Scally's Blog

Martin and the team made another 6,500 litres worth of soft cheese again today. A variety of different cheeses in the 13 vats, but the one I paid particular attention to was the white rinded blue.

Here, the guys use a mix of thermaphilic and mesaphilic cultures, whereas with the IOW Blue, I am only using mesaphilic. What this means is that our cheeses, despite both being classed as soft cheeses, are in fact very different in the way they are produced. The thermaphilic cultures mean that the acidity develops a lot faster, making the recipe and stages at which things like the salting and piercing very different.

Having witnessed the way the team work at Zurwies, there are lots of things that I am really looking forward to trying when I get back to the Isle of Wight.

We have our sights set on expanding our enterprise next year in 2011, and visiting the new dairy that has been built by Anton and his team has been an incredible chance for me to see close up how we can look to start making our cheeses on a bigger scale while still remaining artisan in our production methods.

The day was topped off by a great evening out with Anton and his family in a restaurant in Wangen. Lots was discussed, and an open invitation was given to Anton and his wife to come to the Isle of Wight and visit. As big music fans, the chance to visit Dimbola Lodge to see Jimmy, and the Isle of Wight Festival / Bestival might be an opportunity too good to miss!

All in all, it's been a fantastic trip. I have learnt a massive amount, on the technical side of things and also on the types of equipment we will need to get hold of in the future when we look to become a bigger operation.

Rich, signing out. Tschüß!!