Back to Cheese!

After a long forced hiatus from hard-cheese-making, due to store-bought milk not setting curd, I have returned, woo-hoo! I discovered a few weeks ago that calcium chloride added to milk can help it set curd. Google revealed that calcium chloride is carried by brewing supply companies (apparently it affects the pH of water, which makes it desirable to some brewers), so I asked my resident brewer to add some calcium chloride to his next order. He graciously complied, and I set to work yesterday morning. The curd set up incredibly well, in greater quantity than when I made cheese with raw milk. So far the process seems to be going great!


The round weighs 20 ounces! My gallon of raw milk made a pound of cheese, pasteurized milk treated with calcium chloride apparently makes 25% more. The whey is waiting to be transformed into ricotta for Friday's pizza night. As for the "Colby," it will spend a couple of days forming a rind before it is waxed and set to cure for several weeks. Then comes the taste test!


I finished my January/February blanket (since these months require different colours than Christmas.)


We have been making an attempt at cleaning up our food stores, which included finishing last year's homemade sausage. The krautwurst tasted amazing! but didn't look quite so good when it was cooking. :)


Bart and Gerard seem to be adjusting well to each other. They even play together once in awhile! And they no longer play the "smack the other cat off the bed if you got there first" game.


They seem to be sharing their food well.


And they of course have claimed their favorite perching spots. :)