The name of this cheese alone is interesting, not to mention its unique flavor and form. You may never have heard of it, which makes it even more worth a try on firstly pronouncing (shah-oose) and then creating it!

Chaource is a mold-ripened cheese that originates from a small village in France called Chaource. It is usually made with both raw and pasteurized cow’s milk.

The rind of these cheese is similar to Camembert and has the same texture that just melts in your mouth. It can be aged for 2 weeks to 2 months and the flavor flourishes with time.

Down below is a big recipe for around 8 blocks of cheese, but you can easily half it if you so desire.

Recipe

What You Need

2 Gallons whole milk (can be pasteurized, but not ultra-pasteurized)
1/4 Tsp Mesophilic culture
1/8 Tsp Aroma Type B
1/4 Tsp Penicilium candidum
1/16 Tsp Geotrichum candidum
2 drops Animal rennet
Cheese salt
1/4 Tsp Calcium chloride

Equipment

8 Crottin molds
Thermometer
Butter muslin
Colander
Scoop or ladle
2 Bamboo ripening mats
Ripening box
Cheese wrap

What To Do

First things first, it is important that you sanitize every piece of equipment that will be used, including the ripening box.

Now dilute 1/4 tsp calcium chloride in 1/4 cup of non-chlorinated water and add this to the milk.

Heat the milk up slowly to 77F, checking the temperature with your thermometer.

Once the milk is warmed up, sprinkle all 4 cultures onto the milk and let it hydrate for around 3 minutes.

After 3 minutes, begin to stir the cultures for about 20 seconds into the milk.

Now cover the pot with a lid and let the milk ripen for around 8 hours, making sure the temperature stays at 77F for the entire period. If you are heating the pot with water, you might have to add hot water half way through the ripening to maintain the heat.

Add 2 drops of rennet to the milk and stir it in slowly for around 10 seconds.

Now cover the pot and allow it to sit for a further 8 hours, once again keeping the heat at 77F.

After the 8 hours is up, gently put the curds into a colander with a ladle, ensuring the colander is lined with butter muslin. Make sure you do not cut the curds. If you really wanted, you could skip this step and just ladle the curds directly into the molds but it can be quite difficult to get them all in.

Once in the colander, now ladle them into the 8 molds. Keep replenishing them as the whey drains from the molds.

If you would like to speed up the process of draining the whey from the molds, you can run a knife along the inside of the molds.

When the whey is getting to the bottom of the molds, empty the box. This step is important because the environment needs to be kept as dry as possible.

Let drain for around 48 hours. If the cheese seems firm enough, turn them around and put them back into the molds for 24 hours.

48 hours later, it is time to remove the cheeses from the molds and place them on wax paper or a paper towel whilst drying off the box.

Prepare your rack in the dry box.

Get each cheese and rub a thin layer of salt onto both ends of it. Be sure to wait a few minute between each end and then put each cheese into the box until they have all been salted.

Now close the lid on the box and place it in a space of 50-55F

Make sure you flip the cheeses every day and drain any whey in the bottom of the box.

The cheese will be ready to eat after 2 weeks of being in the box. If you are wanting to age them any longer, keep them in your cave with the lid ajar and make sure you flip them every day. Once you are ready to eat them, wrap them and place in the refrigerator. They’re best served at room temperature.