Savor Culture

Having tried my hand at making ricotta from whey and from acidified whole milk, I couldn’t resist attempting the recipe offered by the September 2008 issue of Saveur magazine. Promising “the sweet, earthy flavor of old-world ricotta,” their version requires only whole milk, cream, and rennet.
Just looking at the ingredient list raises red flags: cream? [...]

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Bert and Mateo sample a young wheel of Bartlett Blue
in the cellar at Jasper Hill Farm.
As I helped Leslie clean the empty buckets (wash, rinse, sanitize times twenty-six) from the morning’s production of Constant Bliss, Bert was working with the blue cheeses.  Jasper Hill Farm produces two at this time of year, Bayley Hazen Blue [...]

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Mateo Kehler salts a batch of Constant Bliss cheese at Jasper Hill Farm
while Leslie ladles curd from another batch into molds.
 
Last week, I got away with Wonderful Husband Charles for a little road trip in Vermont.  We headed to the Lake Champlain area for some fun and relaxation, and we made a few cheese stops [...]

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Last week, an article in The New York Times praised the simplicity and versatility of fresh ricotta.  Several chefs declare that fresh ricotta can be profoundly delicious when served with a few intensely-flavored ingredients.  I had never considered ricotta to be a destination cheese, rather a quick stop on the journey of making lasagna, but I’d [...]

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Toma is a semi-firm, natural rind, cow’s milk cheese.
Having tackled Camembert and Cheddar, the intrepid beginner cheesemakers set their sights on a semi-firm variety: Toma.  The family of Toma has members in every village of northern Italy; their ages and textures vary, but they’re all from the same thermophilic stock.  Our instructor, Jim Wallace, calls [...]

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