Process Menu:
Step One:
We start with raw milk and gently pasteurize in our cheese vat. By batch pasteurizing we are able to pasteurize at a lower temperature for a longer period of time. We feel this helps us produce a more unique and flavorful cheese, and protects the integrity of the milk.
Step Two:
After pasteurizing we cool the milk to somewhere between 85 and 90 degrees Farenheit. This temperture varies depending on the type of cheese we are making. Then we add our cheese culture. Our cultures are from France and once we have stirred them into the milk we allow the milk to rest for an hour or so. We call this ripening. The microbes in the culture acidify the milk, by consuming the milk surgar (lactose) and producing lactic acid.
Step Three:
Next we add the rennet. Rennet is an enzyme that works with the help of the acidic environment to coagulate the milk. Traditionally, rennet is derived from the lining of a calf's stomach, but we use vegetarian rennet for all of our cheeses. The vegetarian rennet is basically the same enzyme but is produced by a yeast.
Step Four:
Once the milk is coagulated we are ready to cut the curd. At this point it looks like we have a vat full
of yogurt. We use cheese knives (also called "harps" because they have strings like a harp) to cut the
curd into even cubes. We start to see whey accumulate around the curds. Now we have Miss Muffet's
famous curds and whey.
The rest of the steps in the cheesemaking process depend on which type of cheese we are making. For a
soft cheese we may ladle the curd out of the vat and into molds to drain. For a hard cheese we gently
heat the curds and whey to facilitate removal of even more whey.
Step Five:
After cooking the curds we then drain off the whey and in the case of cheddar allow the curds to matt together and then cut this mass of curds into slabs for cheddaring. We turn the cheddar slabs every 10 minutes keeping an eye on our increasing acidity and changing texture.
Step Six:
Then we mill the slabs into smaller curds and mix in coarse salt.
Step Seven:
Now the curd is ready to be eaten as fresh curd or put into cheese molds that we've lined with cheesecloth and pressed to make a wheel, then wax and age for at least 6 months to develop flavor.
To Wrap it up..:
Cheesemaking is not a slow process, but we enjoy the hands on aspects, the rhythms and the beauty of the act. There is a particular satisfaction in crafting something that people will not only consume to sustain themselves, but will savor and enjoy. With artisan cheesemaking, each batch is unique, depending on what the cows are eating, the weather, even the cheesemaker's mood. And that makes each cheese like a little work of art in addition to being delicious!
Our Cheese-making Process
All the photos in this section are courtesy of Russell French copyright 2004.
They were taken as part of a project Russell French Photography and Nancy Montgomery Designs did for the Maine Cheese Guild back in 2004.
Thanks so much to both of them, and for graciously allowing us to use the pictures from the guild shoot on our site as well.
Use the "Process Menu" to the left to navigate through our cheese-making process.
In the News:
Silvery Moon's Fresh Cheddar Makes Poutine in Portland Great!
Silvery Moon Takes Second Place Ribbon for Crème Fraiche at 2008 American Cheese Society Competition!
Awards:
- Crème Fraiche – Second Place, American Cheese Society, 2008
- Tuscan Herbed Curd – First Place, American Cheese Society, 2007
- Crème Fraiche – Second Place, American Cheese Society, 2007
- Tally Ho w/ Peppercorn – Second Place, American Cheese Society, 2004
- Rosemary’s Waltz – Second Place, American Cheese Society, 2004
- French Herbed Curd - Second Place, American Cheese Society, 2004