Carbonzola

At 6 weeks it was excellent!

When we lived in Belgium, this cheese was responsible for at least 10lb of weight increase and who knows how much cholesterol.

Carbonzola - as the name suggests is a hybrid cheese - a camembert inoculated with  Penicillium roqueforti mold , the same mold used to make a range of blue cheeses such as Roquefort and the Italian Gorgonzola. What you get is the best of both worlds. The taste and aroma of an early and mild blue with the soft creamy texture of a camembert.

Normally Camembert has a Fat to Protein ration of 0.9, achieved by the addition of about 2 tables spoons of heavy cream per gallon of full cream milk. See the Camembert blog for details.

In this case I am making it with a ratio of 1:1 - using just full cream milk. If you want the uber rich version - add the cream. Also I have chosen to use as my Penicillium roqueforti source, a nice piece of Gabriel Coulet Roquefort - a dreamy French sheeps milk semi soft blue - perhaps the very best of its type - see more details in the Tasting Notes section of the blog.

As you will see the Penicillium roqueforti is added while the curds are being added to the hoops so for this batch I am going to make one Camembert and one Carbonzola from the same batch.

In the past I have made two small 5 oz Camembert's from one 1/2 gallon - so we will see how much we can fit into the molds by dewatering a bit first and then trying to build two 8-10 oz wheels. We will also see if I can make them without cross contamination.

For this batch

Recipe

You will need:

1 gallon of full cream milk - I chose Whole Foods 365 Whole Milk

Calcium Chloride solution
Mesophilic Starter - pinch
Penicillum Candidum - pinch
Geotrichum Candidum - pinch
For this recipe I used a combined pack
Calf Rennet powder - 1/8 tsp
Penicillium roqueforti from Gabriel Coulet Roquefort sheeps milk cheese

Draining mats
Camembert forms 4 inch

Method

Heat milk to 90 F
Add 20 drops calcium chloride solution in 1/4 cup non coordinated water
Add
Mesophilic Starter - pinch
Penicillum Candidum - pinch
Geotrichum Candidum - pinch
Mix and hold at 90 F for one hour
Add Calf Rennet powder - 1/8 tsp in 1/4 cup non coordinated water
Mix for 2 minutes and then leave undisturbed for one hour

Once you have a clean break confirmed cut the curds into large 1 inch pieces and GENTLY mix the curds for 5 minutes and allow for some whey separation. Drain about 1/4 gallon of whey. Then using a spoon transfer curds to the hoops placed on draining mats. Fill hoops to half full.

For the Carbonzola

- blend a teaspoon of Roquefort cheese vein with water to a paste.
- drizzle this paste over the 1/2 full hoop

Then - continue to fill the hoop to the top and allow to drain for 30 minutes.

Flip hoops and allow to drain for one hour

Flip hoops and allow to drain for one hour

Flip hoops and allow to drain for 3 hours

Flip hoops and allow to drain overnight (12 hours)

Remove from hoops and salt all sides with one tablespoon of cheese salt

Place in cave at 95% humidity at 50-55F for 8-12 days to allow white Penicillum mold to grow on the surface. The mold should start to appear at days 6-8. Turn the cheese daily.

For Carbonzola - at day 5 - remove cheese from cave and pierce wheel through the side (horizontal) with a clean skewer every 1/4 inch. The idea is to allow oxygen to reach the roqueforti molds that require oxygen to grow. This will produce the blue veins in the cheese. Place back in the cave.

Remove one the cheese has a good white coating. Wrap in breathable cheese paper and transfer to a colder cave at 45-50 F to age for 3-5 weeks.

Prep the tools

Prep the tools

Cut the curds

Stir for 3-4 mins

Remove 1/4 whey

Prep the hoops

Do not eat all the blue!

Make a slurry

Add blue slurry

Fill hoops

After overnight draining - remove from hoops and salt all sides and air dry for the day. Notice the front wheel is the Carbonzola. You can see some flecks of blue.

After 12 days at 55F the Camembert foreground and Carbonzola had an excellent healthy white growth coat and were ready for wrapping and storage for three weeks at 50F

Using a wooden skewer holes were poked through the round from sides and top to allow air access for blue growth

Ready for wrapping and storage at 50F for three weeks

At 6 weeks - perfect

Caerphilly leaves the cave

This turned out to be a great cheese.

Caerphilly

Just on 4 weeks ageing . A bit crumbly, but firm and easy to eat, just as it should be for this cheese, perhaps a bit like a Colby. Great flavor. A hard rind but with no strong flavor and perfect to eat. I liked the combination of creamy taste with solid but not overwhelming.

A great cheese to have with an ale or will even stand up to a larger.

Camembert leaves the cave!

From the earlier Camembert production post September 4th - one month exactly ageing.

After production  they were placed in the cave. After 10 days in the 50F cave they had a good cover of mold. They were wrapped in breathable two layer cheese paper and placed in the cold cave 45F for another and a bit weeks.

One felt ready so we opened it up - great news - wonderful creamy center - mild but good taste. I think I got it at just the right time!

These turned out on the small side - about 5oz each - so 10oz from a 1/2 gallon. In future I would like to shoot for two 8 ounce - I'm thinking perhaps a gallon and make 2 larger ones and see how that goes.

Gruyére

So this is going to be a 12 month labor of love - the result I hope will be close to a Le Gruyére Premier Cru - the 12 month cave aged classic.

A little about this excellent cheese and its brother and sisters in the "Swiss Cheese" family.

Three things set these cheeses apart

- The curds are broken into small pieces and slowly heated and then "scalded" at 120F. This causes significant dewatering of the curd.
- While the rinds are salted and washed with brine during ageing salt is not added to the curd
- The contain a Propionic bacteria and thermophilic lactic acid bacteria. The lactic bacteria convert the lactose sugars into lactic acid and then after a few weeks of 55F  ageing the cheese is aged at room temperature, 70F. The Propionic bacteria consumed the lactic acid from the first stage and produce acetate, propionic acid and carbon dioxide. The first two give the cheese its characteristic nutty flavor and the latter the holes. If you would like to read more about the chemistry of propionic acid and acetal, two widely found chemicals in natural and fermented foods have a look at these wikipedia links http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propanoic_acid

Taken together we get a wonderfully flavored family of cheese, complex and nutty. A strong aroma. An excellent melting cheese used in fondues and the very best grilled cheese sandwiches you ever had.

The most widely know are Emmentaler and Gruyere. Each come from their own unique small Swiss valley. Emmentaler is made from  partially skimmed cows milk with a protein fat ration of 0.8 while Gruyere uses higher milk fat, around a P:F of 1, closer to the full cream milk we know. In the US, Baby Swiss is made with full cream milk but has a shorter ageing time. Just FYI - the Swiss Raclette so well know as a melting cheese where the cheese is melted and scraped onto break and charcuterie, is made with partially skimmed milk like Emmentaler but at a lower scald temperature and without propionic bacteria - so no holes and a milder flavor and aroma.

Gruyere can be found as a mild 4 months, medium 8 months and Premier Cru at 12 months + cave ageing. The extended ageing and higher fat content compared to Emmental, results in very small and at time no "eye" or gas bubbles in Gruyere. Historically the cheese would be made from milk collected  from cows in their high summer pasture eating grass, wild herbs and flowers giving the cheese debts of flavor and aroma.

I have chosen to make a Gruyere style. I adjusted the full cream milk with some skim - I was trying for a little more like Emmentaler, a bit firmer than Gruyere perhaps, we will see.

Method

1 gallon organic homogenized full cream milk
1.5 cups skimmed homogenized milk


Curd Production
Adjusted to give a Protein : Fat ratio of 0.95
Heat to 88 F
Add Thermophilic Starter
Add 1/16 tsp Propionic Shermanii
Add 20 drops Calcium Chloride in non 1/4 cup chlorinated water
Stir and mature for 10 minutes
Add 20 drops double strength vegetable rennet in 1/4 cup non chlorinated water
NOTE: The pH was 6.5
Mix and allow to set covered for about 30 minutes until a "clean break" is achieved
Cut curd to 1/4 inch cubes
Stir and hold at 90 for 40 minutes of "fore-working" to start to dehydrate the curds
Using a wish reduce curd to the size of rice grains
Drain 1/3 whey and replace with hot water at 140F
Raise temperature with mixing 1 F per minute
Hold at 120F for 40 minutes to "scald the curds" with frequent stirring and complete dehydration
Test for completeness and a "proper break" buy taking a palm full of curds and squeeze into a ball. The curds should crumble when rubbed.

Cheese Production
Drain the whey to the curd level
Drain the curds in a strainer lined with cheese cloth
Transfer to the cheese press and press for 10 minutes at 5 lbs
Remove from press, unwrap, flip, rewrap and press for 30 minutes at 10 lbs
Remove from press, unwrap, flip, rewrap in cheese cloth soaked in saturated brine for 2 hours at 15 lbs
Remove from press, unwrap, flip, rewrap in cheese cloth soaked in saturated brine for 12 hours at 15 lbs

Brineing
Remove and unwrap and float in a tub of saturated brine for 24 hours turning 4 times

Ageing
Remove and pat dry. Age in cheese cave at 50-55 F 85-95% humidity for 14 days - turn every few days and wipe rind with damp cheese cloth soaked in brine.

Remove and age at 70-75 F for 2-3 weeks. Daily turn the cheese and wipe rind with damp cheese cloth soaked in brine. The cheese should swell as the propionic bacteria develop rapidly at room temperature and produce carbon dioxide.

Place back in cheese cave and age at 45F 80-85% humidity for 6-12 month. Turn weekly. Wipe any mold from surface with brine dampened cloth. The rind will form a dull red color.


Pics

Thermophilic starter

Propionic shermanii

After 10 minutes with starter added pH is 6.5

Cut the curds

After  40 minutes settle curds and remove 1/3 whey, replace with 140F water

Wisk curds to the size of rice grains

Remove whey

Drain curds in cheese cloth

Place in press

Complete press cycle

Place in brine

After 10 days at 55F and daily brine wash place at 70F for 10 days to allow  Propionic bacteria to do their thing.

After 7 days at 72F you can see the swelling from  the CO2 production.  I washed it down with salt and placed it in the cave at 50F

After 18 Months - well mixed results. It is too dry. My guess the humidity was  not high enough. The
rind was very had and the body was almost chewy. It tasted ok but was not what you would want.