Make Cheese

Making your own cheese is a lengthy but rewarding process. There are basically five steps for making cheese of any kind - heating, curdling, draining, pressing, and refrigerating. If you'd like to know how to make a variety of cheeses using these methods, just follow these steps.

Ingredients

Farm Cheese

  • 1 gallon not ultra-pasteurized milk
  • 1/2 cup white vinegar
  • 2 tsp. very fine sea salt

Cheddar Cheese

  • 2 gallons cow milk
  • 1 packet direct set mesophilic culture or 1/8 t. bulk mesophilic culture
  • ¼ tablet vegetable rennet, dissolved in ½ cup cool water
  • 2 tbsp. sea salt

Gouda Cheese

  • 7 liters full cream milk
  • 200 ml. of fresh milk
  • 2 ml. calcium chloride dissolved in ¼ cup cool water
  • 1/2 tsp. MM100 Mesophilic culture
  • 3-5 drops of Annatto
  • 2 ml. Rennet dissolved in ¼ cup cooled boiled water
  • 300 g. salt
  • Water
  • 1 kg. hard cheese basket

Steps

Farm Cheese

  1. Line a colander with a double layer of cheesecloth.[1]
  2. Pour 1 gallon of milk into a large kettle. The milk should not be ultrapasteurized and the kettle should have a heavy bottom.
  3. Bring the milk to boil over medium heat. Stir it frequently to keep it from scorching.
  4. Reduce the heat to low and stir in 1/2 cup of white vinegar. Do this as soon as the milk boils. The milk should separate into curds and whey at this point. If it doesn't then add more vinegar, one tablespoon at a time, until you see the milk solids turn into curds that swim in the thin greenish blue whey.
  5. Pour the curds and whey into the lined colander.
  6. Rinse them with cool water and sprinkle the curds with 2 tsp. of very fine sea salt.
  7. Tie up the cheesecloth. Press it a bit with your hands to get rid of the excess whey.
  8. Hang the cheesecloth for 1-2 hours.
  9. Open it up and chop it coarsely.
  10. Serve. Enjoy this tasty farm cheese right away or store it in the fridge for up to a week.

Cheddar Cheese

  1. Combine the milk and mesophilic culture. Heat 2 gallons of cow milk to 29.5°C (85°F) in a large pot, stirring frequently. When the milk reaches the desired temperature, add either 1 packet of direct set mesophilic culture or 1/8 t. bulk mesophilic culture to the milk, stir the culture and milk together, and cover it, allowing it to ferment for 1 hour. Stir the ingredients to homogenize the milk.[2]
  2. Add the rennet to the milk. Add ¼ tablet vegetable rennet dissolved in ½ cup cool water to the mixture. Stir up and down to ensure that the rennet and milk combine thoroughly to make the most cheese. Let the cheese set for 1 hour, or until the whey starts to separate from the curd. There should be a layer of mostly-clear whey that floats to the top of the crud as the curd pulls away from the sides of the pot.
  3. Cut the curd. Use a knife to cut the curds into 1/4-inch cubes. Allow the cubes to set for 5 minutes to solidify their shape. Do not stir the curd.
  4. Heat the curd. Slowly heat the curds to 29.5°C (100°F) over the course of 30 minutes. Stir the curds frequently. They will shrink as you stir them. Once they reach the desired temperature, maintain the temperature and keep stirring the curds for another 30 minutes. Then, stop stirring and let the curds settle to the bottom of the pot, which should take about 20 minutes.
  5. Pour the curds into a colander. Return the colander and curds to the cheese pot and let it drain for 15 minutes. Then, take the colander out of the pot and turn the curds out on a cutting board. This should have made gelatinous mass. Pour the whey out of the pot and cut the mass into five slices. Then, return it to the pot and cover the pot.
  6. Place the curds into a basin or sink full of 39°C (102°F) water. Keep their temperature at around 29.5°C (100°F) and turn the slices every 15 minutes for the next 2 hours. This is the cheddaring process that will make the cheese distinct from other cheeses. After this time elapses, the curds should be shiny and firm. Remove the curds from the pot and cut them into {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} cubes.
  7. Return the curds to the pot. Cover them and place the pot in the sink filled with hot water. Let them sit there for ten minutes and then stir the curds gently with a wooden spoon. Repeat this process two more times. Take the pot out of the sink and add 2 tbsp. of sea salt to the pot, stirring once more to combine the ingredients.
  8. Press the cheese. Line your cheese press with cheesecloth and place the curds into the press. Wrap the cloth around the cheese and press it at 10 lbs. for 15 minutes. Flip the cheese and cover it with a fresh piece of cheesecloth and press it at 50 lbs. for 24 hours.
  9. Dry the cheese. Remove the cheese from the press and let it dry in the air for 2-3 days. When it's finished, it should be smooth and dry to the touch.
  10. Wax the cheese. Melt the cheese wax and coat the cheese with it using a wax brush. Age the cheese at 13-15°C (55-60°F) for at least 60 days.
  11. Serve. Enjoy this tasty cheese on its own or with a variety of tasty breads and meats.

Gouda Cheese

  1. Prepare the starter. To prepare a MM100 Mesophilic Culture starter, boil and then cool 200 ml. of fresh milk, add 1/2 tsp. of the Culture and stir the ingredients together well. Then, store the starter at 25-30°C (77-86°F) until it thickens for 12-24 hours. You need to do this before you make the Gouda cheese.[3]
  2. Prepare the milk. To prepare the milk, heat it to 32°C (90°F) and add the calcium chloride solution. This solution is made up of 2 ml. of calcium chloride dissolved in 1/4 cup of cool water (only add the cool water if you're using homogenized milk.) Then, add the prepared starter to the ingredients. Cover the ingredients and allow them to ripen for 10 minutes.
  3. Dilute 3-5 drops of Annatto in 20 ml. of cooled boiled water. The Annatto will give the Gouda cheese its yellow coloring.
  4. Add the Annatto mixture to the ripened milk. Stir the Annatto through the milk until the color is consistent.
  5. Stir the diluted Rennet up and down for 1 minute. Cover it and allow it to set for 60 minutes or until you get a clean break. To test for a clean break, slide your knife into the curd at an angle and lift some curd on the side of the blade. If the curd breaks cleanly around the knife and the whey runs into the crack that you've made, then the curds are ready to cut and you've made a clean break.
  6. Cut the curds. To cut the curds, use a long knife to cut vertically across the curd one way, and then cut it again perpendicularly to the first cuts. Insert your knife at an angle to make horizontal cuts. Cut these curds into 13 mm. cubes. Let the cubes stand for 10 minutes to set.
  7. Drain the whey. You should drain off about 1/3 of the whey to drain it to the level of the curds. To do this, stir continuously while adding just enough 80°C water to raise the temperature of the curds to 34°C. After you've done this, allow the curds to settle for 10 more minutes.
  8. Drain the whey to the level of the curds. To do this, stir continuously while adding just enough 80°C water to raise the temperature of the curds to 34°C (93°F). Keep this temperature steady for 15 minutes and continue to stir. Let the curds set for 30 minutes. Then, pour off the remaining whey.
  9. Line the cheese basket with cheesecloth.
  10. Fill the cheese basket with the warm curds. Quickly place them in the basket, taking care to break them as little as possible. Press the cheese at 9 kg. for 20 minutes.
  11. Redress the cheese. To do this, take the cheese out of the basket, carefully peeling away the cheesecloth. Turn the cheese over, dress it again, and press it with 18 kg. for 20 minutes.
  12. Press the cheese again. Repeat the process, pressing the cheese with 22 kg. for 12-16 hours this time.
  13. Brine the cheese. To brine the cheese, you must first make a brine solution, which should consist of 300 g. of salt and 800 m. of water. Remove the pressed cheese from the basket, peel away the cheesecloth, and soak it in brine for 12 hours in the fridge.
  14. Air dry the cheese. To air dry the cheese, simply remove the cheese from the brine and pat it dry. Air-dry it for 3 weeks at 10°C (50°F) to complete the process.
  15. Wax the cheese. Melt the cheese wax using a waxing brush, and coat the cheese thoroughly.
  16. Age the cheese. Age the cheese at 10°C (50°F) for 3-4 months, turning it 3-4 times a week.
  17. Serve. When the cheese is ready, enjoy it on its own, or with a tasty met or bread.

Other Cheeses

  1. Make Mozzarella Cheese Make this tasty cheese and enjoy it on its own or in a pizza or a variety of salads or sandwiches.
  2. Make Goat Cheese Make this cheese using chevre culture powder, goat's milk, and a variety of other ingredients.
  3. Make ricotta cheese. Make this cheese with the leftover whey from making cheese and use it for a variety of pasta or lasagna dishes.
  4. Make feta cheese. Make this delicious cheese using goat's milk, yogurt, and a variety of other ingredients.

Warnings

  • As with all cheese, it will spoil if you leave it out too long or keep it for too long.

Things You'll Need

  • Cheese wax
  • cheesecloth
  • Waxing brush
  • Cheese press

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://nourishedkitchen.com/farm-cheese-recipe/
  2. ↑ http://www.culturesforhealth.com/how-to-make-cheddar-cheese-recipe
  3. ↑ http://www.countrybrewer.com.au/pages/how-to-make-Gouda-cheese.html

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