Pepper Cheese

I found the idea for pepper cheese in Gianaclis Caldwell’s Mastering Basic Cheesemaking. It wasn’t a specific recipe, just a description illustrating one way to flavor a cheese. She used it as an option for what she calls “Farmhouse Cheese,” but it’s the same basic basic rennet curd cheese I’ve been making from David Asher’s The Art of Natural Cheesemaking. Dan and I like pepper cheese, so I thought I’d try it.

The description called for rehydrating hot pepper flakes. I have some dehydrated cayenne peppers, and used six for a cheese made from one gallon of milk. I cut off the stem end, shook out most of the seeds, and chopped them up in my blender. They were rehydrated in a half-cup of boiling water. The soaking water was supposed to be added to the milk just before the rennet, but I was also trying to make lunch at the time, discuss the barn with Dan, plus work on the cheese. I’m lousy at multitasking, so I forgot to add the pepper water. I remembered when it was time to cut the curds, so into the curd bath water it went. If you’ve never made cheese before and are trying to figure out what I’m talking about, click here for the basic cheesemaking steps.) The soaked pepper flakes where added when the curds went into the cheese mold. After pressing, the cheese was salted, flipped occasionally, and allowed to develop a natural rind.

It’s a cheese meant to be eaten fresh, so a couple of days later we gave it a try.

It turned out just right in cayenneiness for us, so even with a blooper, all’s well that ends well.

Then I had to decide what to do with the whey. It was pretty spicy after adding the pepper-soaking water, so I knew the whey wouldn’t be good for gjetost. Instead it became a spicy ricotta and I used it to stuff enchiladas. Those turned out good too!

So that’s one idea for variety without having to follow a different cheese recipe. I like to stay with only one or two types at a time, because there can be many factors that influence the outcome of a cheese. Sticking with only one recipe for awhile helps me explore these and more easily identify changes in results. That helps me be more consistent. My cheese journal helps me know whether to repeat a factor or not!

Gianaclis’s book (mentioned above) and also 200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes by Debra Amrein-Boyes have quite a few good ideas for simple flavor variations. I’m taking notes!

The other cheese I’ve been working on is feta. More on my experiments with that soon.