5.19.24
There is something rather magical about making a wheel of cheese. A certain sense of eagerness fills you as you pour five gallons of fresh creamy milk into your stainless-steel cheese pot. Shall I make a cheddar today or maybe a crumbly Cotswold? How about a nice gouda or creamy Colby? It never ceases to amaze me that just by a tweak of temperature here, a tad more rennet there, to wash the curds or not, can make this pot of creamy milk turn into so many different varieties of cheese. Yet despite my many years of cheese making, the best laid plans of producing a certain type of cheese from a pot of milk is not guaranteed! No indeed it is not! But that is the mystical nature of the cheesing.
Yesterday, as I poured the gallons of milk into the cheese pot, I decided a nice creamy Colby was on the agenda. Slowly raising the temperature to 86 degrees I added the buttermilk then after popping the lid on the pot I let it sit and start working its wonder while I went outside to finish up some chores. An hour later saw me back in the house, diligently checking the milk’s temperature before adding in the wee amount of rennet required to make the cheese of my choice. Now the magic begins. Once more the pot is covered and once again, I head out the door to potter outside for about an hour. In that space of time, I know that pot of creamy milk will have turned into a somewhat solid mass of curd. Dipping my milk thermometer into the center of the blob and gently drawing it upwards in a cutting motion, tells me if I have the clean break in the curd I am looking for. The signal the next step is ready to proceed.
For the next hour I am busy at the cheese pot. Gently cutting the curd, stirring everything slowly and carefully until the temperature of the curds and whey finally reach the requisite 100 degrees. Continuing to stir occasionally helps prevent the curds from clumping together at the bottom of the pot. Slowly, slowly the curds shrink in size. When I feel the time is right, I let them settle to the bottom of the pot as I scoop away the sweet tasting whey until I glimpse the white mass of curds below. Then, adding cold water bit by bit the temperature of the curds is brought down to around 86 degrees. Yet another round of gentle stirring ensues until once again I feel the time is right for the curds to be drained, salted and placed in the waiting mould. Weights are placed on top of the follower – the round “top” that fits snugly inside the mould that presses down evenly on the curds – and over the next hour the weights will slowly be increased each time the cheese is removed from the mould, turned and replaced. Finally, the last turning is done, the heavy weights put in place and the cheese is left alone for 24 hours before being carefully removed from the mould and placed in the cheese fridge to dry and rind up.
Now the anticipation begins. What sort of cheese will I end up with? Will it indeed be a creamy Colby, or will I end up with one of those extraordinary, never to be fully reproduced One of a Kind cheese wheels that occasionally comes along? In three or four months we will know… if we can wait that long! That to me is what making cheese is all about. The crafting of something unique for each cheese wheel is indeed unique! No two cheeses are identical. Each one has its own slight variation caused by any number of things! How was Lass or Heidi feeling when giving their bounty of milk used in the cheese? What tender greens in the field may lend their own slight distinctive flavour to their creamy milk? Did the curds reach 102 degrees instead of 100 degrees as yes, that can make a difference! So many, many variables can affect the outcome. Hence, the great anticipation when the time comes to cut into that fully mature golden wheel of goodness!
Life is often like making cheese. You start with excellent ingredients, follow the recipe to the letter, put time and effort into making the best product you can, then wait in anticipation for the results. With luck you end up with something satisfying and are happy about it. However, every now and then, a truly spectacular thing happens. A tweak of circumstances here, a dash of luck there and the unexpected intervention of Fate at just the right moment turns something good into something great. Yes, life is like a cheese, and I have been blessed with one of those tweaks that turned a simple cheddar into a spectacular One of a Kind!
