Cheese Making Recipe of the Month
A Norwegian Style Cheese - Jarlsberg®
The eyes tell it all! Those little holes make this cheese look like a Swiss, but looks can be deceiving and Jarlsberg® is actually a Norwegian cheese.
Many folks think it's made like a Swiss with more moisture. In fact, while doing his research, Jim found that many of the books and forums present Jarlsberg ® as a thermophilic cheese like Swiss (high heat), whereas the base process is actually mesophilic (low heat).
The taste is somewhere between Gouda and Emmentaler - mild, buttery and slightly sweet. Jim had to do a lot of research to come up with his recipe because the process of making Jarlsberg® is a closely guarded secret in Norway.
He found that a four gallon batch is the smallest size that will trap the gas and make the typical holes. (We strive to keep the batch size to a gallon or two, but sometimes the process just demands more milk.)
So, pull out those big pots and get to work! (Then send us your gorgeous pictures before you gobble it up.)
Meet a Fellow Cheese Maker
Simona Carini makes her cheese in English and Italian!
Simona has a beautiful blog Briciole where you can click on a button to hear her pronounce key words from her posts in Italian. So, you can learn how to make cheese and speak Italian at the same time.
She writes about all kinds of food (and many other things) and she is a master home cheese maker. So, we have featured Simona as a guest blogger several times in the last two years.
This past April, Simona flew from her home in northern California to our stomping grounds in western Massachusetts in order to take her second advanced workshop with our technical advisor, Jim Wallace. It was a 2 day intensive workshop in Italian cheeses (last year she took the one on French cheeses). She took pictures both times and after both classes, she wrote blog articles about the experience.
When she isn't making cheese, Simona teaches college level computer programming classes. We think she should be teaching college level cheese making, as well!
News From Fellow Cheese Makers
Cheddar Add-Ons
Here is a picture of my first try at flavored cheddar cheese.
On the left is cheddar with diced black olives and on the right is cheddar with bacon bits. Love the taste of the latter.
Both have been aged for about five months.
Betty Kriel, West Texas
Whey really works!
After reading Animal Vegetable Miracle, I tried your recipe for 30-Minute Mozzarella. Then I bought one of your kits and made feta and fresh curds. THEN... I noticed on your site that you recommended pouring leftover whey on gardens.
I just wanted to share with you the results two weeks after pouring my mozzarella whey directly on the plants. The one on the left is grown in good soil that has never failed me. The one on the right has had whey poured on it twice. Notice any difference? Thanks so much for a great addition to our lives!
Missy Ames
Thistle flower
Sao Jorge
Lou Bergier
Frumage Baladin
Gran Kinara
Simona Carini makes her cheese in English and Italian!
(This came from Jennie Gregory, Cheese Buyer at the Good Food Store in Missoula, Montana. She is responding to a note from Rich McGaughey in the June Moosletter about making your own rennet from the thistle flower.)
Most cheeses I have come across from Portugal use thistle flower as a rennet since it is a wonderful vegetarian option. Although, upon refreshing my memory, Sao Jorge (July Moosletter) is one of the few Portuguese cheeses that actually uses animal rennet - whoops!
However, since we are on the topic of thistle flower as rennet, I have included a blog that covers a few Italian cheeses that are using the Kinara style as they call it, which uses true vegetarian rennet, meaning they use spontaneous alpine flowers, which often includes thistle flowers of some form.
If you can get your hands on some, I highly recommend trying the Frumage Baladin, a raw cow's milk cheese with a blend of 3 barley malts and beer, delicious & and my absolute favorite, the Lou Bergier Pichin, 60 day aged raw cow's milk toma style cheese that is creamy and exquisitely tangy.
I have also carried the Gran Kinara, which is literally a Grana Padano with the alpine flower rennet as opposed to animal rennet. It definitely had a unique sharpness to it that Padano does not carry.
Such is life getting the little creatures we call cheese shipped into Montana: my distributor did say that they rarely have problems with the cheese and the flavor and texture varies only as much as any other cheese does with the subtle differences that occur from any one batch to the next.
Also here is how to make thistle rennet, although I have never tried & maybe the Cheese Queen can use her expertise to make some.
It was a "Rally in Raleigh!"
Wooden Ring Molds
These hand-crafted molds are so beautiful, it's almost a shame to use them! If you have a farm store, you might want to hang them on your wall or place them on your display tables.
We now have all three sizes - small (7-8.5"wide x 2.3"high), medium (9-10"wide x 2.75"high) and large (10-11.5"wide x 3"high).
Unfortunately, we have to place our orders far in advance so there is only a limited quantity available while supplies last.
Please send your cheese making news & photos to: moosletter@cheesemaking.com
