Monday, December 15, 2014

Pepato







I probably don't need to tell you how proud I am of this cheese. The fact that I have dedicated an entire post to it, and allowed room for five photos in that post probably speaks for itself.
I kind of feel like it's our first block of cheese. As I mentioned in my previous post, we have made Fetta before. But what I didn't mention was that we had a few hiccups with it in the making process. The end result was still lovely cheese, but it could have been better.

This block, however, this beautiful round Pepato, had a perfect making process. It was relaxing to make as everything went smoothly.
After soaking in it's brine for 8 hours, it had to dry on a rack for two days. Then early this morning it was ready to go back into the cheese fridge to mature for a month or two (it can mature for up to 12 months, but I'm realistic and know we won't hold out that long). We sliced it into eight wedges, packaged them using the vaccum sealer and put them into the fridge. You can of course mature your cheese as a whole wheel, but we thought it made more sense just to slice it up now, rather than packing the whole wheel, and then having to repack it in it's wedges once it is mature. This way we can just get out one wedge at a time to use, which will completely wipe out the chance of any being wasted due to spoiling.

I'm really looking forward to tasting it. You can probably expect to see this cheese feature in yet another post when the time comes, although I'll try not to dedicate an entire post to it again:-)




*Pepato is a semi-hard cheese, traditionally made with sheep's milk. It is made with pepper corns, which are added to the curds after removing the whey.

9 comments

  1. I so enjoy reading about your life down on the farm! I had to read back to the new chickens to catch up. Your new chickens are so pretty! Thank you for sharing all this information about the chickens and the milking cow and her calf. Even though I will probably never own any farm animals, it's still so interesting to read about it. The way you run your farm just sounds so mellow and lovely :) This new cheese looks delicious! I thought the little dots were cranberries at first. How exciting to make such a gorgeous wheel of cheese from your own cow. Heaven. I'm glad to hear you're officially into summer now. Weird that your storms bring in the humid weather ... our summer storms are brought in on humidity but they usually clear the air. Have a great week Sarah! Wendy x

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    1. Thank-you Wendy for your feedback, it's really lovely to receive :-)
      Cheese making is definitely very exciting, it's very new and not like any other cooking. I love it :-)
      Our storms do bring in the humidity (it's terribly hot and sticky here today!), and they do usually clear the air as they come in the afternoon/evening. If they come in the morning however, and the sun comes out afterwards, it gets really steamy and unpleasant :-)

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  2. Oh boy, I think I have cheese envy! This looks fabulous .. well done. I went to a cheese making course a few years back, which I loved, but never got round to making it at home. I think the process scared me off. Yes I do have cheese envy. Good on you!

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    1. It is a bit of a process, isn't it? I watched a friend do it, who is excellent at making cheese, and bought the book that he uses. I think he was so calm about the entire process that I felt like we could give it a go. We did however make several lots of ricotta before we felt we could tackle this kind of cheese! :-)

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  3. SARAH!!!! It is so very amazing and inspiring to see this beautiful cheese! WOW!!! You all should be so very proud of your work!!! I can't wait to see more of the cheese that you all make!!! Wishing you a wonderful week friend!! Nicole xo

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    1. Thank-you so much Nicole :-) I hope you have a wonderful week too x

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  4. Wow - your photos are amazing and so is this pepato! Smart move to cut and seal now. I hope it tastes even half as good as it looks!

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    1. Thanks so much Karen! I can't wait to taste it :-)

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  5. WOW, it looks fantastic... I'm so excited that you are making cheese as That is my goal for 2015 :) 2014 was the year of bread for me and I only just feel like I have touched the surface! But I am going to add Cheese to my busy schedule starting with a halloumi or ricotta :) Thanks for sharing! Liz x

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Maira Gall