Making Cheese At Home

Are you in need for a family activity? The lost art of cheese making is making a comeback in today’s modern kitchen. This new hobby is perfect for rising cooks searching to master a new technique. It also makes for a perfect family adventure!

Some cheese, like cottage cheese, is rather simple to make but other cheeses may require complex equipment and procedures. If you’re thinking about making cheese at home you may want to start off with the easiest types of cheeses. If it would help you in your cheese making endeavors; you can buy kits and supplies that will aid in this project. You can find informational books to purchase in a local kitchen or book store. Also, check your town library for resources.

To make cottage cheese, you simply need milk, vinegar and salt. Could it be any easier? To make hard cheeses you need to have a culture of bacteria which will produce the acid which causes the curdling. In the cottage cheese recipe below, the vinegar will cause the kernel which makes this an easy way for beginners to start making cheese. As you progress in your experience you can purchase the bacteria culture to make other types of cheese.

You will need a gallon of 2% milk, vinegar and salt. Put a gallon of 2% milk in a pan and heat to 190°F. The milk should be just starting to boil. Add one half cup of vinegar to the milk and let the mixture cool. This will produce the curds that are so well-known in cottage cheese and these will be mixed in with the whey. Next, drain off the whey so that you just have the curds and you can do this by putting the whole mixture in a colander or strainer. Once you have the curds separated you can add salt – usually about a teaspoon but more if you desire. Feel free to spice up your cottage cheese by adding pepper, onions, garlic, cream and other spices to give you a flavor to your liking. Also, mix your cottage cheese with yogurt, fruits or vegetables for a healthy snack!

In order to make other types of cheese, the traditional way is to use un-pasteurized milk. However, you can rarely find milk that is not pasteurized and using un-pasteurized milk is not safe due to harmful bacteria. This is why the process of pasteurization was so important. Louis Pasteur created pasteurization. Pasteurization basically heats and kills all the organisms in the milk.

In today’s modern cheese making procedures require a starter. This would be like the same tool used in producing wine or beer. In cheese, however the starter does not serve as yeast but bacteria. The pasteurization process eliminates the bacteria from the milk so you will use the starter to effectively put this back in.

In addition to the starter you also need rennet was which is an enzyme formally gleaned from cow stomachs. It is not manufactured but probably can be purchased from the same place you found your starter.

Making your own hard cheese at home can be an involved and particular process. You can actually use any milk – cows milk, goats milk or whatever you prefer and once you become experienced you can make different flavors and types of cheese. While it may seem like a lot of work the rewards are great as this will probably be the best tasting cheese you’ve ever had! Enjoy your experience making cheese!