I’ve read in Ricki Carroll’s book (which is fantastic) that you can use calcium chloride to counteract the effects of the homogenisation process but can you tell me how much to use and when to add it please?
In fact, calcium chloride only helps, it can’t reform damaged casein micelles. Don’t use homogenised milk, but if you can’t get non-homogenised milk (a milkman often can deliver), then buy skimmed milk and double cream, and combine to a ratio of 12 parts skimmed milk to 1 part double cream. This makes a much better […]
Could you please advise as to what cheese salt is, what it does and where it might be purchased?
For home cheese making, ordinary fine cooking/table salt is perfect and there is no need to purchase ‘cheese salt’.
The current batch (8 litres) I want to treat with Penicillium Candidum, which is currently unopened in the freezer. Can I measure it out into ice cube trays with the water same as the MA400 starter?
Best to overdose the P.Candidum and don’t try freezing in ice cubes, as it is a different organism to the MA400 starter. Just mix well and use about a fifth of the quantity in each batch, no matter if that is supposedly too much.
I’m making a Camembert. It looked right, the mould on the outside was lovely and white and fury, but there was whey draining from it which was a very surprising fluorescent yellow colour! Can you please advise, is this normal and safe to eat?
A fluorescent yellow colour is usually associated with a water borne bacterium, Pseudomonas. It is not considered a pathogen, but a spoilage organism, and produces off flavours. Could be due to poor sterilisation, or poor water supply, either in milk production, or cheese making. Sterilise all equipment, and rinse with cooled, boiled water before use […]
My recipe for Cheshire says use aroma mesophilic culture, which the books says has an added lactic bacterium. I use the starter on your web site MA400. Will this do the job?
Yes, use at least double the amount used for cheddar, that is 1 sachet for 25 litres of milk