When I first started reading about making cheese, I thought it was probably some really hard process that couldn't be done in a regular old kitchen. Reading through some of the older cookbooks that I collect, I realized this was something every housewife did back in the old days, if the family was fortunate enough to own a milk cow or a milk goat. They made cheese, cottage cheese, butter, sour cream, sweet cream, and more -- to use up the milk before it went bad. Every farm wife had her own recipes, her own versions of different kinds of soft cheeses and spreads, their own versions of cottage cheese, recipes that were special to each family.
What I've discovered over the 11+ years that I've been doing this is that it sounds harder than it really is.
To get consistent results, it helps to follow the recipes pretty closely, or as exactly as you can, but timing and temperature are two very important items, especially when you first start out. Slight variations in processing will still give a pretty good result (most of the time) but it won't always be what you expected. Once you're comfortable with making the cheeses you like the most, you'll even get to the point where experimenting is fun. It won't always turn out great, but then again, you might find something your family really loves too.
Equipment: Your equipment should always be clean. Some people use bleach on their pots, pans, and other equipment. I don't like to do that, because if the bleach doesn't get rinsed off well enough (and it's hard to rinse off well), it interferes with your cultures. A dishwasher will do fine. If you don't have a dishwasher, regular dish soap and a hot rinse will do fine. Of course, wash your hands before and after each step of handling milk or curd.
Don't go out and buy a bunch of fancy equipment, kits, and/or cultures at the beginning. Start slow and work your way up.
Here's a list of equipment you will need:
1. Pots and/or pans with lids: Stainless steel, glass, ceramic, or un-chipped enamel. Do NOT use cast iron or aluminum. I've used my stainless steel pressure cookers for this (small and medium) and used a different lid to cover, or I've even used my blue speckled enamelware water bath canning pots for big batches. Stainless steel stockpots are good for this, and can usually be bought reasonably priced in a set of 3 with lids. I have a set of those too. The stainless steel stockpots are my favorite pans to use for making cheese.
2. Cheese ladle: This is nothing fancier than a slotted spoon. I usually keep 2 or 3 handy. A spoon rest comes in handy too, but I sometimes use a desert plate for this or an aluminum pie tin.
3. Butter muslin: If it says use butter muslin, don't use regular cheese cloth that you buy at the grocery store because the weave is too wide. I did find some very tightly woven cheese cloth at a kitchen specialty store at the mall that worked just fine, though. I also made a drawstring bag (for making cottage cheese) out of finely woven curtain muslin. These were white curtains that I didn't use any more. I washed up the material, doubled it over, sewed it into a bag, and sewed a hem at the top for a drawstring. So, the bag is big enough to fit over my colander bowl. After draining through the colander, I can draw up the bag and hang it to drip drain some more over my sink or some other container. You can find butter muslin at most kitchen stores and even at the grocery store sometimes.
4. Curd cutter: This is just a knife. It has to be long enough to reach the bottom of the pan you are using. The bigger the pan, obviously, the bigger knife you will need.
5. Dairy thermometer: You can use a regular candy thermometer which clips to the side of the pan. As long as the temperature goes as low as 85 degrees (mine starts at 75) and as high as 120 for most cheeses, 170 for mozzarella, and 200 for ricotta. Most candy thermometers will cover that whole range. You don't have to leave it clipped to the pan, but do check the temperature every so often. Eventually, you'll get to know about how long it takes with your stove at what settings to get to certain temperatures. I have a digital candy thermometer, and it really works well.
6. Colander: Something with small enough holes to drain whey without losing curds. I have a large colander with a frame that can be slid to rest on my sink top. I also have a bowl type colander, and a smaller round sieve type colander with a pan-handle on it that can be placed easily above another bowl if you wish to save the whey. It can be plastic or stainless steel.
7. Cheese mold and follower: For Mozzarella cheese and other cheeses which require a mold, I save butter tubs, small ones and big ones, and use those or there are some nice plastic leftover containers on the market now that even put an attractive design into your cheese. Plastic butter tubs, Tupperware, and other food grade plastic works great for homemade molds for your cheese. If you drain your curds well, you don't need to punch holes in your molds. However, if you want to punch holes to help drain the last bits of whey, punch the holes from the inside to the outside.
8. Cheese press: This is for a little more advanced cheeses. You don't need this until you get into making hard cheeses. My husband built me a few of them, and I will try to post some photos of those. They are expensive to buy, but can be built at home. If all else fails, before you spend a bunch of money on one, try a temporary one made from a coffee can. Punch holes in the bottom third of the can, from the inside to the outside. Set the can into a pie pan or cake pan to catch the draining whey. Put your cheese in the bottom, add a can-sized flat plate as a follower, then weight the top of it with a half-gallon jug full of water or something that's heavy.
9. Bowl or pan: Shallow bowl or pan to set the press and cheese in while it drains.
Ingredients:
1. Milk: Fresh, clean, raw goat milk from healthy goats. If you want to pasteurize your milk because you're not sure of the source, heat it to 165 degrees for 3 minutes. If you pasteurize, bring the temperature back down to room temperature before you start to use it in many cheese recipes.
2. Starter cultures: Some recipes require these, and some don't. A starter culture is a pure form bacteria added to warm milk to produce an acid. Starter cultures should always be made from pasteurized milk.
** Mesophilic culture: Made from live culture buttermilk bought from the store and "ripened", or can be bought from a cheese making supply store. Mesophilic cultures are for low-temperature cheeses.
** Thermophilic culture: Made from live culture yogurt such as Dannen's, or can be purchased from supply store. Thermophilic cultures are for higher-temperature cheeses and yogurt.
3. Rennet: This is the enzyme that turns the milk into curds. Rennet comes in liquid or tablet form or can be purchased as Junket brand rennet in many grocery stores. The breakdown goes like this:
Liquid rennet = tablet rennet at 1:1:
One teaspoon of liquid rennet = one rennet tablet
1/4 teaspoon liquid rennet = 1/4 rennet tablet
Junket, however, is different. Junket must be quadrupled. If your recipe calls for 1 rennet tablet or 1 teaspoon liquid rennet, you would use 4 junket tablets. More commonly, your recipes will call for 1/2 tablet or 1/2 teaspoon, etc. 1/2 teaspoon liquid or 1/2 rennet tablet = 2 junket tablets. 1 junket tablet is equal to 1/4 teaspoon liquid rennet or 1/4 tablet of regular rennet. If the recipe specifies junket, then use whatever the recipe says. If it just says "rennet tablet", they don't mean Junket.
Junket is about the only type of rennet available in your local grocery store. You can find it most commonly where you would find ice cream making supplies, as it can also be used to make ice cream and custards. Liquid rennet or regular tablet rennet can sometimes be found in health food stores or it can also be ordered through cheese making supply stores.
4. Salt: We use non-iodized table salt. Iodized salt works too. The other is just a personal preference. Sea salt is the very best of all.
5. Citric acid: You can usually find this where you would find canning supplies. It's used in canning tomatoes.
6. Additions: Herbs, chives, sage, garlic, parsley, etc. Have fun, make up your own! Hey, I added Ranch dressing mix, the powdered kind, and it was great!
Making Cheese:
1. Clean counters, clean utensils, clean hands. If you make bread and knead dough on your counters, make extra sure you wipe up all traces of yeast. Even a bit of yeast can make your cheese FLOP.
2. Start with a simple recipe. Practice soft cheeses first. Follow the recipe exactly the first few times, then improvise if you wish.
3. If it doesn't work, don't be afraid to try again.
4. Have fun! Eat and enjoy.
I will be adding links for cheese recipes.
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