Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Cheese Making with Francesca.

Monday, April 23, 2012.

Monday morning we drove to Francesca's to learn how to make cheese.  Francesca and her family have many sheep, some of which are milked twice a day.  The milk is made into cheese every single day.  ' Tis a very labor intensive passion that the family and especially Francesca have embraced, along with her 2 beautiful children and handsome husband from New Zealand.  Of course, she makes Pecorino cheese, the word derived from the Italian Pecora or sheep.  From the whey left over, she makes Ricotta, which means twice cooked or recooked.  Here are some photos.




See YouTube video below:


  
The milk is stirred constantly over a gas burner until it reaches approximately 80 Centigrade, at which point it forms a large ball, which Francesca turned over and then cut into sections.  From this ball, five or six forms were filled with the very wet curd, which had to be pressed evenly to drain it of all liquid (the whey).
The forms were then salted and placed in the cave to cure for 14 days,  during which time these immature pecorino cheeses were washed, scrubbed and resalted.  After 2 weeks, they graduated to a more stable curing stage for 3-6 months.  Some forms were infused with pepper, ashes, or truffles.

See more YouTube videos:




 (One video won't play.  Will try again.)
Then, after the pecorino is formed, the whey is boiled again and ecco! ricotta is born.






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