u/probrwr

I make tomato sauce from our roma tomatoes each year. This year was 30 pints. Each year I throw away the skins and seeds after I mill the tomatoes.

Not my original idea, but this year, I decided to dry them and grind them into a powder. I put all of them into 4 vacuum bags and froze them flat. Then, I ran them, starting as frozen blocks in my super cheap dehydrator. The drying went really well. I feel like it was a pseudo freeze dried thing. Honestly, some of the nicest dried products I have gotten out of that cheap ass dehydrator!

Once dried, I broke up the blocks and ran them in the blender until it was a super fine powder.

Let me tell you.... do not waste this stuff! The flavor is fantastic, and the wife and I are coming up with all kinds of options! We are trying to use 100% of things as much as possible.

Spent the weekend processing our tomato harvest. Two day process for me. Day one is thaw, heat, and mill to remove seeds and skins. I mill twice, once on the medium plate and once on the fine to get all seeds out and make a smooth juice.

Cook and add spices and organic tomato paste. About 4 hours covered. Let cool overnight and bring back to a boil the next morning. Boil the 4 gallons down to about 3.5 gallons.

Canned in pint jars. Made 30 full and a partial.

Vac packed and froze the skins and seeds. I am currently running the dehydrator on two of the frozen packs to see if that will produce a better dried product. Plan to make tomato powder with them.

The Romas and some slicers are starting to turn. Also, the seranos when completely bonkers!!!

Wife is pretty sure they are Burpee Roma's. We definitely planted fewer in yhe before this year! Never have we had this amount of fruit!

Been installing the draft lines for our second location. Pretty happy with how they look so thought I would share....

14 lines. Tubing looms are 3d printed with stainless retaining pins. Each line has its own regulators to balance them to the specific beer and tap line length.

I opened the next two wheels.

Wheel #2

Great Value whole milk 3.25%, mesophilic culture, fresh rennet, CaCl.

Much better texture, melts nicely, and bends some before breaking. Broke out my Apera Ph meter and it measure 5.13

Mild taste and not tangy like the first wheel.

Wheel #3

Great Value skim milk and GV heavy cream to make 3.25%. Same additives.

Same tangy flavor as the first Wheel. Measure 4.8ph.

Texture is crumbly and more cheddar like.

Thoughts,

I think the amount of curd I got from the third did jot get pressed hard enough resulting in a knit but not quite as hard of a knit. I am using a spring press and checking the pressure often. I think a Dutch press will be a better option in the future.

Opened up the first wheel of Gouda. This was the first one I made and the one that I had issues with old rennet.

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The texture was a little dry. The slice broke instead of bent. The flavor was good but a little tangy for the style. I am pretty sure the extra time ripening due to the failed rennet cause much more acid production.

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There are some spots on the wheel. None intruded into the wheel. The green wiped right off and I am pretty sure the brown was from my cheap cheese press. I have a newbone now that has a stainless drip tray.

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All in all, a decent cheese. Plus you can always make sauce!

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Some other questions for the collective. I have been doing this in our outdoor kitchen. Are any of you working outside?

If you have been following, I have been making the same recipe and changing something each time. This one was making my own whole milk.

2 gallon recipe. Poured one gallon of Great Value skim milk in the pot. Measured out 800ml of UHT heavy cream and added it to the pot. Measured out 800ml of skim from the other gallon and set it aside (down the drain... skim milk is useless). Poured the rest of the gallon in the pot and stirred well.

This should have put me right at 3.25% milkfat matching the whole milk I have used previously.

The curd formed was night and day better than before. The pictures show it early and after quite a bit of stirring. Yield seems to be much higher also. I need to weigh the finished product, but the pressed picture is as it is going into the final 6 hour press. It is a solid 3/4 of an inch taller than the others.

On a sad note, the Ricotta failed badly.

Used the leftover whey to make some ricotta! Was fun watching it form, but I still used some cider vinegar to get it all.

Trying to decide what to do with what is left. I feel like I should can it up and save it, but not sure what to use it for. I do think the tomatoes would like it!

Picked up 2 more GV whole milk gallons and new rennet and calcium chloride. The curd was WAY better. The cuts were easy, and it all stayed together well.

Winco 12qt double boiler on an induction burner. Picked up a couple induction burners at an auction for a brewery in No. Va a while ago. Love them!!! I filled the double boiler up so the pot was down in the water pretty deep to make more of a water bath setup. It worked well!

I think I am stirring too much and breaking the curd down, but not sure.

Made a 2 pound washed curd cheese. Theoretically, it is Gouda, but... had problems with the set. My rennet was old and had not done anything in 40 minutes, so I went ahead and used the backup 1/2 tablet I had prepared. The milk set, but it was not a good set. It was really fragile and made small curds pretty quickly. Milk was two new Great Value whole milks with March 18th as the best by date. Stated milk fat is 3.5% on the jug.

Ordered new rennet and some calcium chloride (and a new cheese press). I had made up some calcium chloride solution and did include it in the recipe.

Question. I have made feta, salata ricotta, and some other fresher cheeses with this milk before but it has been a while and mostly I have been doing acid cheeses lately so I don't waste the last 1/2 gallon of milk. Is the milk still a viable option, or have they changes something in it?

Question 2. It says to wax it after it is dry to the touch. While waxing looks great, can I vac pack it instead? Does the wax allow something to happen?