Cheeseday again

It’s Sunday, so it must be cheeseday.

First I collected the milk - with great care - from the huge vat at the cowshed. I pour it slowly to get the maximum amount of milk and the minimum amount of froth. 

It’s a bit of a balancing act with the churn clasped in one hand and the tap in the other. Or in this instance, with the churn grasped in one hand and my camera in the other.

Back at home I pasteurised the milk, then cooled it rapidly to the ideal cheesemaking temperature of 32C. 

Cultures added. 
Rested for an hour to ripen. 
Rennet added. 
Rested for an hour to set. 
Curds cut and briefly rested. 
Curds ladled into two Camembert hoops over the following hour. 
Hoops carefully (verrrry carefully) turned over to aid even drainage of the whey. 
Hoops left for three hours then turned again. 
Hoops left until tomorrow evening, with a couple more turns during that time. 
Camemberts removed from the hoops, salted, air dried for 24 hours. 
Then into a cheese box to mature in the fridge until their rinds have developed, turned every day. 
After a couple of weeks they will be wrapped in cheese paper for the final few weeks of maturation.

And bobs your uncle. 

In between the various stages of cheese making today I have been line trimming, walked up the hill with the Beandog (who has spent the rest of the day supervising..aka waiting for curds and / or whey to fall of the kitchen work bench…sorry Bean) and finalising my photographic contribution for #3 brother’s memories album.

So far so good with his arrival and first day at the dementia care home. He seems to have been happy enough to go there: I think because it was stressed to him that his son desperately needed a ‘holiday’. Once settled he slept a full night, which may be the first time in months. I really hope the change of scene, professional staff to care for him and the extra stimulation available at the care home, will all be beneficial.