Cheesemaking

I started making cheese about three months ago. I have really been enjoying it. Thus far I have made a lot of fresh cheese curds, cream cheese and cheese spreads since these can be eaten and enjoyed right away. I have also made some hard cheese like guoda, chedder and parmesan but those are still aging so no tastes yet. Today I wanted to make some Feda cheese and I thought I would share the process with you all. Making cheese is very easy but takes a lot of time. It is the perfect activity for a rainy day when you will be in most the day anyway.

So I started by putting two quarts of whole milk in a stainless steel pot with a thick bottem. You an use any milk but for best results skim milk is not recommanded (also please note that many store bought organic milk is ultra-pasteurized and this milk will not work as the higher heat from the process of ultra-pastuerization (up) effetively renders the milk "dead" and it will not culture). I added four drops of calcium chloride- this gives it a firmer consistency.


Here are the other supplies you need: calcium chloride, culture starter, rennet, stainless steel spoon, cheese strainer mold, thermometer, salt. I got my culture starter and rennet on-line for fairly cheap.


Slowly heat the milk up to 86 degrees F. I do this in a sink of hot water as it is easier to control lower tempetures then the stove top. Sprinle starter culture on top and then gently stir in. Let sit at 86 degrees f for one hour. Then gently stir in rennet diluted in a cup of water. Let sit at 86 undisturbed for half an hour.


My little helper testing a blueberry muffin I made while waiting.


Then I tested the curd and sure enough it made a clean break. See the crack in the curd? It means it is set enough and ready for the next step.


So I cut the curd into small cubes. See the liquid? That is the whey starting to seperate from the curd.


I slowly heated the curds up to 95 degrees F over the next hour giving it a very gentle stir every few minutes. The trick is to heat it up very slowly to allow more whey to come out.


Then I dumped the curds into my fine holed strainer and this is what I had.


Next I left then to sit for an hour then turned the curds over. You a see it shrunk as more whey escaped from the curds. I save the whey to use in baking.


After allowing it to set for several hours I cut the curd into small cubes. This is the cheese!


I then placed the the cheese cubes into a salt brine to cure. I put it in the fridge and in a few weeks it should be ready. MMM, Greek salad sounds so good right now. And that is how I made Feta cheese today.

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