Creamy Cheshire Cheese

Yesterday I dug out my Cheese Monkey Artisan Cheesemaking Kit to make some Cheshire Cheese. This is how it went.

There is almost no cooking involved - you just add the rennet  to the mixture of full-fat milk, double cream and creme fraiche and heat it to 32 degrees C.

The pan is wrapped in a blanket to keep it warm for 30 minutes for the curds to set.

They have to be strined through a cheese cloth.

And here they are! But how am I going to get all that into teh cheese mould?

After a lot of drining before adding the salt and massaging with my hands, the curds were lifted in the cheese cloth and I squeezed as much whey out as I could.

The cheesecloth and proto-cheese just fit into the mould. Then it was pressing time. I little bit of weight at first...

Then a bigger jar, which I filled up over a few hours to increase the pressure.

It stayed pressing overnight and this was the result this morning - still in the cheesecloth in the mould.

And here is the cheese!

I took a thick slice to wrap in fresh cheesecloth and keep in a container in teh fridge to mature for a week or two.

The rest can be used over the next week or so. And the taste? Very creamy and mild right now. It will be interesting to see how it matures. Well that worked out OK. Maybe I'll make some more, but first I have other recipes to try.