HOMEMADE CAMEMBERT
Ek het weer kaas gemaak! Hierdie keer Camemberts. Dit sal eers oor ‘n maand gereed wees.
- 7.6 liters (2 US gal) full cream milk
- ¼ teaspoon Calcium Chloride (if using homogenized milk), dissolved in ¼ cup (60 ml) cool
- unchlorinated water
- ¼ teaspoon mesophilic direct set starter culture
- 1/8 th teaspoon Penicillium candidum
- ¼ teaspoon (2 ml) liquid rennet dissolved in ¼ cup (60 ml) cool unchlorinated water
- cheese salt
- Utensils:
- cheese hoops
- 4 sushi mats
- stainless steel ladle
- 8 liter stainless steel pot
- small saucepan to use as a double boiler
- café Thermometer
- curd knife
- stirring spoon
- cheese paper/wrap
Sterilize all equipment in a large pot with about 3 liters of boiling water for 15 minutes, except cheese hoops. Use a very weak, diluted bleach solution for the hoops and rinse thoroughly with fresh water.
(If using homogenized milk, add the Calcium Chloride.)
Heat the milk to 32°C (90°F) and add the starter culture and the Penicillium candidum and stir.
Cover and allow to ripen for 90 minutes.
Whilst maintaining the target temperature (32°C), add the rennet and stir for two minutes top to bottom. Cover and let sit at target temp for 60 minutes or until you have a clean break.
Cut the curds into 1.25 cm (½”) cubes, and gently stir for 15 minutes at target temp.
Let curds settle for 15 minutes, maintaining temp, then drain off the whey to the level of the curds using the ladle.
Place all four hoops on two of the sushi mats, and gently ladle the curds into the hoops until you reach the top. Cover both pairs with the remaining sushi mats.
Let it drain for one hour at room temperature. You will notice a fall in the cheese as the whey expels.
Flip over the cheese, using the mats, holding top and bottom to ensure that the curd does not come out of the hoops. Make sure the curds do not tear. Flip the cheeses every hour for 5 hours.
Gently pull off the hoops and lightly sprinkle with cheese salt and gently rub it all over, allow to rest for 10 minutes for the salt to absorb.
Place the cheeses, which will still be on a mat, into your ripening box, and store at 7°C (45°F) at 85 percent humidity, and into your cheese fridge. The normal fridge will work at a pinch, but maturation will be slower and will take usually about 8 days for the mould to form.
After 5 days, mould should appear on the surface of the cheese. Turn the cheese over, put it back in the ripening box and back into the cheese fridge.
Continue to age for another 7 – 10 days. The cheese should form a good layer of mould on the surface.
Take the cheese out of the ripening box and wrap it in cheese paper/film/wrap. Allow the cheese to continue to mature at 7°C (45°F) for another 3 weeks.
Test one cheese to see if it has a mild flavour. If so, then store the remainder at 4°C until consumed. If not, wait another week, as the flavour gets stronger with age.
Recipe tested and photo: Natacha Visagie
