When I decided to make goats cheese on the weekend, I didn’t let the first set of curds sit for long enough, so they didn’t coagulate properly and I managed to break them up too much when I tried to scoop them, so I needed to start again.
As I needed to wait for a further 12-16 hours, I had some time on my hands, so decided to make some ash for coating the cheese. There are numerous posts out there on the various methods for making ash online, ranging from very specific scientific devices, through to the use of clean paint cans. I went for a much more simple approach.
I sliced 2 carrots and separated out the leaves of 2 onion, placed them on a foiled tray and burnt them under a hot grill until they were black – this worked well, other than the fact I kept setting off our fire alarm, with apologies to my neighbour downstairs. After burning on both sides, I put the charred vegetables into a 100C oven and slowly completely dehydrated them over the next 8-10hours.
After they cooled, I packed them in an airtight container overnight and then pummeled them with our our mortar and pestle, along with a good amount of sea salt. I ground the ash as fine as possible, and hope to put some on my cheese tonight.
360° of cheese 
Good work, wonder if it’ll impart any flavour, or whether you could use any old veg?
I’m going to try my cheese this week, so it will be interesting to see.
Fascinating! I’m curious to know if you taste the vegetables you used to make the ash, or is it just an…well…ashy flavor? Love your blog!
Hi Kat – thanks for visiting. When I tasted the ash on its own, it didn’t taste particularly carroty or oniony but when I try my cheese on the weekend (it’s still ripening at the moment), I’ll let you know.