Wednesday, January 8, 2020

Colby and Camembert Taste Tests



Success!!! We opened the Colby and Camembert cheeses yesterday and they are both delicious!!

Please click the links for the recipes:




4 comments:

Mary said...

Hi dear Rain - this is Mary in North Carolina (A Breath of Fresh Air blog). I found, and have just watched, your great video on the latest cheese openings. So enjoyed both seeing your excellent presentation, and the beautiful cheeses you make. The doggies were delightful also.

I was most interested about melting cheeses and info. on your available dairy products, specifically cream.

I checked the organic heavy whipping cream I always buy from Trader Joe's - it's the best and outshines any other cream here. I note ingredients just include "Organic Grade A Cream (Milk) and Gellan Gum."
This cream is awesome, both in texture, flavor, creamy color, and whips to a really thick rich cream. (Note, it takes much longer to whip than the thin grocery store brand).

I currently also have a regular grocery store brand here too with these Ingredients: "Cream, Carrageeenan, Mono & Diglycerides, Polysorbate 80 and Contains: Milk."

I hope, in the near future, you are able to live near a place which carries what you need for your wonderful cheesemaking efforts. I know I'd love your Camembert, and I agree the store bought ones here are never very good. I do think Whole Foods sells the runny/ripe ones from France, but even they are nothing like the real thing I've purchased in the French markets when I visit my brother! Being a cheese-aholic, I should also live in France!!!!!

Love seeing/hearing you, and your new hat is perfect - good choice Alex.
Happiest of new years to you both and the fur babies - hope the right house will pop up this year!
Enjoying your art today also - that rhino is coming along and is awesome.

Hugs - Mary x

Here's my e-mail if you want to get in touch off the blogs - quitecontrary43@gmail.com

Rain said...

Hi Mary!! :))
I LOVED reading your comment, thank you so much! The fact that my cheeses don't melt really bothers me, but I know it has everything to do with those gelatin fillers in the cream. They whip up great and they are thick, but they don't offer enough PURE milk fat to give me a high enough milk content for a melty cheese. Carrageenan is the biggest culprit!

HOWEVER...Alex and I baked one of the Cams in puff pastry last night and IT MELTED. So I'm stumped. The hard cheeses don't melt, but the soft cheeses do. My ricotta also melts.

This will take a LOT of experimentation but it will all have to wait until next year after we have moved and are settled down a little. But who knows? Maybe we'll find a great source of raw milk, or at least pure cream where we end up!

We have a cheese store about a 90-minute drive away and I try to do go there monthly. We can definitely get the French Cams there and everything else you can imagine, but some months, I don't get to that store so if we wanted Cams (in the past) it was grocery store.

I'm very pleased that my "Fake" Cams worked out so well! I have to make some more very soon! That's a cheese we will always eat so I want to make sure we have some to open every few weeks! Yes, I'm a cheese-aholic like yourself, actually the word is "turophile" lol!

Thanks for your email! I have it in my contact list now!! :) I'll send you one so you have mine too! And by the way you are NOT quite contrary lol! ;)


Connie said...

You have no idea how much I would love to visit you and watch you make cheese :) It is just fascinating to me. Wish I lived closer :)

Rain said...

Oh thank you Connie!!! :)) One of these days I plan to make some video tutorials if I can find the time!