Gert & Connie Kok
South Africa is a long way from most of us. However, the internet brings us together in fascinating ways.
In the comment section of Paulette Walker’s interview, Gert requested her recipe for English Coulommiers. As a result of that, Paulette will be sharing her recipe with us soon and we all have the pleasure of getting to know Gert and Connie.
Gert & Connie’s Story
We are both 67 years young. We have 3 children and 5 grandchildren.
We have always lived in South Africa but we have travelled a lot – USA, Israel, Australia, NZ, UK, many European countries, etc.
I have a Bachelor of Technology in electronics, did a Bachelor of Science in computer science and also a Master of Philosophy in applied theology. I have been the quality and production manager at electronics companies and still do microsection analysis on production process problem (pcb) investigations and represent the world’s top pcb manufacturer, Eltek Ltd, Israel, in South Africa. I also assist companies to get ISO9001-2015 quality system certification.
My wife has a dental assistance diploma. She was a dental assistant for 35 years and she still does temp work in her retirement (to keep her brain active). She is the glue in our family! You can find her in the contemporary English version of Proverbs 31:10-31 (In Praise of a Good Wife).
We have been making our own salamis, sausages, beef jerky (air dried meat called “biltong” in South Africa), smoked meat, etc. as well as roasting our own coffee beans for 15 years.
Grinding meat to make sausages
Russian cooked salami. I buy the spices (locally made) and casings and meat. I mix the ground meat and pork fat and spices, fill the casings and then smoke it for 2 hours. Then, I “cook” it in water until the internal temperature reaches 163F (73C).
You can smoke anything (including cheese, of course)! Do yourself a favor and smoke tomatoes, drizzle with olive oil and spices, and then make tomato bisque – it is excellent!!
After we successfully made all the other meat type stuff, we decided to try making cheese. (In fact, we were bitten by the cheese bug!)
I bought a few books on cheese making and Googled a lot.
We started with cream cheese. After 4 days of ripening, we tried it and it really was the best cream cheese we ever had!! So, we became cheesemakingoholics.
Cream cheese rolled in coarse pepper and crystallized candy
Cream cheese rolled in chilli and beef jerky
Then, I made my own press, molds and cutter. I am a practical person so I design what I want to make and then change the design in process. I have all the woodworking and metal working machines, etc. required.
My homemade press and molds
The round cutter:
I made a ring of stainless steel that fit exactly in the pot. If you press it down on the curd, with the crosshatched nylon on the bottom, you make vertical strips – a bit less than 3/8″ wide.
This homemade curd cutter fits exactly into the pot for the vertical cut.
The square cutter:
Then to cut it into blocks, you insert the square cutter and turn it around in one clockwise movement.
This cutter also fits exactly in the pot. Having been a production manager, I always look for ways to improve a process and make it repeatable.
So, to cut the curds takes only a couple of seconds.
Our Cheeses
We have made more than 11 kinds of cheese so far: cream cheese, Camembert, Brie, Edam, feta, ricotta, blue Stilton, Cotswold, Caerphilly, camblue, Wensleydale, Derby and southwestern spicy cheese curds.
We would like to try making all the cheeses on your blog. The problem with cheese making is that you cannot stop!
Making whey ricotta
Camembert
Camblu in progress
Blue Stilton drying
Blue Stilton maturing
Cotswold drying. We have added some garlic, onions and chives.
Cotswold. The pink wax comes from our South African supplier.
Cheese cave. I keep the blue cheeses in the bins to prevent the Roquefort from spreading to the rest.
Damn cheese bug . . . no vaccination for this one!
