A DAY AT THE OFFICE
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moon phases � |
The stew boiled over into my private folder (or actually it will as soon as I finish this).
It was so dark and rainy and yucky today. Not a good upbeat weather pattern to start off the new year. It wasn't a total loss though. I really had to get into the cheeseroom and turn the overabundance of milk into some cheddar cheese anyway.
I took a couple of pictures of the process. Nothing elaborate but it is kind of cool to be doing this in the cheeseroom in the big pot using the big cheesepress so I just had to document it.
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First we have the cheesevat with all of it's thermometers in place (three digital and one regular). Yup, four thermometers for one batch of cheese. I really don't need them all when I make raw milk cheese but don't they look impressive sticking out of the top of the pot. The box on the wall says that the temperature of the milk is 85 degrees so it was time to add the culture to the milk. The first step in making cheddar cheese.
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Next we have a shot of the curds after I cut them into cubes and allowed them to rest. The fluid is the whey that will be left over after the cheese is finished. There is something so cool about turning a liquid into a solid that tastes entirely different than what you started with.
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And finally after working in the cheeseroom for five hours I put the curds into molds and put them into the cheesepress. See the S hook at the end of the lever? This was the first pressing so there is no weight hanging off that lever yet. The follower plate along with the bar that it is attached to weighs in at about 22 pounds. That is enough for the first pressing which is rather short. Right now there is weight at the end of that lever and the cheese will stay under the weight until tomorrow morning.
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And next we have a gratuitous cleavage shot. Because I am the Goddess of goat milk cheddar and I wish I had some cleavage. I do occasionally glow in interesting ways though.
Now go out and buy some farmstead cheese. It's good for all of us.
written at 9:03 p.m.
January 01, 2007
Miss something?
- - January 26, 2009
- - May 26, 2008
- - April 09, 2008
- - January 21, 2008
- - November 24, 2007