Can you guess?

For once it is nothing to do with Bean.

But you will never guess...

It is a large pot of warm milk, snuggled up in a fleece blanket for 24 hours while a tiny bit of rennet does its thing and creates curds. 

I have gone off-piste in my cheese-making this week and am experimenting to see if I can produce something like the Orkney Farmhouse Cheese that I remember buying in Fletts store in Dounby, Orkney in the 1960s and 1970s.

About 20 years ago I made one, using a classic recipe I that I had been given by a farmer from the shores of Loch of Boardhouse, Orkney. It was so-so, and in those days I was a complete novice and was put off trying again because I didn't know how to adapt the recipe. 

I have raked through all my stuff, but the recipe has disappeared -  during one of my moves I assume.

Using a combination of what I found online - very vague instructions and descriptions of the taste and texture of an old-style Orkney Farmhouse Cheese - I have come up with a recipe which I think will create something on the right track.

It is exciting to be challenging myself. I expect to have to make several cheeses, tweaking this and that as I go, before I get anything I'm satisfied with. One big advantage of an Orkney Farmhouse Cheese is that it is eaten when it is about a week old, so I won't have to hang about for months to taste it and decide what needs changing in the next one.

And if I ever do find an old recipe from Orkney it will be fascinating to see how close I get.

This is really testing my cheesemaking knowhow.