Six months ago, after milking the goaties, I took the twelve liters of milk into the kitchen and got it to about 30 degrees C. I inoculated it with a mixture of mesophilic bacteria--some specialized in fermenting lactose to short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), some specialized in fermenting lactose into SCFAs but also some interesting ketones and aldehydes and whatnot. After letting them do their thing for an hour, I added some coagulant--a protease from a fungus that has the same specificity as the major component of rennet. Over the course of about an hour, the combination of acid and coagulant curdled the milk.
I cut the curd up into chunks about a centimeter on a side, and slowly warmed the curds and whey up to 39C. After about an hour, I removed half of the whey and replaced it with cool water, bringing the temperature down to the mid-20's and removing much of the lactose from the mix. A half hour later, I removed all the whey and put the curds into a form, and pressed them with ever-increasing pressure for about ten hours. The curds mostly stuck together, but preserved some of their individuality.
I removed the nascent cheese from form the next day, and immersed it in a saturated brine solution, and let it sit there for twelve hours. As far as salt is concerned, cheese is a liquid, and it dissolved into the cheese.
Then, I let the cheese dry out for a bit, and then put it into a wine 'fridge in my basement, set to about 12 C. And there it sat; I'd turn it every so often, and brush off the mold. The exterior turned a golden yellow color, and turned hard and tough and horny. The interior lost some moisture, becoming quite firm. The curds, having been "washed," did not stick together as completely as they might in other cheese processes, leaving a few gaps or "mechanical spaces" in the cheesemaker's parlance. As it aged, organic compounds in the cheese became further oxidized and recombined; though the bacteria were mostly dead, their enzymes lived after them and continued their work.
Today, I dug the cheese out of the basement, brushed off a bit of mould, halved the 2 kg wheel with a cleaver, and then cut one of the halves in half. I shaved off a bit with the cleaver and tasted it--it was very, very good. The taste had elements of a tangy cheddar, elements of Parmesan, a little carmelized sweetness, a pleasant salty buttery-ness, and a firm texture. What one should do with such a cheese is serve it after a nice dinner with some fino sherry, some membrillo or raisins and almonds...and cut it with a cheese plane.
Tomorrow I will go out and thank the goaties for their miraculous ability to eat spring grass and alfalfa hay and water and turn it into such amazing milk.
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