Saturday 13 June 2009

New Camembrie Batch

Started a new batch of camembries today. Accidentally heated the milk to 100F (distracted) but thought I'd give it a go anyway. 6 litres, Rennetted (14 drops of 520 mg/l) at 100F and inoculated with yoghurt and a piece of a previous camembrie[1].

Four hours later, curds cut, left to rest, then poured into moulds. I note that my curds are very, very delicate and tend to break up into tiny pieces no matter how carefully I ladle them out. I don't know if this is normal or whether something in my method makes it more likely to happen. Must look into that though.

Anyway, they'll now drain over night and in about an hour I'll make up some ricotta with the remaining whey.

[1] And while we're on the subject, here's one of the three camembries from the 27th April batch. This is fresh from the fridge so no doubt it will really melt when it comes to temperature. We had the first of them last weekend, this one now (mainly to inoculate this new batch) and have one left that we may save for another week or may give to friends.

I thought last week's was a bit one dimensional but my wife loved it. I think this one is milder and more creamy, but perhaps that's the effect of it being served much colder.