BluByU.. King of the Blues

..any similarities to that other famous cheese from the UK

are purely circumstantial......
When I first started to make my own cheeses, it quickly became apparent to me that my goal was to create them in a traditional way. My resource for this cheese was "Practical Cheese making", a book published in England first in 1917 and very focused on farmstead cheese production before the days of automation and shortcuts.

This cheese was produced with raw unpasteurized milk from a local farm. Even though I could have waited for the natural flora to do it's work, a prepared starter to develop acid was added along with an inoculation of p.rouqforti for the blue. This improves the chances of getting the proper cultures and making a more consistant cheese.
*** click on any of the pictures below to enlarge ***

1. The raw milk is inoculated w/p.rouqforti, brought up to 86F and now waiting for the rennet to do it's work.

 2. Instead of cutting the curd, it is carefully ladled into the draining pan in large masses.
3. The curd now rests in it's draining pan to develop acidity as the matrix begins to shrink and expel the whey. 4. The cloths are folded in as the whey begins to drain off.

At intervals the whey is removed and this slows down the acid development.
5. As the whey drains off, the cloths are tightened and tied to encourage more whey to drain off. Our goal here is to have the curd dry off at the same time that the final acidity is reached.
6. The final drying out and acid development is achieved by cutting the curd into blocks and turning them at regular intervals.
7. The final cheese just out of the mould. 8. Day 3-4.. notice the blue mold is just beginning to develop. 9. At 3 weeks the blue is beginning to dry out and what appears to be p. candidum forming on the outside.
10. Between weeks 3-5 the cheese is still quite moist and giving off some very strong aromas. At 5 weeks the mold community on the outside should dry off a bit, then I will make multiple stabs with a sterile needle to allow an exchange of gasses and the inner bluing should begin. The final step is to put it into my aging chamber to finish out the 4 month process...
11. At 8 weeks the cheese has been pierced to allow the internal development of the blue molds and the ammonia has subsided to a wonderful strong blue cheese aroma.

The exterior has now formed a very definite crinkle and many of the molds have dried down to a good crust. The real secret here is to keep the humidity at a point where the surface doesn't crack nor become slimy at the other extreme

..... The only problem I can see at this point is waiting the next month or 2 until it reaches its peak

12. At 12 weeks the cheese is ready to cut. The crust is a coat of many colors and the blue has done it's job inside.

Notice the holes left by the earlier piercing to let air in and gasses out

The flavor at this point is medium strong and permeates the entire cheese, The texture is very smooth, creamy, and spreadable but cuts cleanly and easily without crumbling.

I will now be tasting this cheese over the next 4-8 weeks and expecting the flavor to get stronger.