speaking of farms, a shout out must go to Copper Creek Farms in Kokomo. We own a herd share through Copper Creek and they provide us with raw goat's milk weekly. From that great raw product we are able t produce our Valencay cheese (pictured here looking spectacular after 6 days in the cave). So, here's to hoping the law bends our direction and opens up further avenues for home cheese makers statewide!

Tommy Reddicks
www.cheesedesert.com

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Stinky Cheese = Christmas Joy

What Did You Do on Your Friday Night?

The Reb is Ready

"10" on The Foot Scale!

Saint Cheese!

Saint Marcellin - a 7 on The Foot Scale!

USA vs FRANCE: Valencay Cheese

Taste Tests Bring on Great Suffering!

Ode to Humidity!

The End of Raw Milk??

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