A Blue Cheese in a Roquefort Style(Two Methods)

Fig.1 Cheese; from the Theatrum Sanitatis, Library Casanatense, Rome1.

1 Fig.137. Cheese; from the Theatrum Sanitatis, Library Casanatense, Rome, http://www.godecookery.com/afeast/foods/foods.html

1

Rubbing the out side of the cheese and molding

Fig.2 Cheese manufacture, 1390-1400, Illustration from "Tacuinum Sanitatis", illuminated medical manual based on texts translated from Arabic into Latin, in the collection of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.2

Making a Blue Cheese in Period

This Blue Cheese is representative of a style of cheeses being made in France from the 1st

century. Roquefort, or similar style cheese, is mentioned in literature as far back as AD 79, when Pliny the Elder remarked upon its rich flavor. The Romans built the Via Domitia, which linked France to Rome. The road allowed cheeses made in France to be shipped to Rome easily. The upper class citizens of Rome soon fell in love with the flavor of the cheeses made with the Roquefort blue-green molds and were willing to pay a high price to have this special cheese.3 History also records that this Blue cheese also found favor with the Emperor Charlemagne, who would have pack trains of mules bring

2 Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, http://images.imagestate.com/Watermark/1276116.jpg3 Masui, Kazuko; Tomoko Yamada,French Cheeses, Dorling Kindersley,1996, Pg.178, ISBN 0-7513-0896-X, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roquefort_cheese

2

Roquefort to his court at Aix-la-Chapelle every Christmas. Also according to the research of Robert Wernick the Knights Templar who once was in charge of the area near Roquefort received payment from the local peasants in the form of cheese.4 In 1411 Charles the 6th granted a monopoly for the ripening of the cheese to the people of Roquefort-sur-Soulzonas in France.5

Castelmagno is another variety of blue veined cheeses from Italy. Notice what is commonly called “Cat’s Fur” growing on the cheese cloth warped rounds. This is part of the process practiced for more than a 1000 years in France for this style of cheese.

“Castelmagno is a blue-veined cheese or “erborinato” as Italians like to call these types of cheeses. The blue veining is actually greener than blue, and for that reason they call it “erborinato”, reminiscent of the color of herbs. The veins derive from a complete and absolute natural process, the combination of milk and air. Castelmagno cheese has been known in Piedmont since the 13th century, but the rest of Italy discovered it for the first time in the 1970s. Historical records were found reporting the use of pastureland settled by the Marquis of Saluzzo in 1277 that was in control of the production territory.”6

According to Albert Alric a present day producer of the Roquefort Cheese who was interviewed by Robert Wernick© in 1980 for the February 1982 issue of Smithsonian Magazine he relates the following story and how the cheese was born “…as in the days of his youth, all hands were needed in the field in summer, and bread could not be baked more than once every six weeks or so. If it is kept in cool hillside caves, bread tends to get moldy after six weeks. But in a peasant community, it is sacrilege to throw away bread, so the peasants went on doggedly eating it anyway until someone noticed that the stale slices tasted better with cheese on them. And a day came when one of those unknown geniuses who open up new pathways for mankind reasoned that instead of taking the cheese to the mold he could take the mold to the cheese. He mixed some moldy bread into the milk as it was coagulating. The result was something that not only tasted better but lasted longer than ordinary cheese”.7

4 Wernick, Robert, “Roquefort”, Smithsonian Magazine, Feb. 1982, www.robertwernick.com/articles/Roquefort.shtml5Masui, Kazuko; Tomoko Yamada,French Cheeses, Dorling Kindersley,1996, Pg.178, ISBN 0-7513-0896-X, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roquefort_cheese6 Italy’s Best Cheeses, http://www.travelingtoitaly.com/an-excellent-italian-cheese/ ,Gabriele’s Travels to Italy7 Wernick, Robert, “Roquefort”, Smithsonian Magazine, Feb. 1982, www.robertwernick.com/articles/Roquefort.shtml

3

My cheeses are made in the Roquefort Style having a blue to green mold, having a strong flavor, a creamy white to light yellow color, and a crumbly texture due to the way this cheese is processed and pressed. I have used two methods to propagate the mold one style is called a re-culture method; the second is with a modern culture called Penicillium Roquefort. Milk would have been collected twice a day (morning & evening) at the milking house to be processed (fig.4 & 5). In period they would have left the milk to sit so the cream would come to the top and then it would be skimmed off to make butter or to cook with. The milk that was going to be used in cheese production would need to be warmed. One method used was to sit the container of skimmed milk over night by the fire near the hearth. When the milk was warmed enough the would add back cream from the next mornings milking to act as a starter “My Lady of Middlesex makes excellent slipp-coat Cheese of good morning milk, putting Cream to it. A quart of Cream is the proportion she useth to as much milk, as both together make a large round Cheese of the bigness of an ordinary Tart-plate, or cheese-plate; as big as an ordinary soft cheese, that eh Market women sell for ten pence…”8

After the milk had warmed they needed added things like thistle and safflower juice, an acid (vinegar or lemon juice), ale, or rennet9 to cause the milk to clabbered, and a milk starter (a bacterial agent some times referred to as a live culture) was also added that acted as an agent to help back down the proteins in the milk so that the milk solids out separate out (the curds).10 One method in period for the source of a starter was to save a small amount of milk from a previous batch of cheese before the rennet or agent was added to cause the curd to separate from the whey.

The milk purchased for this project was a combination of common Whole Milk from Wal-Mart and Raw Whole Milk that I low temperature pasteurized (The raw whole milk that I used was low temperature pasteurized by me, then processed into the cheese). The Raw milk came from free range Short Horn Milking Cows, and Belted Galloway which was breeds known in the middle ages.

Medieval Method of making cheese:

“Take a gallon of milk from the cow, and seethe it, and when it doth seethe put thereunto a quart or two of morning milk in fair cleansing pans in such place as no dust may fall therein. This is for you clotted cream. The next morning take a quart of morning milk, and seethe it, and put in a quart of cream thereunto, and when it doth seethe, take if off the fire. Put it in a fair earthen pan, and let it stand until it be somewhat blood warm. But first over night put a good quantity of ginger, rose water, and stir it together. Let it settle

8 The Project Gutenberg eBook “The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby”, www.gutenberg.org/files/16441, “To make Silpp-coat cheese”9 Arne Emil Christensen is Professor, Dr. Phil. at the University Museum of National Antiquities in Oslo, author of this article (He specializes on shipbuilding history and craftsmanship in the Iron Age and the Viking period), http://ezinearticles.com/?Dairy-Products-in-Anglo-Saxon-Times-%28Part-of-the-Anglo-Saxon-Survival-Guide%29&id=375438710 Power, Eileen, The Goodman of Paris, New York, 1992, pg.169

4

overnight. The next day put it into your said blood warm milk to make your cheese come.”

Fig 3 Dairymen and Cheese Sellers (Mid 13th C., San Marco, Venice)11

“Then put the curds in a fair cloth, with a little good rose water, fine powder of ginger, and a little sugar. So lash great soft rolls together with a thread and crush out the whey with your clotted cream. Mix it with fine powder of ginger, and sugar and so sprinkle it with rose water, and put your cheese in a fair dish. And put these clots around about it. Then take a pint of raw milk or cream and put it in a pot, and all to shake it until it be gathered into a froth like snow. And ever as it cometh, take it off with a spoon and put into a colander. There put it upon your fresh cheese, and prick it with wafers, and so serve it.”12

11 At the Table of the Monks: Cheese, Of Course (Part V)

http://gherkinstomatoes.com/2009/05/22/at-the-table-of-the-monks-cheese-of-course-part-v/12 Dawson, Thomas, The Good Housewife’s Jewel, Southover Press, 1996, pg.17~18

5

Fig.4 Women had charge of the domestic animals including milking, butter making, and cheese making production. (Bodleian Library, MS. Bodley 764, fol. 44)13

Columella on Cheese Making:

"Cheese should be made of pure milk which is as fresh as possible....It should usually be curdled with rennet obtained from a lamb or kid, though it can also be coagulated with the flower of the wild thistle or the seeds of the safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), and equally well with the liquid which flows from a Fig-tree...".  "A pail when it has been filled with milk should always be kept at some degree of heat: it should not however be brought into contact with the flames....but should be put to stand not far from the fire..." "...when the liquid had thickened, it should immediately be transferred to wicker vessels or baskets or moulds...""...the method of making what we call "hand pressed" cheese is the best-known of all: when the milk is slightly congealed in the pail and still warm it is broken up and hot water is poured over it, and then it is either shaped by hand or else pressed into box-wood moulds." (fig.2)14

Supplies:

Modern stainless steel was used for health and safety reasons.

13 Hanawalt, Barbara, A., The Ties That Bound – Peasant Families in Medieval England, Oxford Univ. Press, Chapter 8 “The Husbandman’s Year and Economic Ventures:, pg.14814 Columella II de re Rustica V-IX, Translated by E.S. Forster & E. Heffner, Book VII, pg.285~289

6

2 gallons Whole Milk 1 pkg. Mesophilic Culture Direct Set1/8 tsp. Penicillium Roqueforti Culture (cheese #2 used a re-cultured blue mold)1/8 tsp. Lipase Power – Capilase (very sharp) (an animal based enzyme used to enhance flavor in cheese)1 tsp. Rennet¼ cup cool water2 Tbl. Sea Salt2 Stainless Steel Pots1 Slotted Stainless Steel Spoon1 yard of cheese cloth1 Colander1 Stainless Steel Ladle1 Thermometer 1 Cheese Press1 Cheese Mold & Follower1 timer1 large plastic cake container (Tupperware style)2 Reed Mats to place the cheese on

Modern Method:

2-gallon whole milk (cheese #1 Store bought Milk / cheese #2 Raw Milk) (Non-homogenized or Raw Milk will give you a richer cheese)There is an additional step here for me since I used Raw Milk for cheese #2. I needed to heat the milk for 30 min. to a temperature of 145°, then place the pot immediately into a sink filled with cool water and ice if necessary to bring the temp of the milk down quickly, then after cooled place sterile clean container and precede, with cheese making steps below.

1 pack of Mesophilic Culture DS (this is used for temperatures under 105º)1/8 tsp of Penicillium Roqueforti Culture1/8 tsp of Lipase Power for 2 gallons of milk 1 tsp. of Rennet for 2 gallons of milk1/4 cup of cool water to dilute the rennet2 Tbl. Coarse Sea Salt ½ tsp. Calcium Chloride (used only in the milk purchased from Wal-mart)

Step One:

Place milk into large pan (fig. 6 & 8). Warm milk until it has risen to a temperature of milk to 90 F. (Use the in-direct warming method using a large metal pan in a sink of warm water, or inside of a second larger pot).

Add the Mold, then the Mesophilic Starter and allow to sit for 1 hour (60 minutes) and Lipase Power (during the pasteurization process most of the naturally occurring lipase is

7

ruined).15 Add Rennet (diluted to 1/4 cup of cool water) and stir for several minuets. Let milk sit covered for 1 hour at 90º F. Add the diluted Rennet stir gently keep at 90º F for 1 hour or until a curd has formed and a clean break can be preformed (the curd should have what is called a clean break stage, which is if a clean knife is put into the curd the curd should separate cleanly).

Cut the curds in ½ inch cubes, and then let sit for 5 minutes. Bring the temperature of the curds and whey up to 90º F, stirring gently every 5 minutes for 1 hour. Then allow curds to sit for 5 minutes.

Pour the curds into a cheesecloth-lined colander (fig.9) while still warm (fig.6, 8) and hang to drain for 5 minutes.

Place the warm curds into the cheese mold (fig.2). Place a reed mat on the top and bottom and a cheese board on top and bottom. Turn over the mold every 15 minutes for the first 2 hours, then once an hour for the next two hours. Then allow draining over night.16

Remove the cheese from the mold, sprinkle with the remaining salt on all surfaces. Shake off excess salt. Let set at 60º F and 85% humidity. Turn the cheese round every day for 4 days. Prick the cheese round with bamboo skewer making about 40 holes from top to bottom of the cheese round, age at 50º F and 95% humidity turning every 4 days (see fig. 7 A Cheese Cave).

Mold should appear after 10 days. After 30 days the surface of the cheese will be covered with blue mold gently scrape off the mold, repeat this process every 20 to 30 days. After 90 days of aging wrap in foil, lower the temperature to 38º F for an additional 60 days turning the cheese weekly.

The cheese is ready to eat after 6 months, but for a milder flavor cheese is ready after 3 months.

Cheese#1: Modern Roqueforti Culture (started 2/20 & 3/16)

Observations:

Day 1: (2/20/11 & 3/16/11)

15 Lava, Shari, What is Lipase Powder?, December 08, 2010, http://www.ehow.com/facts_7462852_lipase-powder_.html, December 08, 201016 Carroll, Ricki & Robert, Cheese making made Easy, United States: Capital City Press, 1996, page 36~37

8

Cut the curds

Curds after 1 hour of heating at 90F

Warm cuts placed in to mold

Reed mats placed top & bottom of the mold

Cheese after draining over night (in this type of cheese the warm curds press under their own weight).

9

Pricking the cheese

Blue started 2/20/11

Blue green mold is forming but slower container size is not large enough to encourage the mold growth and needs turned more frequently and air exchange. Also it is harder to keep enough moisture in the smaller box due to the frequent opening.

10

These are updated photos of this blue after 3 months of aging. Notice the beautiful blue veining and surface rind.

Blue started 3/16/11

Much larger container already the Blue Green Mold growth is much better and the moisture in this container is better also (this type of cheese needs is much higher moisture in the range of 80~90% humidity).

11

These are updated photos of the blue at two months of age. This round is more in the style of a Stilton (less air space, creamery texture), beautiful rind mold and minimal blue veining.

Cheese #2: Re-cultured Method (started 10-10-10)

A piece of a Roquefort Blue was added to a ½ cup of raw milk 24 hour before making the cheese. After the cheese was warmed to 90ºF the re-culture, and started were added to the milk and the remaining steppes were followed as stated above.

Aging container (this container worked for this round of Blue since it is much smaller than the later two using the modern method of re-culturing.)

12

Cheese wrapped in cheese cloth in aging container

Blue re-cultured after 5 months of aging

Blue at 71/2 months of age flavor is slightly salty in the nature of a blue cheese with, some blue veining, and has that wonderful smell that only a blue aged for this amount of time can have.

TASTEING NOTE:The re-cultured cheese was on the salty side but would be good in salads or cooked with meats, and had a good blue color. The blue put up in February was creamy and had a good blue cheese flavor and a small about of veining. The blue cheese put up in March was a bit salty but blue by their nature are a bit to the salty side, and was just starting to show blue veining.

Observations:

I wanted to see what the texture and taste of a Blue Semi-Hard Cheese would be if I used a period method of resulting vs. a modern method of propagation of the Roquefort blue mold. The re-culture was started on 10/10/10 this was started earlier as the re-cultured took longer to show the blue mold. The second round was started in March of 2011 using a modern Roquefort culture. This culture produced molds with the 10 day time frame noted in the modern instructions for making blue cheese.

13

Early Blue Re-Cultured Method good veining

Early Blue Re-Cultured Method curd packed to tight so developed good flavor but no veining

Early Blue Re-Cultured Method same as above good flavor but curd packed to tightly for veining to form

Conclusion:

Blue cheese, unlike some of the other hard & semi-hard cheeses has higher moisture content. The molds that give this cheese its flavor and color require a high moisture environment for the mold to grow.

When forming the cheese rounds unlike other hard cheese blues press under their own weight. The reason for this is that the spaces between the curds are where the lovely blue veining forms. Over pressing will give you a firmer cheese with the flavor of a blue, with the molds only growing on the exterior of the cheese (see pictures above). Also it took me several times to get the right container & moisture figured out to get the blue green mold to grow correctly.

Some of the things I learned were if my house is too cold the curd will not set. I can warm the milk and add more Rennet, and that if using a raw milk product that is produced near the end of the cows or goat’s lactation cycle the milk does not contain enough milk fat to set a curd (you get a weak or soft curd that does not hold up during the

14

cheese making process for hard cheese). I have also learned that time is much more critical for making hard cheeses, and the process of making hard cheeses is not nearly as forgiving as making soft cheeses.

On adding rennet I learned early on that a little goes a long way and adding two much of something in the case of making cheese can be a bad thing. Adding not enough rennet and your curd will not set, but I have found that you can add a little more if necessary. Adding to much rennet will give it a rubbery texture and a bitter under taste. This also will happen if your rennet is too old.

This last statement is important because it explains a couple of written statements I found in period sources that talked about the time of year and the quality of the cheese products produced. For example in the spring and early summer the milk is rich and contains a large of amount of protein and milk fat due to new pastures and lactation for their young, so the cheese is going to be very rich in body and flavor. If the milk is in the fall then it is not as rich due to the decline of pasture feeding and that they are no longer lactating, so the cheese produced in the fall will take more milk to produce a pound of cheese due to a lower amount of protein and fat making the milk thinner (the cream that comes to the top is not as thick as in the spring/ summer milk). What the animals eat also effect the flavor of the cheese as well.

Another lesson that applies as much now as then is keeping things clean, “morning milk in fair cleansing pans in such place as no dust may fall therein”. There are times when no matter what you do the milk will not set and all you can do is start over and feed the previous batch to the pig.

This is a process I have been learning about for the last 4 years, I started Medieval Cheese Forum a year ago (www.medievalcheese.blogspot.com) so I could keep track of mistakes and successes, share information I have learned about cheese making also.

Enjoy sampling the cheese.

15

17 fig. 518 fig. 6 Warming the milk

17 Norman Cheeses, www.formages.org/fnd/fdn_neufcatel_en18 From Tacuinum Sanitatis (ÖNB Codex Vindobonensis, series nova 2644), c. 1370-1400) http://www.godecookery.com/afeast/foods/foods.html

16

Warming milk

Slotted ladle & strainer

19

Fig.7 A cheese cave as one might have seen it in the middle ages.

19 Feibleman, Peter, The Cooking of Spain & Portugal, Time Life Books, 1969, pg. 130~131

17

20 Fig. 8 Draining Whey

21 Fig. 9 Roman Cheese Press in form and function very similar to those found from 600 – 1600A.D.

Unless otherwise noted all other pictures are my photography.

20 Take 1000 Eggs or More, pg. 45, from Schweizer Chronik, c. 154821 Roman Cheese Press, Greyware circular straight-sided bowl, used for training the Whey from cheese, c. 450 A.D., http://www.museumoflondonprints.com

18