10 l Whole Milk - not UHT.
600 ml Double Cream.
Penecillium roqueforti from the rinds of a shop-bought stilton.
6 ml CaCl2 in 60 ml cooled boiled water. Omit for raw milk.
1 Sachet Mesophilic Culture. (I used four ice cubes of frozen meso milk.)
3 ml Rennet diluted in 60 ml cooled boiled water.
35 g Iodine free salt
CULTURE
Add the CaCl2 to the milk. Omit for raw milk.
Add the P roq' mould to the milk.
Warm the milk to 30C.
Add the mesophilic culture and stir for a minute. I used Mad Millie Meso'
Wait 30 minutes for the milk to ripen.
RENNET
Add the diluted rennet to the milk and stir for one minute.
Curdle for 90 minutes or longer for a good break.
>>>>>> Oops! I added the rennet before the 30 minute ripening above.
>>>>>> So I allowed 120 minutes for ripening and curd set.
CURDS - Do not cut
Use a ladle to transfer the curds to a butter muslin cheese cloth in a second pan.
Leave the curds to soak in the whey in the cloth in the pan for 90 minutes still close to 30 C.
Hang the muslin bag for 8 to 12 hours until most of the whey has drained.
Keep the whey for use in other recipes.
SALT
Break the curds into 2 cm chunks and gradually add the iodine free salt while mixing thoroughly. The chunks will break up.
PRESS
Wrap and press at a low pressure for an hour.
I used nested enamelled cast iron pans to make a wheel with a height close to the diameter.
A smaller iron pan was used as the pressing wight.
Stainless steel pans would be better. Aluminium should not be used.
The pans were upside down to allow the whey to drain.
Remove from the improvised mould.
DRY
Unwrap and dry the cheese for four days inverting about four times per day.
Place on a mat and use kitchen towel to soak away excess moisture.
Smooth the rind to reduce the chance of cracking.
PIERCE
Pierce the cheese top and bottom. I used a skewer and twiddled it to slightly enlarge the holes.
Avoid the edges while piercing.
This makes holes for oxygen to help the Penecillium roquforti.
MATURE
Ripen in a mat lined box for a week at 12 C inverting daily. Drain any excess whey.
Optionally scrape the rind to remove most of the blue mould.
Mature for up to four months. Young Stilton is nice.