A Cheesy Tradition

A traditional part of Christmas is to serve a tasty, festive cheeseboard, whether that’s after a hearty lunch or dinner for family, or as part of an informal drinks party for friends and neighbours. A Yorkshire tradition is to serve cheese with the Christmas cake, a practice that dates back to the 1900s.

Favourite choices for your festive spread may include vintage Cheddar, Stilton, Brie, smoked cheeses and maybe some Wensleydale with cranberries or White Stilton with apricots. What would be your number one Christmas cheese choice?

Whichever specific cheeses you choose, it’s a good idea to have a mixture of hard and soft cheeses, offering a variety of flavours and textures. What you serve them with is up to you: savoury biscuits, grapes or simply a glass of wine or port.

Of course, to add even more variety to your cheeseboard, you can make your own cheese, to which you can add your personal choice of herbs, spices and flavourings, giving your Christmas spread that truly unique touch.

Regardless of which cheeses you select or how you serve them, there’s no doubt it’s just not Christmas without some delicious cheese!

For cheesemaking kits and equipment, please visit www.cheesemaking.co.uk

Keep It Fresh!

Once you’ve made your tasty cheese, you want to be sure to store it correctly in order to keep it fresh. Many people think the best way to store cheese is by wrapping it in cling film (indeed many shop-bought cheeses are wrapped in plastic) but this traps moisture and encourages the growth of mould. We recommend that you wrap your cheese in waxed paper or ultra-fine polypropylene sheets (depending on the type of cheese), which will prevent the cheese from becoming too dry and prevent the build-up of excess moisture. To store soft cheeses, wax coated paper product code 0154 is best, whilst hard cheeses benefit from being wrapped in ultra-fine polypropylene sheets, product code 0157. See http://www.cheesemaking.co.uk/cheese-making-cheese-wrap to read more and place an order.

Then there’s the question of whether to refrigerate cheese. It’s possible to keep hard cheeses in an environment with a constant temperature of 8-15°C, but soft cheeses really do need refrigeration. To get the best of the cheese’s flavour, it’s best to remove it from the fridge up to an hour before serving.

Another important thing to remember is that mould ripened cheeses need to be stored completely separately from non-mould ripened cheeses, to avoid cross contamination.  Blue and white mould ripened cheeses also need to be stored separately from one another. If you need to store both in the same area, they should be placed in different, sealed containers and when handling the cheeses, the blue cheese boxes should be opened and handled last, to minimise cross contamination.

 

Got any questions about cheese making and storage? Then visit Moorlands http://www.cheesemaking.co.uk/qa where we’re pleased to provide lots of answers!

Curds and Whey

“Little Miss Muffet,

Sat on her tuffet,

Eating her curds and whey”

- The start of a popular children’s rhyme, but what exactly are curds and whey?

In simple terms, think cottage cheese, with the lumpy part being the curds and the more liquid part being the whey. The word curd actually comes from the Latin ‘coagulare’, as it’s formed during the process of coagulating milk, which produces curds (solids) and ‘whey’ (liquid) that takes its origins from Old English ‘hweg’.

In cheesemaking, rennet (a curdling agent) is added to milk, as are starter cultures, to enable coagulation. The milk separates into the curds and whey, which are used in the cheesemaking process. The curds can be made into a variety of cheeses, whilst the whey can be removed during the process – the more whey removed, the drier the cheese. However, Ricotta cheese is actually made from re-cooked whey.

At Moorlands, we supply a selection of high quality ingredients and equipment to help in the making of curds and whey. For example, we offer rennet in liquid and tablet form, in animal and vegetarian varieties, just visit http://www.cheesemaking.co.uk/cheese-making-rennet

Whilst our sturdy curd cutter http://www.cheesemaking.co.uk/cheese-making-cheese-curd-cutter and muslin straining bags http://www.cheesemaking.co.uk/cheese-making-cheesecloth/cheesecloth-straining-bags are invaluable aids in the cheesemaking process.

For all your cheesemaking supplies choose Moorlands.

Blue Cheese Culture

In the production of certain cheeses (Stilton, Gorgonzola, Roquefort for example) a blue mould is grown on the surface of the cheese using a culture known as Penicillium Roqueforti. This is added to the milk prior to the introduction of rennet to encourage the growth of the mould.

Actual Roquefort is a blue cheese (protected by AOC guidelines) originating from the south of France, which is traditionally made from sheep’s milk. The Penicillium Roqueforti used in its production is found in the soil of local caves, and was originally ‘harvested’ by cheesemakers by leaving bread to ‘mould’ in the caves, which was later dried to a powder.

Today the culture can be produced in labs, used in a variety of blue cheeses and purchased from Moorlands – a much more straightforward way to acquire it! Just visit www.cheesemaking.co.uk/penicillium-roqueforti-cheese-making-culture?filter_name=roquefort

Use the culture to make your own tasty blue cheese at home – delicious!

Cheesemaking Culture

It’s possible to make a huge variety of cheeses at home, providing you have the right ingredients and equipment at hand, which of course you can purchase from Moorlands, as well as contacting us for valuable advice. 

For lovers of white mould ripened cheeses, such as Camembert or Brie, you’ll need Penicillium Candidum Neige LYO 2D Cheese Making Culture, which you’ll find at www.cheesemaking.co.uk/cheese-making-cultures/penicillium-candidum-neige-lyo-2d-cheese-making-culture

The culture should be added to the milk or put onto the surface of the cheese by dipping or spraying. Once a light covering of mould has grown, usually after about 9 - 10 days but sooner if warmer, you then need to wrap the cheese and place it on a rack in a high humidity atmosphere (around 10ºC) for the coat to grow. One dose of this culture is sufficient for 100 litres of milk.

Incidentally, the Penicillium Candidum culture is also used in the production of salami, to add flavour and lower the pH, therefore reducing the growth of bacteria. A very usual culture to know!

This is just one of the mould cultures that we supply at Moorlands Cheesemakers, with Penicillium Roqueforti and Geotrichum Candidum being other useful examples.

For all your cheesemaking needs please visit www.cheesemaking.co.uk

A Great Start!

At Moorlands we supply high quality cheesemaking equipment and supplies, with our starter cultures being no exception. Our excellent selection of starter cultures ensure that whatever variety of cheese you decide to make, it gets off to a good start!

What are starter cultures?

The first stage in making cheese involves ‘ripening’ the milk, converting the sugars (lactose) in the milk to lactic acid. Starter cultures, which are basically strains of bacteria originally sourced during the natural cheesemaking process, but now often grown in labs, control this process.

There are two main groups of culture, mesophilic that like moderate temperatures and thermophilic, which react to warmer conditions, with each type being bettersuited to specific cheeses.

We’re pleased to offer a wide range of starter cultures aimed at a broad selection of popular cheeses, buttermilk and yogurt. Whether you’re looking for something specific, such as a starter for Gouda, Mozzarella or Parmesan, or are looking to purchase a handy starter kit containing multiple options, we offer great choice. Just take a look at www.cheesemaking.co.uk/cheese-making-cultures to view the options.

Remember, great cheese starts with a great culture!

For more information!

Visit www.cheesemaking.co.uk

Phone 0196 335 0634

Write to: Moorland Cheesemakers LTD

               Lorien House

               South Street

               Castle Cary

               Somerset

               BA7 7ES