Remember that one of the qualities I am looking for in this cheese is a higher moisture. This step will involve a draining of most of the warm whey and refilling with cool water. This step helps to make a sweeter and moister cheese. Chop the pepper into small flakes so that they can be easily distributed throughout the cheese. With or without seeds, the preference is yours. If you would like to use a fresh green or red hot pepper, then I suggest you blanch them first to avoid harmful bacteria developing inside the cheese (botulinum is deadly). I use about 1/3 to 3/4 of a single pepper for this. I wait until they turn red and smoke them slowly with apple wood, they are sweet, smoky, and hot. They should add a nice aromatic and nutty/citrusy flavor as the cheese draws the heat from the pepper. Then crack them lightly in a mortar and pestle or any heavy weight (you want a little substance to these). Toast these briefly until they pop in the pan to bring out the oils and flavors. This initial rest is called the milk ripening stage.ĭuring this ripening phase you have a good opportunity to make sure the molds and draining materials are sanitized as well as the draining/pressing surfaces.īlack Peppercorns | For a cheese with 2 gallons of milk use 1-1.5tsp of good quality peppercorns (not from the old jar in the back of the drawer). It will be very slow initially but will soon kick into its more rapid rate of converting lactose to lactic acid. ![]() Once the culture is well stirred in, hold the milk with culture quiet for the next 60 minutes while the culture begins doing its work. ![]() The better you can do this, the more consistent the cheese will be batch to batch. The warm temperature needs to be kept until the guideline calls for a higher temperature during the cook stage to follow. To prevent the powder from caking and sinking in clumps sprinkle the powder over the surface of the milk and then allow about 2 minutes for the powder to re-hydrate before stirring it in. Once the milk is at 88F the culture can be added. If you do this in a pot on the stove make sure you heat the milk slowly and stir it well as it heats You do this by placing the milk in a pot or sink of very warm water. Begin by heating the milk to 88F (31.5C).
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