Real Food Wednesday – Homemade Cheese
My post today for Real Food Wednesday is about how to make cheese. Go play Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
I’ve already introduced you to the cow, shown you some feed and we’ve had a look at the milking process. Since we have already covered yogurt making I thought I’d show you my attempts at cheese. My friend, Kathy, read of my milk abundance and she brought over a cheese making book and some ingredients. I was so excited. But I have never made cheese so I started out with the easy stuff.
Here’s the recipe:
1/2 gallon whole milk
1/4 lemon juice
Cheese Salt (optional)
Herbs (optional)
Because I do everything in excess I used 3 gallons of milk. I don’t suggest sextupling the recipe. It gets quite cumbersome. Then again, I managed, so go for it!! I forgot to show you that I heated the milk to 200 degrees. I also am refusing to show you the mess on my stove from when I heated the milk past 200 and it boiled over and I had milk all over the cook top, under the boiling beans and a significant puddle on the floor even.
Once the milk is warm (200 degrees, remember) you add the lemon juice. Once again I was living in the edge and I didn’t measure. Thankfully dairy is a very forgiving medium. If it doesn’t curdle at first then you come back a couple minutes later and add more lemon juice until it *does* curdle. Excuse my blurry lemon juice picture. My camera and I had a miscommunication about what was the most important part of this shot.
Several minutes later look what happened. Now we have curds and whey. Yes, just like the nursery rhyme.
These are curds. The yellow stuff is whey.
Now we set a strainer in a container in a shiny new white sink. Wait, let me back up.
Did I show you my shiny new sink? After exposing myself to your disdain of yucky sinks when I showed you how we milk the cow I feel it necessary to show you my new and improved shiny sink as well. It is very deep and holds lots of dirty dishes. Yes, I got a new faucet too. Enough oogling.
In with the curds and whey for the first straining.
Then I dump the curds in another container and place a clean piece of muslin in the strainer.
Time for the second straining.
And then I bundle it all up making sure I get all the corners and none of the yummy curds (soon to be cheese) leak out the sides.
Then I tie the cheese ball onto a cupboard handle so it can drain. It looks like I got almost 8 quarts of whey out of the deal.
Please ignore the brandy in the background. Or don’t. Everyone needs a way to relax once in awhile, ok?
About 3 hours later the cheese is ready. Look at that!! It was so easy!!
I put one big tablespoon of salt in the bowl.
Then I mix and mix and mix.
Dill is always a good choice for just about anything. And then there was much, much more mixing.
When it was all done I weighed it and 3 gallons of milk (minus the stuff that boiled over onto the stove and floor) made 2.5 pounds of cheese!!! I think that is pretty cool!!
After resting in the fridge all night this is what the yummy cheese looks like today.
It must be eaten. It must be eaten on crackers. And on toast. And with eggs.
It also must be photographed. For the public. And posterity.
Cheese is art.
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STOP!!! You’re making me drool all over the keyboard!
YUM, YUM, YUM! oooooooooh, the possibilities! my mind is racing and my mouth is watering!
I do a similar process, but in much smaller batches. I don’t heat the milk or add lemon to curdle it, but allow it to form curds and whey on its own. Very, very yummy.
I LOVE that you posted about this! I will now commence to pounding you with questions.
1) What kind of cheese does this taste like? Like a cream cheese, or mozzerella?
2) Do you wash and reuse the muslin, or is it too gooey to recover when you’re done?
3) When the milk gets to 200 do you remove it from the heat or continue to heat it while you add the lemon juice?
4) Can you relax with brandy while you make cheese or is it necessary to keep the two separate?
Thanks for posting this! I’ve thought about trying my hand at cheese making, and now I just might.
I’m super impressed! Great job!
I have a question… since you used lemon juice to separate the whey, is the whey still good to be used for whatever other things people use whey for, or is it too sour or weird? Also, since you used whole milk, does the butterfat remain with the curds or is it left off with the whey? I’ve seen cottage cheese made with skim milk, curds rinsed, then topped with cream or half and half.
Wow, that looks awesome! I’m so impressed and wish I was there to help you eat it…although I’m sure it won’t last long at your house.
Yum!!! I wish I could have milk:)
~Renee
gardendesk.com
Wow! I’m impressed! You make it look so easy too!
I am also curious about how the cheese tastes. It looks yummy!
Oh, such a nice job, Katie! This is the very first cheese I made too. The woman who had given me the milk (this was years before we had a cow) hadn’t ever made cheese….she couldn’t stop eating it and admiring it! It was cheese from HER COW’S MILK!
BTW, the whey from this type of cheese is NOT good for fermenting. It is heated past the survival point for the good bacteria. Great for baking & soup bases. But with all the milk…and all that cheese….you may end up feeding it to the pigs!
1) It tastes like mild mozzarella with lemon but has a texture between feta and cottage cheese.
2) Yes, wash and reuse. The cheese comes off pretty clean actually.
3) It was a big heavy pot so I did not move it. I just turned it off.
4) You do whatever you need to with your liquor. Who am I to tell you how to drink it?
Do try. It’s fun!!
I don’t know the answer to your questions. LOL Jeff says the whey tastes “like nothing”. The pigs enjoyed it.
Hey Katie, I want some of that cheese…does it ship well! Fabulous job!
That’s the only kind of cheese I’ve made too. Yum.
Good for you Katie!
Looks great! I wish I could taste it through the computer screen! :)
Use the whey in your yeast breads in place of water. It gives the bread a nice texture and added protein. Or, put it in your compost pile.
Katie, where did you get those wonderful looking square containers?
I know you used raw milk – will it work with pasteurized?
Ever since I saw this made on a program on the Food Network, I have been looking all over the internet to find a recipe as simple as the one I saw. This is it! And in a manageable quantity! Thanks so much for sharing this.
Katie,
Where did you purchase those wonderful square containers? Very excited to have a great cheese recipe.
Katie,
Where did you purchase those wonderful square containers? Very excited to have a great cheese recipe.