Raw Goat Blue

Ingredients:

• 30 pints Ellie’s Dairy raw Goat milk
• 6.9ml vegetarian rennet
• Pinch of penicillium roqueforti

I’ve been trying to get this cheese right for a while now (hence the lack of updates!), and think I almost have it cracked with this recipe.

Again i’m using Ellie’s Dairy raw Goat milk – it’s hard not to love this milk, it’s fantastic!  Sheer white, gives amazing curd, and tastes beautiful!

Luckily Franklins Farm Shop stocks it, so I can pick it up the morning after milking!

Ellie's Dairy raw Goat milk

Could fit another 2 pints in!

After decanting the milk out into the cheese vat, heat slowly to 32C.

Add the rehydrated penicillium roqueforti and stir gently.

Vegetarian rennet

Measure out the vegetarian rennet (courtesy of Moorlands at the Southbank Cheese & Wine Festival), and dilute in previously boiled & cooled water.

Adding the diluted rennet

Stir gently for a couple of minutes after adding the diluted rennet, then leave to set for about 45 minutes, or until a clean break is achieved.

Clean break

The way I identify a clean break is that the curd breaks easily over your finger, without leaving a residue.

In an attempt to scoop all the curd out at once, I used a stretched out metal coat hanger with cheesecloth wrapped around.

It worked quite well, although I have to find something stronger, and non-metallic, as i’m worried about scratching the vat!

Draining the curd

Leave the curd to drain slowly, moving round and flipping after an hour or so.

Drained curd

Once the curd has drained enough to be moved around easily, it’s time to cut & stack!

30 pints gives almost 3kg curd

69g salt

Need to have a quick weigh first though, to figure out how much salt to use later – around 23g per kilogram.

Stacking the curd

Allow the stacked curd to drain for 30 minutes, before moving the inside slices to the outside and leaving for another half hour.

Milled curd

Cut the curd into just under 1cm pieces, and add the salt ensuring it’s evenly distributed throughout the curd.

Hooped into moulds

Scoop the salted curd into moulds on a draining mat, and place a follower (without additional pressure) on top.

This keeps the curd top smooth as it knits together naturally over the course of the next 5 days (turned daily).

I will update this post next Saturday as rubbing up commences!

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