Ripening

Should you require a riper flavour than that available in your local shop, you can mature it at home in your refridgerator at 2º to 6ºC. In order to do so the portion purchased needs to be of reasonable size and preferably wrapped in its original gold foil. As a guideline most cheeses bought is around six weeks old and may need at least an extra month if a full flavour is so required.

Making

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

So how does the blue mould get into the cheese? What are curds and whey? What makes Cashel Blue different to Cheddar?

For someone who is not familiar with cheese or cheese making these questions are not as obviously answered as may seem, therefore we have decided to briefly outline the process whereby the milk is turned into cheese and ripened.

· Pedigree Friesian dairy herd milked, milk piped directly from milking parlour to Cheese manufacturing premises, where milk is first of all pasteurised. In order to provide a year round supply of milk, calving takes place both during summer and winter months so as to not disturb cheese production.

· The first stage in the cheese making process involves the addition of a culture to the milk in the vats. This ensures the right acidity balance in the milk and begins the fermentation process.

· Secondly rennet is added, which causes the milk to coagulate, the curd is cut with a cheese harp, resulting in "curds" and "whey".

· Thirdly the curds are scooped out of the vat by hand using linen cloths and after draining for a short time the curd is transferred into the cheese moulds. These moulds have small perforations in them to enable the draining process to continue over the next hours, the cheese is "turned" in the moulds at regular intervals to aid this draining process.

· The next stage in the process is the addition of salt. There are several methods whereby salt can be added to cheese, these include the immersion of cheeses in a brine bath, addition of salt during production and lastly dry salting which is the chosen method of salting for Cashel Blue. This involves the rubbing of crystalline salt onto the surface of the cheese at intervals over two days.

· The salt is then washed off the cheeses and they are pierced, with stainless steel needles, this procedure is idiosyncratic to blue cheeses. This measure provides the necessary access of air to the cheeses to enable the development of the blue mould, which was added to the milk before coagulation.

· The cheese is then transferred to mature in cave like conditions, after only two weeks the blue mould is well developed, however the flavour of the cheese itself hasn't developed. A large proportion of the cheese is taken from the ripening room at this stage, washed to remove surface mould and wrapped in purpose made gold foil and placed in the cold room ready for dispatch at around 3-4 weeks.

· It is not until a further 4-6 weeks however that the cheese is really at its prime and therefore a certain quantity is kept to the side to be further ripened for speciality shops, and restaurants.

 

Principles of Cheesemaking

Glossary of terms
Rennet: Rennet is an enzyme extracted from the lining of a calf’s stomach, vegetarian rennet is also available this is made from a plant known as ladies bedstraw.

Vat: This is the container in which the cheese is made. Different cheeses are made in different shaped vats but in general the vats are constructed from either stainless steel or copper. Certain vats have a water jacket these are used for harder cheeses such as Cheddar, Emmental, Gouda etc.

Brine: Brine is a salt-water solution in which cheeses can be soaked in.

Culture: Specific Bacteria used to develop particular flavours.

Cheese press: Hard cheeses are pressed to eliminate as much moisture/whey as possible from them.

Curds: Following the coagulation of the milk, curds are the jelly-like solids that form after the addition of the rennet. Following the expulsion of the whey, these solids fuse together to become cheese.

Whey: Whey is a by product of cheese, however it can itself be made into whey cheese, a well known version of this is the popular Italian cheese Ricotta. The whey left over from Cashel Blue is sent to a pig farmer as feed.

Principles of Cheese-making
Cheese is a natural food and contains a wide range of nutrients that are vital for the proper functioning of the body. Some of the main nutrients present are protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. The amount of these constituents will vary depending on the type of cheese.
Natural cheese is milk that has been partially dried for storage. It can be made from a variety of milk types – cow’s; goat’s; ewe’s.

For the majority of natural cheese types, there are 8 basic steps involved in the cheese-making process.

SETTING AND RIPENING THE MILK
(If required, the pasteurisation and/or homogenisation of the milk will precede this step.)

Preparing warm milk with starter and rennet to form a smooth jelly like curd block in the vat.

The ripening of the milk is initiated by adding a “starter”. A “starter” is a laboratory produced bacterial culture, which provides the correct enzyme necessary to ripen the curd and ultimately forms a pleasant smelling and tasting cheese. The correct strains of these special micro-organisms cause lactic acid fermentation of the lactose or milk sugar. Cultured buttermilk can be used as a starter.

Animal rennet is an extract in brine of one of the digestive juices occurring in the stomach of mammals. It has the specific property of coagulating milk. Its use in cheese-making is to act on the casein of milk protein which is ‘thrown down’ as a solid gel to form the basic curd for cheese-making. There is a variety of animal rennets and microbial rennets (non-animal) available.

CUTTING THE CURD
Using a curd knife or cheese harp to cut the set curd into cubes. It allows whey to escape and begins the drying out process. (Whey is a greenish-yellow liquid, which exudes from the curd. It can be fed to pigs or calves or, in a large-scale operation, it can be used for making whey butter or other processes).

COOKING THE CURD
Heating the cut curds and whey to contract the curd particles and drive out free whey. Cooking influences curd texture and final cheese moisture level. The temperature to which the curd is heated depends on the cheese type being made. The hotter the curd is cooked the harder the final cheese will be. Soft and semi-soft cheeses are not cooked

DRAINING WHEY OR DIPPING CURDS
These practices result in the same thing – the permanent separation of curd and whey. Draining means that the whey is taken off and the curd is left in the vat. Dipping is done by scooping the curds from the whey straight into moulds, or by using a course cloth to gather the curds from the vat and then putting them into moulds.

CURD KNITTING
If the curd is not dipped into moulds it may be left in the vat to ‘knit’ or ‘mat’. This and the subsequent handling of the cheese lead to the characteristic texture of some cheeses.

SALTING
Salt can be added to the cheese at various times during the making process and in a variety of ways. It can be added to the curd after breaking and before moulding, or the cheese can be put into a brine bath after making (time duration of brining depends on style of cheese required,) or it can be dipped in dry salt. Salting cheese improves its flavour, texture and appearance and acts as a preservative

PRESSING
Once the curd (salted or unsalted) is put into a mould, sufficient pressure to consolidate it is necessary to give the desired texture. Some cheeses are put under great pressure by using a cheese press. Others are allowed to consolidate under their own weight. The greater the pressure applied, the harder the resulting cheese will be. Pressure gives the cheese its characteristic shape and compact textures, pushes out free whey and completes curd knitting.

RIPENING THE CHEESES
All natural cheeses receive some degree of ripening because they all contain bacteria and enzymes which break down the fat, protein and carbohydrate in cheese, although some, for example cream or cottage cheeses are eaten very soon after making, and are considered fresh cheese. Ripe cheese displays its best flavour and texture when properly conditioned before serving. If it has been stored in a refrigerator it should be allowed to reach room temperature before being eaten.

Certain cheeses, such as blue and white mould cheeses, have mould spores added during making, or sprayed on to the pressed cheese. Blue cheese is also pierced to allow the blue mound to grow in the interior of the cheese. Cheese with ‘eyes’ such as Gruyere or Emmental have gas-forming micro-organisms added to the milk during making. Wash rind cheeses, such as Munster and Roblechon, are regularly surface-washed during the ripening period, ensuring that their famous pink rind forms and imparting a distinctive flavour to the cheese.

In Ireland the majority of cheese is made in co-operative creameries for example Glanbia, Dairygold and Wexford. This is made on a large automated scale from pasteurised and homogenised milk. This milk has been collected from a large number of farmers over a wide area. Cheddar is by far the most common cheese made by the creameries.

In recent years, individual farmers have been producing farmhouse cheeses. These cheeses differ from that made in creameries in that the milk is not homogenised, thus reflecting the seasonality of the product and the skill of the cheese-maker. Sometimes it is not pasteurised and therefore has its own natural flavour and the operation is carried out by hand. A large variety of farmhouse cheeses are produced.

References:
V. Cheke and A. Sheppard: “Butter and Cheese-making” (Alpha Books)
F. Kowsikowski: “Cheese and Fermented Milk Foods”.

Compiled by: Josephine McCan

Making Cashel Blue

• A large proportion of the milk processed comes from the Cashel Blue Herd, a herd of pedigree Holstein-Friesan cows, reared on the Grubb family farm, Beechmount.

• All the milk processed into Cashel Blue comes from farms local to Beechmount Farm, Co. Tipperary, Ireland.
• The milk used for the making of Cashel Blue is pasteurised, but not homogenised, thus reflecting the seasonality of the year and the skill of the cheese-maker.
• The milk is transferred into the cheese vats, where the starter culture, blue mould and rennet are added. Cashel Blue uses a vegetarian rennet that has not been genetically modified.
• Following coagulation, the curds are separated from the whey, transferred into moulds and are turned at regular intervals. Any excess whey is seperated naturally, i.e. without pressing, as Cashel Blue is a semi-soft cheese.
  

• The cheeses are then transferred to the brine baths overnight.
• When cheeses are removed from the brine baths they are pierced to allow for the circulation of air through the form in order to facilitate the growth of blue mould within the cheese.

• The cheeses are then placed into a ripening room with a cave-like atmosphere for up to 3 weeks to encourage the development of the blue mould.

• When the cheese has sufficient levels of blue veins, the cheese is removed from the ripening room. The blue mould that is present on the inside of Cashel Blue may have spread to the surface, so the cheese is washed and the surface is allowed to dry once more. This is not a necessary procedure but is carried out to fulfill customer requirements.
• The cheese is then wrapped in its distinctive gold foil and placed into maturing rooms.
• Once the cheese reaches the maturing room, each day's production is tasted to analyse the quality of the cheese.
• Following on from these tastings, the cheese is matured for up to 25 weeks maturity and carefully selected on a daily basis to meet the customer’s specific requirements.