Making Basic Cheese

This past week we posted how we made Neufchatel cheese.  In addition to snacking on it, Tricia used it to make a delicious cheesecake.  Neufchatel is one of the easiest cheeses to make.  We wanted to start off simple and work on our cheese-making skills slowly.  With the whey left after the Neufchatel cheese, we made ricotta and used it in making lasagna.  With Neufchatel and ricotta out of the way, next up was making a basic cheese.

We're learning using: Cheese Making for Beginners , an online course by David B. Fankhauser Ph. D.  He's a professor of Biology & Chemistry at University of Cinncinati Clermont College.  You'd think with that pedigree, it would be difficult, but it is explained very simply.  Using Dr. Fankhauser's instructions, here is how we made our first basic cheese:

First, sterilize your pot by boiling water for 5 minutes.  Then remove the water and add one gallon of raw milk and add 3 teaspoons of buttermilk.  Stir and warm to 68 degrees.  Let this sit overnight.  In the morning, warm the milk to 86 degrees Fahrenheit and add 4 drops rennet diluted in a 1/4 cup water and pour into milk and stir.  Cover and let sit for an hour or two until it "breaks."  This is when the curds and whey separates.

Milk mixture prior to the "break"

While you are waiting for the 'break' to occur, you can get your cheese press ready.  You can buy one or you can make one.  We made one with stuff we have including a gumbo pot, a rubber bungee, a mold that we made by cutting the bottom out of a plastic tub, a circular piece of wood that just fits in the mold, some rags and a jar.


Homemade Cheese Press

Once the curds form, you cut the curds into cubes just like we did making the Neufchatel.  Now slowly heat the curds to 102 degrees Fahrenheit, stirring with your hands and breaking the pieces.  Take the pot off of the heat and allow to sit for 15 minutes.  The curds should sink and now you can pour off the whey.  We give the chickens the whey sometimes or you can make ricotta cheese from it.

Pouring off the whey

Now you can salt your curds by pouring 2 teaspoons of Kosher salt, mixing it in with your hands.



Salting the curds

Now you take the warm curds that have the whey drained off and add to your mold which is lined with a cotton cloth.



Adding the curds to your mold in the cheese press

The photo below shows all of the curds in your mold.  The mold sits on top of an inverted plate or bowl on the bottom of the pot.

Almost ready for pressing

At this point you take the circular wooden disk that is wrapped in a cloth and put over the curds in the mold.

Putting the wooden disk over the cloth-wrapped curds in the mold

Now the disk is on top of the cloth wrapped curds and we're about ready to press.

Lift up on the bungee and fit a glass jar or other object underneath, ensuring that the fit is tight as the pressure will force addition whey out of the curds.  Leave it in the press for 12 hours.



Homemade Cheese Press in action

Now we remove the mold from the cheese and remove it from the press.  In the picture below, we haven't removed the wooden circular piece from the top yet.

Removing cheese from the press

Ta da! Here is our first cheese round.  But it is not done yet.



Cheese!

We add Kosher salt to the cheese and rub on the outside. 



Salting the cheese

Wrap the cheese round in cloth.


Wrap it in cloth

Put the cloth wrapped cheese round in the fridge and each day change the cloth "bandage" from the cheese until in no longer seeps.  You should let it it sit for 2 weeks until a yellowish rind forms, then dip in melted wax and store it in the refrigerator for about a month - longer if you want sharper cheese.


Cheese curing in our 'milk' fridge.  Check out the cream on the milk in the bottle on the right!

Okay, we weren't very patient and cut the cheese after only a week.  Here is Our Maker's Acres Family Farm first basic cheese. 



A little slice of Heaven

We gobbled it up and enjoyed it.  We have another batch curing in the fridge right now.  It is so exciting to know how to make cheese and it is not that hard at all.


Family Cheese!

You really don't think about how important the cow is to the farm economy.  Milk, cream, butter, cheese, kefir...  The list goes on and on of the products Daisy and Rosie put on our table.  Everyone needs a family cow.