(no subject)

[camwyn]

Good news on the cheesemaking front: my most recent ricotta salata is really, really good. It was made with milk I bought from the local health food store that was marked Pasteurized and that supposedly came from a New York area farmer-owned dairy. Nothing against Tonjes Farm, I just wanted to try milk I didn't have to cross the Hudson for.

Also good news: Garden of Eden, the expensivemarket down the street from the health food store, has started carrying organic milk that says it's pasteurized rather than ultrapasteurized. (UP milk has a longer shelf life, but the high heat involved denatures some of the protein and makes it unsuitable for cheesemaking unless all you need is something with ricotta's texture.)

Not such good news: I was just about to get excited over a provolone recipe when I hit the line about aging it four to six months at 52-58 degrees F. I don't have anywhere that temperature to work with, let alone somewhere safe from the cats. I'd have to either buy a minifridge and rig it for those temps or rent space in someone else's aging facility, and I'm not really ready to do that. *sigh* oh well.

Comments

[ebony14.livejournal.com]

I do ice cream, myself. I'm starting to get the idea of why whole milk and cream are a good idea, rather than half & half. I'm not sure if the organic element changes anything, since I normally use organic anyway. But I get the whole problem with space; there's just not enough room in a normal apartment freezer to fit a whole lot of anything.

[camwyn]

I have no issues with milk being organic or conventionally produced for cheese. Organic is nice because of the environmental implications. I'm just concerned with the pasteurization part. It just happens that the only milks I find that are pasteurized instead of UP are all organic, probably because they're being produced mostly by small local farms. (Mostly. Horizon Organic sells a pasteurized variety through Target and God only knows where their production facilities are.)

[ebony14.livejournal.com]

According to Wikipedia, it's in Maryland, though the entry goes on to say that they purchase from more than 550 dairies in 22 states.

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

I'm betting there are dorm fridges showing up on Craigslist quite reasonably at the right time of year.

Have you looked into goat's milk cheese yet?

[camwyn]

A dorm-size fridge showed up on Freecycle Hudson County today, so I've emailed the person offering it to see if it's still available. So far I've only done cow's milk, but goat is next on my list- my favorite strong cheeses are all sheep-based and goat is as close as I'm going to get to sheep's milk.