My birthday was this weekend and Sarah got me what is probably the coolest birthday gift I've ever gotten. The gift being a cheese making kit makes me a pretty big dork. We've been on a kick of producing our own food whenever possible (going on three months of no bread buying). We joined a farm-share coop. Our milk comes from a local, natural dairy.
Sarah's knitting has been a big part of the joke that developed into this gift. I've for the most part been against her spinning yarn. I put up with the room dedicated to yarn. I put up with the supplies for dying stuff. Spinning was out of the question. The rule was no spinning unless we had the sheep and I could quit my job and make artisinal sheep's milk cheese. I'm wondering if there is a plot that involves a spinning wheel given that the cheese making kit includes supplies to make mozzarella, ricotta, an instructional DVD and a book of 75 cheese recipes. Several of the recipes use sheep's milk. Hmm.
I'm going to start with the quick, soft cheeses first, then try goat cheese. I'm hoping that if all goes well I can start a hard cheese or two after the first of the year. I think the crawl space under our living room is the perfect temperature/humidity to be a cheese cellar. If not there's the spare dorm fridge in the garage. On second thought the dorm fridge might be a better idea to start.
Hee! Michael got me a cheesemaking kit for my birthday last year, and now I also own a cheese press and wax. I've had the best success with mozzarella, which is so easy it's embarrassing, but I also served my first aged cheddar last month. It was a bit salty, but good. Let me know how the experiments go!
(and happy birthday!)
Posted by: Holly | November 11, 2008 at 09:00 PM