This recipe is adapted from the one in Tim Smiths’s book on Artisan cheesemaking for making Cotswold cheese. Both the Ingredients and the Directions are directly from my personal log of the steps as I performed them.
Ingredients:
2 gallons milk
mesophilic culture (4 tablespoons of mother culture or 1/4 teaspoon of direct starter culture)
4 drops annatto coloring diluted in ¼ cup cool water
¼ teaspoon calcium chloride diluted in ¼ cup cool water
¼ tablet vegetable rennet dissolved in ¼ cup cool water
1 tablespoon fresh chives
1 tablespoon dried onion
Directions:
1. Heat milk to 90F and add culture. Cover and ripen for 45 minutes at 90F.
2. Add annatto. Stir in thoroughly.
3. Add calcium chloride. Stir in thoroughly.
4. Add rennet, stir for 1 minute.
5. Keep at 90F and let set for 45 to 90 min. until clean break.
6. Cut curds to ¼ inch cubes.
7. Keep at 90F for 20 min and occasionally gently stir curds to prevent matting.
8. Raise to 104F over 35 min. Stir often enough to prevent matting..
9. Keep at 104F for 30 min. Stir continuously while cooking to prevent matting.
10. Let cooked curds rest for 5 minutes.
11. Drain curds into cheesecloth lined colander.
12. Place colander in pot and cover to keep curds about 100F until whey is done draining.
13. Drain pot completely and move curds into pot. Stir gently to unmat curds.
14. Add chives and onions in multiple steps, stirring gently to mix evenly at each step.
15. Place curds in cheesecloth-lined mold and press at 10 pounds for 15 min.
16. Flip and rewrap and press at 30 pounds for 10 min.
17. Flip and rewrap and press at 40 pounds for 2 hours.
18. Flip and rewrap and press at 50 pounds for 24 hours.
19. Remove from press, wipe down with brine and let dry at room temp until dry and ready to wax.
20. Wax and age at 55F for 1 to 3 months. Turn daily for a couple weeks, then turn weekly.
