The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Food & crafts => Food processing => Topic started by: Polyanya on January 28, 2020, 11:18:02 am
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I have been milking my first freshner through the winter (she's stopping now) and making little goudas a couple of times a week. I love the whole dairying thing and am thinking of carrying on with cows milk from the Shetland dairy.
I'd love to know if anyone else makes cheese - what type, how often etc? :thinking:
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We weren't able to do much last year, but the year before we had got into a good routine.
It took me ages to stop trying to get precise temperatures to make specific cheeses. Eventually :idea: dawned, and I realised that all these regional cheeses arose from people just making what happened naturally in their locale. So I stopped forcing the issue and let what happened happen :)
The cheeses vary slightly depending on the weather, what the cows ate, etc. I like that!
We made a basic unpasteurised soft cheese every day as follows :
Before milking, get the saved whey out of the fridge so it's at ambient when you get back. (Ambient 18C minimum.)
2L of milk straight from the cow (filtered but otherwise untouched; still warm from the cow), plus the whey saved from yesterday (now at room temperature) into a pan, stir, leave to stand for a few minutes (while you do your other just-back-from-milking jobs, so about 20-30 mins), add rennet, stir, cover and leave.
Yesterday's pan (or this can be done in the evening of the same day, whatever suits), skim off any unset creamy stuff, pour off some whey for tomorrow's starter into sterilised jar into fridge, cut the curd, heat to 42-45C, stir gently, drain (save whey for pigs), rinse with cold water, strain.
Now cut roughly and leave to drain for a few hours.
I don't add salt but some do add cheese salt at this stage. Let it drain some more after adding salt.
Add other flavourings if required.
Leave as is for cottage-style cheese cheese or pack and press in moulds for a soft cheese tomorrow.
For the cottage-style cheese, we found that draining the curds fairly well and then stirring in a bit of unprocessed thick cream (or the unset creamy stuff off the top of the cheese if you had some and saved it) made the best approximation to a nice cottage cheese like Longleys.
The very first batch, we used the basic cheese culture from Goat Nutrition. After that we just used the whey from the day before. If we started to get odd flavours, go back to a fresh starter.
I am hoping that now we are up to full strength, we can start to make some semi-hard cheeses too - maybe get something akin to a Sharpham Rustic.
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Then we make a quick and easy "squeaky cheese", can be used like halloumi so makes a great veggie option, but is a fraction of the work of a pukka halloumi.
We tend to use skimmed milk as the cream gets lost in the processing anyway.
Heat milk to nearly boiling.
Heat off, add white vinegar, or lemon juice, or an acid of your choice. Add 1tbsp at a time, and stir, until you get curds forming, like scrambled eggs. (Pic attached)
Strain and wash (whey to pigs).
Hang in muslin / cheesecloth. Catch whey for pigs. At a point before it starts to get solid, but when the whey dripping has slowed, add flavourings if you want.
When stopped dripping, or nearly (may be the next day), squeeze it hard into a solid mass. Form whatever shape suits you for cutting.
Can be frozen.
Can be cut up and stored in flavoured oil, or brine.
Cooks like halloumi. We usually sprinkle with herbs and pepper before frying, or throw cubes on top of halved cherry tomatoes and sliced onions then cook in oven.
We basically make this as a milk storage option when we are not keeping up with Hillie's output! It reduces the volume massively (like about 4-fold), it stores in oil, brine or the freezer, and everyone loves it :)
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Does the Shetland Dairy homogenise their milk? I guess that will change the outcome, but I don't know in what way.
How were you making your gouda style cheese?
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Favourite is Belper Knolle, best soft cheese ever - and it can be made in short bursts over several days.
https://cheesemaking.com/collections/recipes/products/belper-knolle-recipe
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Your squeaky cheese sounds like paneer, Sally. That's our easy go-to cheese, and makes a lovely mattar paneer.
We've tried all sorts - paneer, camembert, gouda, cheddar, cheshire etc. With varying degrees of success, but like Sally says it's weather / temperature / cow dependent and that's part of the fun.
In 2018 I made more cheddar than anything - Blizzard had a dead calf so she was getting milked twice a day yielding up to 20 litres per day. I've settled on ageing hard cheeses in vac-packs. Have tried lard and bandages, and wax, but vac pack has produced the best results - I think the size of cheese we can make in our wee press is too small for traditional bandaging - it just dries out too much.
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Your squeaky cheese sounds like paneer, Sally. That's our easy go-to cheese, and makes a lovely mattar paneer.
Oh, I'm glad; we actually call it paneer but i wasn't sure if it was authentic, so didn't refer to it thus in my post :)
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We have been making various cheeses from unpasteurised goat milk. The milkers are all pregnant now so nothing doing at present.
I had a few attempts at making cheddar which was edible but a bit sharp - I'm not sure why! We only had 4 milkers last year so it took us a few days to get enough milk for a small (1kg) cheddar. Ricotta made from the whey was always successful and it made a nice Polish baked cheesecake - I liked it but it was a bit too goaty for others!
I made some mozzarella once - stretched it too much so it was a bit firm.
Haloumi was probably the most successful - this was the proper, boiled in the whey, type which was firm, squeaky, kept well and fried up nicely.
I'm looking forward to making cheese again, later this year, once the kids are born and weaned.
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In 2018 I made more cheddar than anything - Blizzard had a dead calf so she was getting milked twice a day yielding up to 20 litres per day. I've settled on ageing hard cheeses in vac-packs. Have tried lard and bandages, and wax, but vac pack has produced the best results - I think the size of cheese we can make in our wee press is too small for traditional bandaging - it just dries out too much.
Yes I find using wax coatings doesn't always produce great results either, my batch size for hard cheeses is normally 10 to 12 ltrs.
Dan - which vacuum packer did you buy and how easy is it to get additional bags?
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Lovely to read this thread - but my time expired whilst I was writing a long response this morning (had to go and check if some lambs had jumped a fence) so when I came back to writing it had logged me out :rant:
Sally your recipes sound good - the gouda I make is this one https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/recipe/cheese-recipes/gouda-cheese/ (https://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/recipe/cheese-recipes/gouda-cheese/)
and I have a lovely little gouda shaped mould that I got from Goat nutrition on ebay. The milk in Shetland is pasturised, I can't buy raw milk in Scotland but I'd be happier buying commercial milk from Shetland than anywhere else. I've also made squeeky cheese (paneer) just like yours and make tons of chevre.
Anke just looked at the Belper Knolle - it looks amazing - have you made some?
Dan do you use a cheese cave at all like a wine chiller or something? I haven't got one yet so am just using a large tupperware in the fridge. Would like to try using beeswax to dip cheeses into.
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I think pasteurising will affect the flavour but not disastrously so. Homogenising, however, will affect the chemistry, so could change the texture and all sorts. Mind, you maybe would lose less of the fat and wouldn't need to top-stir!
Anyone tried using shop-bought homogenised milk?
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Thanks for the link, Polyanya. I feel some experiments coming on later this year... :excited:
You say you make "tons of Chevre", which suggests it's a fairly straightforward recipe? Care to share that one? (Remember to copy and paste your text into a note or something so you don't get timed out! ;))
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Yes I find using wax coatings doesn't always produce great results either, my batch size for hard cheeses is normally 10 to 12 ltrs.
Same here, and we get about a 10-12% yield with cheddar, so about 1.5kg cheeses.
Dan - which vacuum packer did you buy and how easy is it to get additional bags?
We got this one about 4 years ago and it's still working well:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-James-Function-Reusable-Domestic/dp/B00JB9K4RA (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-James-Function-Reusable-Domestic/dp/B00JB9K4RA)
I use it for curing bacon and ham too, much more reliable and less work than traditional dry or wet curing.
The plastic comes on a roll, and Lidl sell it very cheaply from time to time. Just have to check the width - I bought a very narrow roll once and it wasn't very useful! And we try to re-use the plastic - have found sterilising and drying thoroughly that it does reseal effectively, at least once or twice.
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Lovely to read this thread - but my time expired whilst I was writing a long response this morning (had to go and check if some lambs had jumped a fence) so when I came back to writing it had logged me out :rant:
Quick tip on this - when you log in, tick the 'Always stay logged in' box, and this won't happen. The forum has a default of 60 minutes, you can also change this when you log in.
Dan do you use a cheese cave at all like a wine chiller or something? I haven't got one yet so am just using a large tupperware in the fridge. Would like to try using beeswax to dip cheeses into.
We've got an old fridge as a cheese cave, with a temperature controller on it. The fridge comes on when the temperature gets above a certain level. It's this one:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Temperature-Controller-All-purpose-Thermostat-Calibration/dp/B00KYL3W32 (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Temperature-Controller-All-purpose-Thermostat-Calibration/dp/B00KYL3W32)
Very easy to install and setup.
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Yes I find using wax coatings doesn't always produce great results either, my batch size for hard cheeses is normally 10 to 12 ltrs.
Same here, and we get about a 10-12% yield with cheddar, so about 1.5kg cheeses.
Dan - which vacuum packer did you buy and how easy is it to get additional bags?
We got this one about 4 years ago and it's still working well:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-James-Function-Reusable-Domestic/dp/B00JB9K4RA (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Andrew-James-Function-Reusable-Domestic/dp/B00JB9K4RA)
I use it for curing bacon and ham too, much more reliable and less work than traditional dry or wet curing.
The plastic comes on a roll, and Lidl sell it very cheaply from time to time. Just have to check the width - I bought a very narrow roll once and it wasn't very useful! And we try to re-use the plastic - have found sterilising and drying thoroughly that it does reseal effectively, at least once or twice.
Thank you, I will investigate.
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Yep I realised I hadn't changed my log-in time from the default 60 mins - I have now :thumbsup:
Sally
I've tried quite a few chevre recipes but the best one so far is:-
In the morning bring 1ltr milk (scale up or down to suit the milk volume) up to a temp of 82c (thats just about coming to boil), remove from heat let cool to 42c.
Add starter (I just use between 1 and 3 tbls live organic yogurt depending on milk quantity), stir well and leave to settle for a few minutes and then add rennet (I just add a dissolved quarter tab of Bio-ren), leave for 24hrs.
Next morning cut the curd and line colander with cheesecloth (all sterilised of course), ladle curds gently into colander, lifting corners of cloth and hanging to drain for 24hrs.
Next day empty into bowl and add 1/2 to 1 tsp salt to taste. Pile into a clean cheesecloth and gently roll into log shape and this next process is what has made the cheese the best chevre in my opinion. In a tupperware lay several layers of kitchen roll and then the log of cheese still covered with the cloth. Leave in fridge till the next day and repeat the process of changing the layers of kitchen roll plus changing the cloth to a fresh dry one, next day repeat that process. Next day the chevre should be stiff enough to be shaped into proper log or put loose into container. I have rolled logs in toasted oatmeal or fresh herbs with minced garlic and lemon zest or just rolled in black pepper - I've yet to try ash.
I hope you try it - it is lovely :yum:
Dan - I have thought about converting a fridge but as I just won't have the volume of milk that you have from cows I think I'll go for something a bit smaller, thanks for the link ;)
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Hi all,
A very well timed post.
I am in bed with chest infection and had pulled out my How to make cheese naturally book which has so far just sat on the shelf.
Explains a lot about using your own culture (as per SallyInTheNorth) rather than pasteurising to remove the natural microbes only then to add in a single microbe to do a 'mono culture' job.
Anyway, I'm inspired by your posts so will drag myself out of bed to try a paneer, or 'squeaky cheese', then get myself some rennet ordered so I can be more adventurous.
I have for some time been trying to source raw goats milk, which seems to be rarer than gold around these parts, I shall persevere, but until then will make do with unhomogenised cows milk.
Good luck cheese makers.
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Yep I realised I hadn't changed my log-in time from the default 60 mins - I have now :thumbsup:
Sally
I've tried quite a few chevre recipes but the best one so far is:-
In the morning bring 1ltr milk (scale up or down to suit the milk volume) up to a temp of 82c (thats just about coming to boil), remove from heat let cool to 42c.
Add starter (I just use between 1 and 3 tbls live organic yogurt depending on milk quantity), stir well and leave to settle for a few minutes and then add rennet (I just add a dissolved quarter tab of Bio-ren), leave for 24hrs.
Next morning cut the curd and line colander with cheesecloth (all sterilised of course), ladle curds gently into colander, lifting corners of cloth and hanging to drain for 24hrs.
Next day empty into bowl and add 1/2 to 1 tsp salt to taste. Pile into a clean cheesecloth and gently roll into log shape and this next process is what has made the cheese the best chevre in my opinion. In a tupperware lay several layers of kitchen roll and then the log of cheese still covered with the cloth. Leave in fridge till the next day and repeat the process of changing the layers of kitchen roll plus changing the cloth to a fresh dry one, next day repeat that process. Next day the chevre should be stiff enough to be shaped into proper log or put loose into container. I have rolled logs in toasted oatmeal or fresh herbs with minced garlic and lemon zest or just rolled in black pepper - I've yet to try ash.
I hope you try it - it is lovely :yum:
Dan - I have thought about converting a fridge but as I just won't have the volume of milk that you have from cows I think I'll go for something a bit smaller, thanks for the link ;)
:bookmark: chevre recipe
I shall certainly try that Polyanya, it is just a few more simple steps for our daily cheese :)
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Hi all,
Explains a lot about using your own culture (as per SallyInTheNorth) rather than pasteurising to remove the natural microbes only then to add in a single microbe to do a 'mono culture' job.
On the cheesemakers facebook pages there are regular posts of people failing badly with unpasteurised milk for acid coagulated soft cheeses (like the one Polyanya described, which is the same method I use for the Belpers) - the issue being yeast contamination. The curd blows... loads of bubbles and it will have a yeasty taste. I have had this problem before, and the cause is usually not contamination of the kitchen/cheese room environment, but a slight touch of (subclinical) mastitis in the goat/cow - and you can ruin a few litres of milk really quickly. So I would recommend - esp while you have to buy in milk - to pasteurise for soft cheeses. Just safer...
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Thanks Anke, will take this into consideration. Nothing more likely to turn off beginner then early failures!
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Get well soon Brigsy and get some rennet! Glad you're going to try the recipe Sally, I'd love to hear how you get on. Anke I feel I'm lucky to have access to my own goats milk as I know exactly how I process the milk from teat to mouth as it were - that said I haven't experienced mastitis in my goats milk and short of sending the milk away for testing I'm confident mine haven't suffered with it as I do all the pre-checks I feel are necessary for me. Must admit I thought the yeast 'bubbles' were from poor hygiene so thats worth knowing at least.
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Must admit I thought the yeast 'bubbles' were from poor hygiene so thats worth knowing at least.
Yes poor hygiene of course also can lead to yeast contamination, but if you are sure all of your utensils are clean and you haven't changed your milking routine, it is probably a slight touch of mastitis. You can do the washing up liquid test for subclinical mastitis - a few drops of Ecover into some milk, swirl it round or stir with your fingers, if it all goes gungy/slimey (for want of a better word) you have some mastitis, if it only goes foamy then all is fine. It does happen, esp in early lactation, until the goat settles into milking..., often just a stress thing.
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Fingers crossed my girls never get it then :fc: