So, I got this rubber stamp in the mail over the holiday. Originally, it had been my plan to use it to make custom glassware for the household - but I was making cheese when my new toy arrived and it got... diverted.



And now my new Laphroig 10 Cheddar is branded von Kulmbach, just in case there was any doubt about who would be putting scotch into cheese... I'd say it was too bad that neither my cheddar recipe, nor the addition of scotch to cheese is period... But that just means that this cheese is *strictly* for social eating...

(Or so my brother texted me from a very loud bar...)

As threatened, I have finally made a cheddar with that Glenmorangie 18 year in the mix. It tastes like smoke and cheese and dirt. It's lovely and it hasn't even aged yet. The plan is to let this cheddar age a year and eat it next NYE. And then replace it with another that will then sit about for a year, aging...

Unfortunately, this is Wisconsin, and EVERY DAY is an occassion for cheese. Thus, I think I'm going to need to make several other scotch cheddars in order for this one to make it to 2011.

:P

I also got a geektastic new toy to use in my cheesing. I'm going to make another cheese tonight and try it out. I'll try to get pictures for you then.

OK... So Spermyse is a period cheese, the modern equivalent of which is an herbed cream cheese. I like working on period cheeses and all, but when asked what I am offering, I keep telling people "herbed cream cheese" because... Well... "Spermyse" just isn't an appetizing word to me.

This aside, my herbed cream cheese went over quite well at WW for 3:00 AM drunken larder raids, so this morning, I threw a batch together to "percolate" while I'm at the office. Around 8:00 tonight, I should be able to start draining off the whey while I frantically pack for Pennsic.

Which is the point at which I ask you, dear friends... What kinds of herbs do you want in your cream cheese? This question is of particular importance if you're on your way to Pennsic and think you may end up getting some of this cheese...

Dill?
Chive?
Cracked black pepper?
Rosemary and garlic?

Something I haven't thought of? If red pepper was period, I'd be all over it... I might even make a secret so-wrong-for-period-but-so-right-for-my-tummy stash...

I think this is the first time in 10 years that I don't feel ready for Pennsic. I don't have enough garb, and all of the stuff that I cleaned and re-packed last year needs to be re-sorted and re-packed this year, to minimize redundancies between my own kit and the regalia that we now must bring. In thinking it through, I think that the only regalia we really need is the crowns and the thrones... But they take up plenty enough room, where we didn't have enough space as it was.

Last week, I made a new black tunic for sirzig and hopefully in the remaining portion of this week, I can make myself one to match. ( Blah, blah, blah, CHEESE! )

Over the weekend I put together two cheeses. One was a portered cheddar. Before pressing the cheese, I soaked the curds in a porter that I boiled until it was "double strength." The goal was more a flavored cheese than an alcoholic one, so I figured it wouldn't much matter if I evaporated all the alcohol from the beer.

I'm moderately pleased with the outcome, now that the cheese is out of the press:



The marbling is light, but you can still see it, and the smell is very much "portery." I want to eat some nownownow, but it won't be done aging for "3-24 months." ... If I can just make it until Christmas, I figure that should be about right.

I also made a lingonberry cheddar which is in the press at this moment. There will be pictures as soon as it's out this evening.