I had the best day yesterday cheesemaking with Jonathan Crump who makes the delicious Double and Single Gloucester.
Earlier in the year I asked him if we could make a Single Gloucester with Truffle for Christmas. So this was my day..with Jenny, Jonathan, Olah and Andy.
Constantly moving your hands through the curds and whey to keep the curd a small size felt really weird but strangely satisfying. This was then left to settle for a while, so time for a light lunch of homemade bread, Single Gloucester (obviously), homemade chutney and a great cup of tea. I might add that to get to that lunch included an uplift service on the back of a tractor... an experience in itself!!
Next on the cheesemaking front was to drain the whey and then cut the curd into pieces and turn periodically, allowing as much whey to drain away as possible. The curds began to get heavier to lift and really began to solidify. There was more science going on, but I can’t possibly disclose Jonathan’s secret to his fabulous cheese!
Now comes the fun bit. After the curds were sliced they were then put through a mill which turned them in to small pieces again, then we introduced the black truffle. Jonathan let me do this, so I sincerely hope the cheese turns out well otherwise there are going to be plenty of happy Gloucester Pigs at Christmas! All we could smell was Truffle.
The last step was to put the cheese into molds and then begin pressing and turning them which is done over a few days. After only half an hour my Christmas cheese was beginning to take shape, all we have to do now is wait 2 months to taste the end result!!
