I'm attempting Fias Co Farm's feta cheese. I figure if her recipe for mozzarella was so succesful I might as well try all her other ones.
The feta is turning out nicely but I am scared of it. I am squeamish (sp?) about anything that is sitting out at room temperature. And for some reason I keep finding little black flecks on the surface of the cheese... Probably just little particles of dust. I'm having visions of barfing my brains out from airbourne poop. See what this highly industrialized food system has done to me?
The perfectly white milk highlights any little piece of dust that floats into the milk.
So, I didn't age my cheese for the two or three days recommended. It's only been a day. Instead, I got freaked out about a couple little specks on the surface of the cheese and rinsed the curds, then salted them again and placed them in brine for the refrigerator. The flavor seemed to still be coming along nicely, but it is probably not going to end up being nearly as sharp as it could be. We will see how it turns out.
UPDATE 9/09/2010: I have made this cheese several times since. It turns out great every time.
2 comments:
I couldn't help myself. I had to try it, even though it hasn't aged nearly enough. The texture is a little funny. Dry on the inside and wetter on the outside.
Sure enough, now that I read through her instructions again, I did add the brine too soon, which made the : "I have found that if I add the brine too soon, the cheese sometimes starts softening up. If this starts happening to you, pour off the brine, it will only get worse."
Well, then, it is a good thing that I like it a lot. It's got complex flavor and even has a little stink to it. It's very salty, so I can't like eat a slice of it or anything, but I do like little bits of it. It will be great in salads and on top of anything that needs a little dressing up such as sauteed summer squash with pasta or... well, I could see this being a very versatile staple. I could even see it being good with some home grown melons.
Oh boy, do you ever sound like me! I've been dabbling in cheesemaking for the last couple of years...once we started to have way too much goat milk hanging around. I used to be afraid to let store milk sit around on the counter for more than a few minutes. It really is ok to let your feta age 2-3 days. Just put it in a large tupperware with a lid or a strainer over it. It makes me feel at least a little bit more 'cautious' you might say. The salt provides plenty of protection against 'nasties'. Once it no longer seeps whey, I cube it and put into the brine/whey and it lasts forever...in the fridge now of course. I've have some over a year old and it just gets crumblier and tastier. Am going to enjoy reading your posts. We seem to live similar lives :-)
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