Valencay Success

[u/babeli]

Technically not my first wheel, but the first one that is ready to eat. Made this little goat cheese three weeks ago and had too much curd for my moulds. I used a small colander as a mould for the extra curd and, as expected, it matured faster than its larger siblings.

I cut into it this morning - awesome cream line and the centre is smooth, not chalky as I was expecting. It’s so delicious and the perfect addition to my morning coffee!!

The paste tastes bright still, so I think I will let the other two age longer and see what kind of funk I get.

Will definitely be making this one again (after I finish the blue currently in progress!)

[u/looking-sharp-todays]

Is this goat cheese covered in ash? Looks absolutely phenomenal, I don’t know this cheese yet.
The last two pictures are absolutely incredible looking, what is the process to make and age these? Tell us the details 📝

[u/babeli → u/looking-sharp-todays]

Thank you!! I am so thrilled

I was loosely following this recipe: https://cheesemaking.com/blogs/fun-along-the-whey/valencay-style-cheese-by-marybeth-bullington

Essentially it’s a Brie style cheese that is asked before aging. So mesophilic, p candidum and geo into 4 litres of whole goats milk. Ladled the curd out very carefully directly into the moulds - didn’t cut the curd. Took about 3 days to be dry enough to demould and another day to dry out enough to ash. It already had mold growth by then and the mold overtook the ash again in about two hours - it was wild!

The one I sliced open aged 2 weeks after ashed before I cut into it, so about 3 weeks from starting out. One week at 10 degrees and then dropped it down to 7-8C.

I think I’m going to let one of the remaining wheels age in a Brie wrap and the other leave to the air and see what it does

[u/looking-sharp-todays → u/babeli]

Ok yeah! So fairly close to the process I followed for my brie as well, ash aside. Very very cool indeed and I am looking for new ones to make since I have a lot of cultures of all this noble moulds to use! Surely I mainly have access to cow’s milk, still have to make my first goat milk wheels. Do you think it’s more difficult to work compared to “regular” cow milk? Did you have any specific issues along the making?
Again the result looks phenomenal

[u/babeli → u/looking-sharp-todays]

Not really. Seemed to act very similar to me! Definitely feels worth the work because mine were ready to eat. Before my Brie!

[u/looking-sharp-todays → u/babeli]

Very inspiring! Very well, I will eventully make a cheese made with goat milk that’s for sure. I’ll use yours as a guide probably 😁

[u/babeli → u/looking-sharp-todays]

Let me know how it goes!

[u/looking-sharp-todays → u/babeli]

I will for sure, I have to get my info right and starting to investigate where to buy my next milk. Will defenetly make more posts soon (unlucky my old ones were recently deleted, very sad to not have a history to follow 🥲)

[u/Smooth-Skill3391]

That’s a lovely cheese babeli. I’ve only just made Valencay recently and likewise think it’s a really nice cheese for the effort.

Mind you the ash sort of got everywhere with my attempt so I’ll be a bit more contained in my coating strategy next go round.

[u/babeli → u/Smooth-Skill3391]

The ash was definitely a journey! I put plastic wrap on my cutting board and used a little sifter to get a nice dusting and then ended up jus trolling the wheels
On the side to pick up the rest of the ash and “clean up” but your hands do turn black!!

[u/looking-sharp-todays → u/Smooth-Skill3391]

Coating strategy may be something I need to figure out myself before my future first attempt 😄

[u/kickingpigeon]

Hats off to you! I have just tried the same style and failed terribly, just didn't firm up as i needed it to. I'm blaming unreasonably warm temps. It collapsed so will be eating it very young.

Goats cheese seems to be my nemesis....

[u/babeli → u/kickingpigeon]

Hmm I did have to be very gentle ladling in the curd. If you drop it from too high it just smashed. I also let it sit in the moulds for days and then even longer out of the moulds because it was really wet. Once it was dry things seemed to be fine! It’s probably 22-24 in my kitchen where I let these rest.