Coconut Yogurt, Chocolate Making, Drying Cheese, Testing two blue cheeses

Once again into the fray to try and make a yogurt like product from Coconut milk. Starting from scratch in went four small cans of pure Coconut milk i.e. no other additives. We have only found two brands that don't have additives Ayam and A&T. A generous amount of culture ex Cheeselinks and three tablespoons of Tapioca starch as thickener. We will see.

More chocolate making today. A big block for Jean in case she needs to make more Hazelnut Brownies which have been a huge success at morning tea. You have to have something to look forward to each day.

I made a standard issue block with roasted peanuts and then two small batches of samples. One batch was just chocolate with some Coconut flour for thickening and flavour. This wasn't refrigerated until the next day to ensure the flour full absorbed. And a small batch with just roasted Coconut chips/shreds. We are using only Dextrose for sweetening and keeping the levels lower than usual but adding more Cocoa powder to get that really chocolaty flavour.

The technique we use for drying cheese prior to cheese coating seems to work very well with the resultant cheeses not having excess moisture when opened nor being too dry. Once the cheese is brined it is put on a cheese mat to drain for 24 hours then a paper towel is folded to the size of the cheese and placed beneath to absorb liquid. Each cheese has two paper towels. One drying the cheese and one being dried before reuse. These two towels are alternated until the moisture on the towel does not form a full impression of the cheese. At this stage the cheese coating starts and when two coats are applied to the top half of the cheese it is flipped over and the bottom half done. And then finally the wax and label applied and into the cheese refrigerator to age.

Tonight we looked at two blue cheeses aging in the refrigerator. A stilton and a mock Roquefort.

The Stilton is just right. Fully ripened with not only good blue mould in the needle holes but also blue mould throughout the cavities. The mock Roquefort has good blue formation in the holes but has not fully ripened. You can see in the photograph how it is gooey around the outside but still a bit chalky in the centre. Another couple of weeks at least. It still tastes good though

Waxing Cheese, Fencing

Nothing exciting this morning with the various herds of expectant mothers.

Having applied the final coat of cheese coating to the Havarti it was time to apply the wax. The Havarti had been quite moist and it has taken about 5 days to dry it sufficiently for the cheese coat. The wax was melted over a very low gas flame  and then applied. The top and bottom were dipped in the molten wax, a label applied to one side and painted over with molten wax and finally the sides were brushed with molten wax and the cheeses refrigerated.

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PVA coated

Finished waxed Result

More Tomato seedlings were ready for transplanting and we were so pleased with the germination speed that we decided to put down some Eggplant and Capsicum seeds. We always have trouble with these seeds, there is something missing in our technique which we are yet to discover. Maybe some one can advise us on a more reliable way.

The afternoon was spent fencing over the river putting in some end stays and hand digging some  of the more difficult holes. Not a bad effort given that we were both fasting.

This a special bracket for these recycled plastic posts to hold the diagonal stay in place. The end of the stay has to be trimmed with a chainsaw at the correct angle and butted against the bracket. As the stay is wedged into its hole in the ground the bracket's teeth bite into the plastic for a firm grip.