Gouda

Yesterday started of with a crazy dusting of snow... I headed out to milk at the J farm.

Meet Isadora.  She is the feistiest cow I get to milk.  Minus the products of wet snow- she is a very pretty Jersey.

 

This is the milking barn.  It has 3 stanchions to hold the cows in location.... they do get a grain treat to keep them patient while being milked.  Isodora on the right, Coco on the left and far back is Lilly.  She is mother to the little moo maker.                                         

This shot was taken with Avery in mind.  A young little girl who claims it is "her dream to milk a cow"

Now I am off to go home and get my things ready to make Gouda.

Start with 2 gallons of milk heated to 90.  Add your homemade mesophilic starter- 4oz.  these are mine pulled from the freezer and then left out to thaw.                                

  
After adding the mesophilic starter to the milk- mix well- let it sit covered for 10 minutes to ripen the milk.

If you are not using fresh cow milk- or if you are using goats milk- add 1/4t calcium chloride diluted in 1/4c H2O.

Add 1t of rennet diluted in 1/4 cup cool H2O.  Stir up and down for 1 minute then top stir for an additional minute.

***The water- btw-needs to be non chlorinated!
Cover and let set for 1 hour at 90*.  If your milk reaches 90* and the heat is then turned off- it will stay at a perfect temp the whole time.
 At this point it should give a clean break... like below.

Cut the curd into 1/2" cubes.  Most people designate a special knife for this part... I much prefer a metal Shish Kabob skewer.  remember- left to right- then top to bottom then on a 45* angle best you can from left to right then right to left and again top to bottom then reverse.           

Stir with your hands for 10 minutes.  Gently enough that you just move the curd and bring up what is on the bottom to the top.                                                

let the curds settle for 5 minutes

Drain off 1/3 of the whey.  keep stirring with your hands and add just enough 175*F H2O to bring the curd up to 92*F

Let the curd settle, drain off the whey far enough to be level with the curd.

Stir constantly and add just enough 175*F H2O to bring the temperature of the curd up to 100*F for 10 minutes.  Stirring just enough to keep them from matting together. Now cover and let set for 30 minutes.

Pour off whey and quickly add the warm curd to your cheese cloth lined 2# mold.  Break the curd as little as possible.  Place 20# of weight on it for 20 minutes.

Repeat the process and then do 30# for 20 minutes

Repeat again but with 50# for 12-16 hours

Made the hubby throw this together last minute this am.  Just drilled PVC pipe and wooden cylinders to fit inside.  Top with my weights then good to go after placing the whole things on my wooden draining board. 

Make a saturated brine solution of 1ga water with 2# cheese salt diluted in it.  Make sure your container is either glass or stainless steel. aka: non corrosive 

***This time making this cheese I am trying a 1ga ziplock bag, half filled, with about 1/2-3/4 # salt.  It is a trial- a very costly fail if I do fail- but I think 2# in 1ga is quite intensive.

Soak the cheese for 12 hours

Remove the cheese from the brine and pat dry

Wax the cheese

Find a double boiler and make sure you have CHEESE wax.  This double boiler will be just for the cheese.  Period.  You will never be able to get this wax out of any container- with anything.  Believe me....

Dip over 1/2 way down, pull up and let set for a moment  before turning and repeating the other side.

I do between 3 and 5 full coats.

My daughter made a label- so we "painted" a bit of wax on the side and "glued" the word "Gouda" on it before adding a few little layers over the paper so I wouldn't forget what it is.  I neglected to do this but you should also put the waxed date aside the label.

Age it at 50*F for about 3-4 months turning it 3-4 times a week.

6 months makes for a really great age- Once this is ready I will cold smoke the log for a bit.