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[Kilgore Trout]

Moving back to Bkk after a couple of years in the states; due to the high cost of good cheese (or even decent) in Thailand I have been seriously thinking about making my own cheese. Does anyone have any experience with this? I have looked into a couple of recipes and it looks somewhat simple although I know that the quality of milk is not always up to par.
In particular I am interested in mozzarella as the traditional recipe uses water buffallo milk which I assume would be easy to get in Thailand. Does anyone know if rennet is easy to get?
Thanks for your responses.

[sabaijai]

Try typing 'rennet' in the search box in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

[jazzbo]

re: Cheese making -- This is from the award-winning Cowgirl Creamery in Pt. Reyes Station, California -- prime dairy country -- started by an alumna of Chez Panisse in Berkeley ...

HOW WE MAKE OUR CHEESE

http://www.cowgirlcr...om/makingit.asp

[jazzbo]

... and also from California (1985) how NOT to make cheese ... from The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.c...gle-source.html
LOS ANGELES, July 13

Officials investigating an outbreak of listeriosis, a bacterial infection blamed for 62 deaths and stillbirths since April, said today that they were convinced the contamination had been caused by unpasteurized milk used by a single cheese manufacturer.

 

Edited by jazzbo, 2010-07-21 14:45:55.

[NanaFoods]

The link below is for what they call "Royal Black Honey".
It's a Malaysia site but is the same thing as in Thailand - rain forest honey - what I was talking about.

The site is rather amusing in its claims, essentially marketing it as a youth elixir. Skip past that blabber and you'll see the very last paragraph finally gets to the legitimate point that it is "many times more antioxidant" than regular honey.

http://royalblackhoney.com/

I've tried the stuff in Thailand, and it is nearly black in color.
Very strong flavor, almost medicinal smell.  

But very good on a PB sandwich. Even better on cereal in the morning. Extremely good for brining meats, such as honey-baked ham, honey-smoked turkey breast, etc... you get more honey flavor without adding more sweetness.  Brilliant stuff.

[jazzbo]

Making world-class cheese courtesy Cabot  Creamery Co-op of Vermont, USA:

                                        2010 World Championship Cheese Contest
                                        Best of Class, Cabot Clothbound Cheddar

                                        2009 World Cheese Awards                                            
                                        Silver Medal, Cabot Vintage Choice Cheddar
                                        Silver Medal, Cabot Clothbound Cheddar
                                        Bronze Medal, Cabot Old School Cheddar
How is Cabot cheddar cheese made?



First, high quality cows' milk is gathered from Cabot's farmer-owners, pasteurized, and then poured into a temperature-controlled vat. A starter culture of lactic acid is added to the milk, which enables the milk to reach the proper acidity.

When the desired acidity is reached, a coagulating enzyme is added. In about 30 minutes the curd is formed, which is then cut, stirred, and pressed together. The pressed curds are formed into 42 pound, 225 pound or 670 pound blocks of cheddar. The cheddar is aged, packaged, and then distributed for our consumers to enjoy.

How many gallons of milk are needed to make cheese and butter?
To make one pound of cheddar requires: 1.16 gallons of whole milk. To make one pound of butter requires: 2.47 gallons of whole milk.

Are Cabot products made with pasteurized milk?
All of Cabot's products are made from pasteurized milk. Pasteurization destroys undesirable pathogenic microorganisms, such as E. coli or Listeria.

What kind of rennet is used to make our cheeses?
Cabot utilizes a microbial-based enzyme that mimics animal rennet to manufacture ALL of our award-winning cheeses. The enzyme is added to the milk to coagulate it into curds and whey. All Cabot Cheeses are free of animal by-products including pig, poultry, eggs, and fish. We make our cheeses without any animal rennet, and Cabot Cheese is approved for vegetarians.

[jazzbo]

So I just finished my first batch of Fromage Blanc using 2 L raw  milk which I then Pasteurized but it stays non-homogenized ... Used culture plus rennet ... added a little garlic powder and my Tony C.'s Creole seasoning and it tasted just like and had the texture of Boursin ... now I have to eat it all before I can try again...

[Kilgore Trout]

jazzbo, on 2010-07-25 18:06:31, said:

So I just finished my first batch of Fromage Blanc using 2 L raw  milk which I then Pasteurized but it stays non-homogenized ... Used culture plus rennet ... added a little garlic powder and my Tony C.'s Creole seasoning and it tasted just like and had the texture of Boursin ... now I have to eat it all before I can try again...

Awesome! Did you get the rennet in Thailand? If so, where? Thanks.

[jazzbo]

No ... I brought a bunch of non-animal based rennet tablets back with me from trip to USA in June 2010 along with various cheese culture packages  ... also yogurt starters ... and 3 pounds of guajillo and ancho dried chiles

... but i can have additional cheese stuff shipped if necessary.

[jazzbo]

Well I've gotten to a 3 litre batch every couple of days ... my first batches have now aged more than 2 weeks and are starting to take on a real good flavor ... much more of a French style than cheddar but I am not following any specific recipe ... a mix of several cultures that might go into a Camembert but I am definitely not following that procedure ... . still maintaining an off-white color... non-animal based rennet as it is in tablet-form and easy to work with ..stay tuned.

[bazmlb]

Genuine Mozzarella 'mozzarella di bufala', We had Thai buffalo in Australia, there was a program started in Australia to cross the European Buffalo with a Thai Buffalo as the Thai Buffalo milk yield was a lot less than the Eurpoean, as there were a lot of Thai Buff in Australia the cross breed made sense rather than importing vast herds of European Buff to produce milk for Mozzarella, I would imagine the same issue exists here, where milking isnt viable as it will not produce enough milk.
Buff milk also has nearly twice the calcium and energy of Cow's milk, but the fat content is also nearly double.

[MrMoocoltd]

We have great cheddar cheese  made locally in Pattaya at 450 baht a KG , and soon  Lankisher , blue and i talked them into a Pepper Jack .

we also have soft cheeses.  YAR cheeses

check out
www.mrmoopattaya.net ......under cheeses and read about all the cheeses , we have added import also at discount prices.

[jazzbo]

I am just doing this cheese stuff for fun and playing with the French stylee cheeses... My source for raw milk is only 20 km away and travels on ice to where I pick it up...

[MrMoocoltd]

jazzbo, on 2010-09-14 12:24:37, said:

I am just doing this cheese stuff for fun and playing with the French stylee cheeses... My source for raw milk is only 20 km away and travels on ice to where I pick it up...

well good for you ,,,we have a retired french chef who made a living making french cheeses and he makes the best i have ever eaten

contact us by e mail and i will get you in touch with him he i am sure would have great info to help you


mrmoopattaya@hotmail.com

[jazzbo]

Hello Moo -- Thanks for your generous offer -- I am working with some of the same cultures as the lactic / semi-lactic  cheeses but I am going for more of a dryer pressed variety as I just do not have the kitchen and refrigeration to keep the softer cheeses at the right temperature and humidity for the required time -- let me see where this all takes me and I will be in touch -- also now I am about 300 km from Pattaya . Regards/ Jazzbo

[MrMoocoltd]

jazzbo, on 2010-09-14 17:39:44, said:

Hello Moo -- Thanks for your generous offer -- I am working with some of the same cultures as the lactic / semi-lactic  cheeses but I am going for more of a dryer pressed variety as I just do not have the kitchen and refrigeration to keep the softer cheeses at the right temperature and humidity for the required time -- let me see where this all takes me and I will be in touch -- also now I am about 300 km from Pattaya . Regards/ Jazzbo

just trying to help, stay in touch and if you want contact us and i will get you in touch with Michelin Star Chef, Jean-Yves More, he is a great guy if you can understand French / English , he would be happy to help i am sure

i know your far away but e mail and phones make us all closer now.

[jazzbo]

Thanks again Mr. Moo -- emails et al are fine but what I would mostly want to gain would be by watching -- I have a good command of 'culinary French' partly from time spent in New Orleans ,,,

Was JYM's Michelin star restaurant named M. at Haslemere?

[jazzbo]

So after a month or so now of working on various methods and cultures I have come up with a variation of Neufchatel which is a little different from the traditional in that I also use some of the cultures that would be found in Brie or Camembert ... kind of like a harder 'cheesier' cream cheese...

The song that I often hum while cheese-making in my improvised facilities is CS&N's Wooden Ships:

Stills: If you smile at me, I will understand
'Cause that is something everybody everywhere does in the same language.
...
Stills:  Say, can I have some of your purple berries?
Crosby:  Yes, I've been eating them for six or seven weeks now, haven't got sick once.
Stills:  Probably keep us both alive.

[MrMoocoltd]

jazzbo, on 2010-09-26 11:09:19, said:

So after a month or so now of working on various methods and cultures I have come up with a variation of Neufchatel which is a little different from the traditional in that I also use some of the cultures that would be found in Brie or Camembert ... kind of like a harder 'cheesier' cream cheese...

The song that I often hum while cheese-making in my improvised facilities is CS&N's Wooden Ships:

Stills: If you smile at me, I will understand
'Cause that is something everybody everywhere does in the same language.
...
Stills:  Say, can I have some of your purple berries?
Crosby:  Yes, I've been eating them for six or seven weeks now, haven't got sick once.
Stills:  Probably keep us both alive.

Great , we have got Bule cheese in now and soon others ,

hope to see you soo.

[matchless51]

I make a real basic cream cheese, i get the milk from the Indian store and boil it a couple of times in the microwave that i bought of an Iranian mate of the Indian, then let it cool in my ice bucket insulated thing, then stir in a bit of natural yoghurt, let it stand over night then strain it out for a day over the sink through a bandana, chuck in a bit of cracked black pepper in the fridge and that does me.

[jazzbo]

I do something similar with a 13W yogurt maker -- however I would say the strained yogurt then becomes more like thick sour cream than cream cheese ...

[mhsara]

jazzbo, on 2010-07-30 16:40:20, said:

No ... I brought a bunch of non-animal based rennet tablets back with me from trip to USA in June 2010 along with various cheese culture packages  ... also yogurt starters ... and 3 pounds of guajillo and ancho dried chiles

... but i can have additional cheese stuff shipped if necessary.

[mhsara]

That would be great.how to contact you?

[yougivemebaby]

Why'd all the cool guys get banned on here?