By Howard Dewsbury in Barrie Ontario, Canada
I am a 68 year old father of 4 lovely children and have been happily married to my wife Jane since 1969, and those children have given us 6 adorable grandchildren.
In 2011, I retired after many years in the engineering and construction industry. I realized that I still needed challenges to keep my mind occupied and myself busy. Cooking had always been a passion so I began experimenting with different recipes, with a special interest in preserves and fermented foods. (I have been making beer and wine since the early 1970’s.) Eventually, this led to making cured meats and cheese – a strange turn of events for someone who barely passed his chemistry courses in college.
Turns out cheese making was interesting and fun. It soon became a hit with friends and family. Never being one to just follow others’ recipes, I started experimenting; took a couple of tries to get the cheeses the way I wanted them to. The results are well worth the effort!
Howard’s Small Cheese
I wanted a small cheese that would make an interesting Christmas gift, had a pleasant, mild taste and was firm but not hard. After searching many books on cheeses and online recipes and not finding what I was looking for, I developed the following simple recipe then proceeded to make the first batch. The cheese has a mild flavour along the lines of an Alpine cheese that gets better with age and has a medium firmness – good with fruit, white wine or on crackers.
Howard told us that his unique recipe tastes somewhat like Oka cheese from Quebec. (Oka cheese is made by the Oka monks at the Abbey of Notre-Dame du Lac (known as Oka Abbey) in Deux-Montagnes, Quebec.) We haven’t tried this ourselves yet. So, if you make it, be sure to tell us about it in the comments.
Ingredients:
7 L (2 gallons) milk
1/8 tsp Thermophilic C
3-4 drops annatto for slight colour
Salt, enough to coat cheeses
4ml calcium chloride
4ml rennet
Procedure:
Heat milk to 37C (98F), add Thermophilic C, annatto and calcium chloride. Stir and let sit for 1 hour.
Add rennet and let sit until a clean break is achieved. Cut into 1/2″ x 1/2″ strips.
Let sit for 5 minutes, stir with whisk to cut into small curds. Let sit for 20 minutes.
Place in grain bag or colander to drain until dripping slows.
Weigh drained curd and divide into 4 equal portions.
Place into (4) – 4″ cheese molds or use butter muslin to separate into 4 layers in one 4″ cheese mold.
Press at 10 lbs for 1 hour then turn over and press at 50 lbs overnight.
Remove from mold(s), salt and vacuum seal. Place in storage for 2 months. Note: The cheeses are pretty dry when I take them from the press. The vacuum sealing means only an anaerobic process takes place and along with the salt inhibits unwanted molds from getting started on the cheese. Also, these cheeses are small and sealing them keeps them from drying out. During the first 2 months, the cheeses release gas and some moisture and the vacuum is slowly reduced. If you dry and wax them after taking them out of the press, the wax will loosen, leaving a gap where unwanted mold can start to grow. This situation would require you the remove the wax, clean off any mold and then wax them again.
Remove vacuum seal and let dry at room temperature.
Soft wax* (optional) then tie a string around cheese and dip in hard wax.
Age another 2-6 months or longer.
* Soft wax is the same as cheese paste and it’s use is optional
Jeri Case says
We are here for you, but we don’t actually sell cheese and Howard doesn’t either. Our mission is to help home cheese makers. I think you will find all the info you need to do that at our website- cheesemaking.com. Keep in touch.
Leone E. Kaylor says
Thanks for being there. I’m looking for 1. Cows milk whey or the product cheese primost. Do you sell either one? I thank you for your kind response
Howard Dewsbury says
Unfortunately I only have cranberry goat cheese ready for this Christmas.
As one of Howard’s lovely children I can attest that his cheeses are excellent and well received by all of our family and friends when we put out the cheese plate. They are so well done that my dad now has my husband interested in making his own cheese as well. Glad they have a hobby they can share together that gives me delicious cheese to consume as a result.
Your life seems to parallel mine. I Married wonder woman 11/23/68 (the wonder is she has stayed with me this long). I am also a retired engineer. I understand what it is to keep one’s mind & body occupied.
Question: It seems that you will be retaining a great deal of moisture by letting the cheese hang only until the drip slows. Is the moisture contributary? How slow of a drip
When using 4 butter muslins in 1 mold, how do you get all 4 of them past the follower or do you just pile each muslin atop it’s respective cheese
Making cheese does not on the surface seem to fit in with engineering so I am happy to hear I am not the only one. However, engineering involves designing and making things using the available resources and in that cheese making fits right in.
I let it drip until turning the curd over in the grain bag does not increase the rate of dripping, meaning most of the free liquid is gone and you can divide into four without puddles of whey. It is a judgement thing.
The finished produce should be moist and chewy so moisture is a contributing factor.
I cut the muslin into discs and pile the cheeses up with 2 discs between each layer so they separate easier. When turning I just turn the whole stack as one.