There are many gourmet home cheese makers from all over the world who enjoy creating cheeses. Dave resides in California and has a passion for making homemade cheeses. He has a unique way to keep any excess moisture from compromising his California homemade Camembert cheese.
Hi Steve:
The Cams (camembert cheeses) were the first cheeses I tried, and they are beautiful. I simply followed your instructions as best as I can, and things came out great! Since there is nothing but store milk out here, I am pleased with the results. They are about a month and a half old right now, so we are going to try one soon. I'm surprised that the white mold is still as active as it is. The cheeses still feel furry to the touch. I can see that they are settling down now though, so I think in a week or two we will try one. The Stilton were inspired by a recent trip to London, where we had the privilege of stopping by Neal's Yard and really spent some quality time with the people there. My next project will be made with (hopefully) raw mild, or only pasteurized milk. I've included some photos of a trick I figured out, due largely to going out of town for a week, and my Stilton still moisturizing the lid of its container. I had to mop water beads off the lid of its aging box, and I didn’t want to leave the lid partially open for a week, because I didn’t want the beautiful blue molds to dry out. So my solution was to 'suspend' a paper towel across the opening, and then snap the lid in place. It works wonderfully! All I needed to do was put two layers of towel over the open top of the container, snap the lid in place, and enjoy the Oregon coast for the Christmas Holidays. When we returned, the towel had absorbed quite a bit of moisture, but NONE of it had dropped onto the top of my cheese! I'm sure plenty of people have already figured this out, but it might be a worthy addition to your cheese making instructions, in case people start a cheese and need to leave town. This is a simple solution to help cheese heads sleep better at night. I still have a piece of towel in there, so I don’t have to baby-sit quite as much. OK, that's it for now, I'll keep you posted on the next cheese we do!
Dave C.
Wildomar, California
TheCheeseMaker.com
11611 N. Grace Ct.
Mequon, WI 53092 414-745-5483 phone/text
