Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Thanks! Can't wait to make some cheese :)

I would just like to (not-that-surprisingly) report that the soaked sunflower version of the fresh mozzarella has a really bitter flavor and I tossed my batch. That said, I've had no other issues subbing soaked sunflowers into other recipes in the book in small doses.

For those not detecting a taste change - I'm noticing that things are needing longer to culture than expected, even though it's fairly warm in Australia at the moment. There is definitely a change in test when it's ready though. Less cashew, less nooch, more cheese.

Thanks Miyoko!
When I opened it up this morning it smelled yeasty, like bread dough and had developed a lot of little air pockets. Is this supposed to happen, or did I get something unwanted in there? I did use iodized salt...

It will develop air pockets and look risen slightly like bread. It should be quite thick (gets thicker even in the fridge). Should taste tangy, not off. Just take a little taste - won't kill you. The iodized salt can inhibit the culture, but not kill it right away. It might be fine.

I'm wondering if the cheese making process is a bit like sourdough- dependant on the particular local bacteria/temperature/ingredients. That makes it hard to give precise recipes, maybe we have to tweak for our environment...

I would agree with that.

When I opened it this evening it smelled very strongly of yeast and has small pink dots on the surface (!?) I scraped away some of the top and tasted what was beneath and it tastes like yeasty cashews. I'm thinking the pink on top is mold. Perhaps this batch is not destined to be.

My rejuvelac has a clear slimey layer on top of it, is this normal? The liquid is still clear and does not smell our taste tangy.

yep the pink dots are mold : (
i had that once and couldn't salvage it.

that rejuvelac should not be slimy on top, based on my experience...It should be tangy/lemony in taste. Sorry about your cheese.

D.

I made the butternet chipotle sauce for what seems like the tenth time tonight. As usual, due to an allergy, I subbed soaked sunflower seeds for cashews, and this time, I used roasted red kuri squash. This sauce rules.

Oh soaked sunflower seeds instead of cashews sound nice!! And cheaper too haha

I am making camembert, brie, goat, gruyere and cream cheeses. I followed recipes in VAC exactly, and they are culturing. Today is day 3.

I have tasted them each day with a clean spoon, using a different spoon for each taste so as not to contaminate.

My cheeses seem to taste quite a lot tangy-er now than when I first made them: is this bad?

Also: I noticed very light, almost unnoticeable yellowish dots on the camembert and gruyere. Is this bad?

My house has been on the cool side of 66-70 degrees...the cheeses are covered and in a closed pantry.

Any advise based on this info? Thank you

D.

Culturing makes the cheeses tangy; that's what you want. However, the camembert and Gruyere are only supposed to culture for 24 hours or so. They are not supposed to get too tangy. They have a higher water content and can therefore lead to molding faster - the spots may be the beginning of that. Read each recipe carefully - there is a suggested length of culturing for each given. The goat and cream cheese usually need 2 -3 days for culturing.

thanks M. I was planning on making the hard gruyere (book says it can culture for up to 48 hrs) --

Im going to cook them now--hopefully I havent lost them. :/

You said it was Day 3. That's 72 hours.
THere is no hard and fast rule for length of culturing. The book gives a range. You have to taste it along the way and decide when it's tangy enough. And then you have to stop that culturing process. Depending on the ambient temperature, humidity, etc., this can take longer or shorter.
By the way, here's a beautiful photo of hard gruyere that a reader made. She actually won one of the prizes of the Artisan Vegan Cheese contest. http://pinterest.com/pin/261912534550778314/

Im losing my mind. I will just have to see how they turn out. If not, will have to start over. Nice photo. BTW--the Piquant Brown Cheese is so good--I had a wheel that aged for about 6 wks...I was able to grate it like parm. Really nice cheese, that one.

Daphne, hang in there! Maybe just scrape off the top. The cheeses are a learning curve...

At the moment i have the meltable muenster and the smoked provolone in the fridge. The muenster is super melty and good, im going to try it on pizza, not a fan of the texture cold its a little wobbly for me. The provolone is lovely, i like this texture cold better, and is still melty as well! I just used water as i didnt have rejuvelac made and it seems ok....?! What next? Ive made cream cheese also and it was amazing. Thinking of maybe trying the brie, how have people found that? Any tips or tricks?

I made the brie recipe that's on page 12 (not the air dried) and it is super easy. I don't remember exactly what dairy brie is like, but this version is rich and creamy. I've eaten most of it on crackers so far. It is so good!

Oh yay! That sounds great :)

When making the cream cheese the instructions say to cover it while it cultures. I assume this means with something like plastic wrap as apposed to cheese cloth?

i had bad luck covering with plastic wrap. i feel like it kept too much moisture in there and made a really inviting place for bad bacteria causing my cheese get fermented/sour rather than cultured. for my good culturing experience, i used parchment paper with a rubber band around the bowl. this seemed to work a lot better.

Rejuvelac question!

I soaked quinoa overnight. When I saw it this morning, the top was a bit foamy. I drained the water through the cheese cloth and added a bit more. It says just enough so it's moistened. I've made bean sprouts before and I remember having to turn the jar upside down so the water drains, but the instructions didn't say to do this.

Also, a lot of the quinoa is stuck to the sides of the jar, which I'm assuming is okay?

Also, I see a lot of the quinoa tails already, but I'm assuming those aren't the sprout tails.

Here's a pic of what it looks like. Tell me I'm on the right track! ;)


Rejuvelac Day 1 by pickledtreats, on Flickr

PT, I made my rejuvelac from quinoa and I didn't even wait for it to sprout. Just soak, rinse, cover in fresh water and wait for it to ferment. It worked just fine and the resulting rejuvelac made great cheese. In my experience, sprouting is not a necessarily step for making rejuvelac, at least not when using quinoa.