Page 141 - Through the eyes of an African chef

Making cheese
BEFORE BALLYMALOE, I HAD only ever made yoghurt, amasi, and cheese from milk, and I had assisted with making paneer cheese and lactic cheese in Durban. In 2012, I had the pleasure of making my first hard cheese and, in 2017, my first brie.
Once you progress to making cheese like brie, it’s best to get a cheese-making kit and attend cheese-making lessons. I was fortunate to have a real farmhouse cheesemaker Helen Finnegan walk me through the process step by step. She taught me the process of adding the starter culture, rennet, and all the necessary steps of making cheese. I suggest using a thermometer for this process as I observed that even an experienced cheesemaker like Helen still uses one. In the absence of a thermometer, of course, the measure is blood temperature.
SOFT CHEESE
After milking, we separated some of the milk and cream to make butter, but left the bulk of it for drinking or making cheese.
The cheesemaker, Helen, assisted us with making brie. I can assure you, brie from raw milk is in a league of its own. The texture was creamier and just wholesomely tasty.
THROUGH THE EYES OF AN AFRICAN CHEF
[ chapter nine ] MY TRAVEl RECIPES: bAllYMAlOE 139