Cheese tips from the experts

I went to the Great British Cheese Festival in Cardiff yesterday and tasted a huge range of cheeses, some amazing, some awful. I discovered some new ingredient combinations to try out with my cheeses like spring onion and sun died tomatoes, spring onion with garlic, the cheddar with harissa was great. I had a chat with a cheesemaker at the Bath cheees stand about cheesemaking and he has given me some tips for next time. He recommended heating the milk to a temperature of around 63 degress rather than 90 and that the way my curd developed was not right, it should not be lots of small lumps of curd but a large solid block.

It also appears that the starter culture should have been placed in the freezer once opened and that it may no longer be so effective, we shall have to see. The next batch will be made up shortly.