Steaming

I love eating hot beetroot with white sauce, which soon turns pink. And my beetroot crop is excellent this year. Happy days!

The rain has passed, but we have been left with overcast cool weather; perfect conditions for cheese-making. Accordingly a Farmhouse Blue is in the press overnight. In the morning it will be pierced multiple times and left to air dry. 

It isn't blue yet. The penicillium rocqueforti bacteria take quite a few days to get going, and several weeks to reach their peak. By the time it is ready to eat in four months' time it will have a completely blue rind. And blue lines inside where it has been pierced.

Alongside the Orkney, the Farmhouse Blue is my favourite cheese of all those I make. It is known as "Best Cheese Yet" among the people I barter with.

I have begun the autumn tidy-up in the garden. A bed in the tunnel will be needed next week for over-wintering brassica plants, so I need to get my skates on to clear it, weed it, then add compost and fertiliser. It's a change of pace from watering, picking and processing...