Making Camembert in Chicago with raw milk from Amish Guernsey cows

Here’s an excerpt from a story by Doug Taron from his Gossamer Tapestry blog. Doug may not realize it but one of the significant characteristics of Guernsey milk is that it tends to have more A2 Beta Casein than A1. Look for our upcoming review of the new book “Devil in the Milk” for a full exegesis on what that means, or enter A1A2 in the search box to read our earlier stories on the subject:

Raw Guernsey Organic Amish milk makes the difference for great Camembert.

“I just finished another batch of Camembert. I’ve now done enough of these to know that they are consistently coming out well. Some of myearliest efforts were delicious and developed the surface mold well- but the interior was excessively runny, sometimes to the point of being nearly liquid. My more recent efforts have been especially successful.

The improvements that I have enjoyed recently are clearly a result of the milk I’ve been using. Friend, fellow blogger, and tea connoisseur extraordinaire UrSpo sometimes refers to especially high end tea as being made from tender young leaves plucked by virgins at 3 AM by the light of the full moon. My current milk supply has a similar feel to it. It’s raw milk- whole milk that has been neither pasteurized nor homogenized. The cream rises to the top of the containers that it’s stored in. The dairy cattle are Gurnsey cows that are raised organically on an Amish farm in Wisconsin (I need to determine if saying organic is redundant if you identify the farm as Amish). 

Most store-bought milk is from Holsteins. Gurnsey milk has a much higher butterfat content that Holstein milk, and gives the cheese a particularly rich texture, flavor, and yellow color. I noticed one other difference when I made my most recent cheese. The whey is less clear than I am used to. Sometimes this can mean poor separation of curds and whey, but the curds were excellent this time. ….”

Read the whole story here.

Read more about the A1A2 issue here.