Our First Blue Cheese
OK, so we made our first “commercial” batch of blue cheese, which we call Elberton Blue, back on December 3. Designed to peak at 3-4 months, it’s getting close to the time when it would be ready for market. Of course, with all early cheese endeavors, there’s a “but”.;)
Elberton Blue
The “but” in this case is that we meant to make it with whole, raw milk, “but” we didn’t agitate the tank first, and as a result pumped out skim milk to make our Harmony Crème de la Crème, leaving us with pretty much high fat cream with which to make the Elberton Blue. If that sounds yummy, it is, but it creates a problem. The problem is that the blue mold won’t grow too well in that high fat environment. So what we have in our first attempt, our friends, is a wonderfully delicious creation that tastes more like raw milk butter with a little salty/blueness to it rather than blue cheese. Anyway, these journeys are what make farmstead cheese making fun and interesting.
Two nights ago I took some Elberton Blue and made a broccoli/blue cheese soup for Liz. She made some small round loafs of bread that I hollowed out for the bowl. To go with it, I pan seared some Ossabaw pork chops and made a simple blue cheese/cream gravy to go over it. The cheese was great to cook with, but I have to admit I do cut off hunks of it and just sit and eat it. Always wanted an excuse to just eat gobs of butter!
Related posts:
- Blue D’Auvergne – Raw Milk – 3 lb
- Broccoli Cheese Soup & Seeded Rye Bread
- Pricing Farmstead Raw Milk Cheeses
- Handmade Raw Goat Milk Soap – Blue Streaker – Chamomile EO
- Smith & Wesson SWPENBL Tactical Pen, Blue