Cheese-making this week...

Since I've been back from Brisbane (more about that in another post) I've been making cheese again. I've taken time to myself - now that lots of our out-of-school activities have wound down.  Also inspired by my beautiful step-mum, who finds the time to make cheese even with her busy life.  If she can do it - so can I!

First was Camembert.  I love Camembert and so do my children.  I didn't have any mould spores available so I used a sliver of mould from a commercial Camembert - and what do you know?  It worked!  It is in my cheese fridge happily sprouting a coating of white mould as it should.

The Camembert is on the top in it's own box so it doesn't contaminate anything else.  The second cheese I made was a Monterrey Jack with HiLo milk.  It is the red one on the right.  A smaller cheese because of the HiLo.  The one on the left is a Farmhouse Cheddar that I made about six months ago that we are resisting eating until at least nine months. 

Then yesterday I made a Caerphilly - that's it just out of the mold above.  It is one of Miss Blondie's favourites and quite a quick cheese to mature.  It is ready to eat in about three weeks and doesn't need waxing.  Caerphilly is a Welsh cheese - whitish, crumbly, a bit salty and very yummy.

I have just ordered some more ingredients - including a thermophilic culture for making cheeses like Parmesan.  So I hope I can keep finding the time to make cheese.  We have no weekend sports for the summer as we were all suffering from lack of home and family time.