This past summer I tried my hand at making cheese with moderate success. Ok, let’s be honest here...it was edible...but edible milky flavored rubber band that disintegrated into mush at first bite (see August). This past month, I attempted to age an existing cheese (affinage is the French term). The decision to make cheese in a stuffy apartment kitchen in August and to age a cheese in a 34 F degree walk-in cooler during November, was not the most rational move I’ve made. Ah, hindsight...
I was very excited when around Thanksgiving we ran a promo on a few of Capriole Farm's goat cheeses. These cheeses are soft bloomy rind cheeses that visibly age in a few weeks time. I love an almost overripe bloomy cheese that, once you cut into it, starts oozing onto the plate forming a small pool around the body of the cheese, so I wanted to babysit and age one myself...
We got in a batch of Piper’s Pyramids: six darling pyramid shaped cheeses delivered in a wooden box: And a case of Wabash Cannonballs packaged in the same fashion, but ash covered and sphere shaped:
I was very excited when around Thanksgiving we ran a promo on a few of Capriole Farm's goat cheeses. These cheeses are soft bloomy rind cheeses that visibly age in a few weeks time. I love an almost overripe bloomy cheese that, once you cut into it, starts oozing onto the plate forming a small pool around the body of the cheese, so I wanted to babysit and age one myself...
We got in a batch of Piper’s Pyramids: six darling pyramid shaped cheeses delivered in a wooden box: And a case of Wabash Cannonballs packaged in the same fashion, but ash covered and sphere shaped:
Like any well-made cheese, these are good from the time they come in the door, but they had not yet reached that ooey-gooey, melty stage where a liquid layer forms between the rind and paste. The cause of this softening of bloomy rind cheese is the proteins breaking down, a process known as proteolysis. The proteins contribute to the firmness of the cheese, so when they break down the cheese gets softer.
I slapped a sticker on a Piper’s Pyramid that read “11/25 do not sell, Esther is aging this!” and my affinage adventure began. I kept the cheese in the back where it could mature quietly and undisturbed. I didn't want to age it on the floor for fear of it selling before I could take it home.
I quickly found out my passion for cheese does not automatically turn into success in the production arena. In the case of aging, I had zero know-how and it showed in the results of my experiment. A month later, my lactic pyramid looked and felt exactly the same. When I pressed on it, the cheese did not yield indicating that it was firmer than when it first came in. “What the hell?” I thought, “Where is my soft ooey-goey dream?”
I slapped a sticker on a Piper’s Pyramid that read “11/25 do not sell, Esther is aging this!” and my affinage adventure began. I kept the cheese in the back where it could mature quietly and undisturbed. I didn't want to age it on the floor for fear of it selling before I could take it home.
I quickly found out my passion for cheese does not automatically turn into success in the production arena. In the case of aging, I had zero know-how and it showed in the results of my experiment. A month later, my lactic pyramid looked and felt exactly the same. When I pressed on it, the cheese did not yield indicating that it was firmer than when it first came in. “What the hell?” I thought, “Where is my soft ooey-goey dream?”
I told Jeff about my fail and it was only then that I figured out what went wrong, that hindsight thing again...My cooler was too cold (about 34 F) and not enough humidity for bloomy rind cheeses to age successfully. My cheese didn’t develop any sharper and more unctuous flavors and that magical proteolysis transformation did not occur. The firmer texture (probably due to moisture loss in the dryness of the cooler) was not the desired result. My cheese experiment was a flop...However, even with my affinage faux pas, the cheese tasted fine, just not the way I wanted it to. Like eating crunchy peanut butter when what I really wanted was the creamy kind...
But happy ending...because oh my god! I bet you forgot about the Wabash Cannonballs! How could we?Well, they aged out nicely in the floor case (higher temperature usually around 38-40F and packaged in small perforated containers that kept in moisture but still allowed airflow. I bought the last one just in time for my New Year’s Eve gathering. It turned out exactly the way I wanted...all without me futzing with an already wonderful thing.
But happy ending...because oh my god! I bet you forgot about the Wabash Cannonballs! How could we?Well, they aged out nicely in the floor case (higher temperature usually around 38-40F and packaged in small perforated containers that kept in moisture but still allowed airflow. I bought the last one just in time for my New Year’s Eve gathering. It turned out exactly the way I wanted...all without me futzing with an already wonderful thing.
All is right again...
Happy New Year! Stay cheesy out there.
Happy New Year! Stay cheesy out there.