10 May 2013
Not bad for a first attempt, eh?
So, after participating in the cheese making workshop...I headed straight for the natural food co-op for some raw milk and lemon juice. Allow me to explain...
One of the things I realized is that the process for starting cheese is very similar to making yogurt. I make my yogurt in a slow cooker and then sometimes strain it to make yogurt cheese. The difference here, is that you add something to curdle the milk...which is what I bought the lemon juice for. You can also use something called Rennet...but since I found out that it is a chemical found in the stomach lining of baby, milk producing animals...I'd rather use lemon juice or vinegar. The curdling is less dramatic and you need a lot more lemon juice...but I just feel better about it (you also get a lovely lemony edge to the cheese). You can buy non animal sources of rennet, so I might try that some day.
So, here goes...
I used about 1 gallon of raw milk to get me started (I poured out about 16 oz for tea consumption throughout the week).
First you heat the milk to a little above body temperature (simply stick your finger in and test!) then culture the milk using whole milk yogurt. I added about 1/4-1/2 a cup.
Let the milk and yogurt combo sit for about an hour to let the cultures do their thing and then add the lemon juice. I started with about a cup. You can experiment to see if you need more.
Then, let there be curdles! After maximum amount of curdling has taken place, you can strain them out in a cotton towel. I used a flower sack towel. You could use cheese cloth if you wish or a cotton napkin, whatever you have on hand that won't get lint or dye onto the cheese.
Then, bundle it up and hang to drain out the whey. Leftover whey can be used for a wide range of things...drinking, soup, cooking, baking bread, feeding plants (although I avoided feeding plants with the lemony whey...not sure if they'd respond well to it). The list goes on and on. I added some to soup, cooked some collard greens etc.
After about 24 hours, I cut up the ball of cheese and put them in two different salt brines to preserve them. I added sage to one and crushed red pepper flakes to another.
So, to sum up...
Tweefontein Photo: Ruthy Hladky
Super easy and fun!
XO
Enjoy!