The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Food & crafts => Food processing => Topic started by: northfifeduckling on June 19, 2009, 01:47:10 pm
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After watching River Cottage the other night I feel inspired to give simple cheesemaking a go. I know that in India they add lemon juice to get the milk to curdle, what's the benefit of rennet? Has anyone tried both? :&>
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For a vegetarian, lemon juice would be the method used.
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We tried this when we first started making cheese. The Lemon juice did not give a very firm set to the curd so we got rennet which was much better. You can buy small bottles of rennet (animal or vegetarian) from Goat Nutrition who will mail order. For best results you also need a starter (bacteria) which you can get from the same source. We make up the sachet of starter with a litre of milk then freeze it in ice cube bags. Just pop a couple of cubes in to the pasteurized milk. If you want to make it regularly, the investment in Katie Thear's book is worthwhile. We now make all our own hard cheese, soft cheese and camembert at home.
Hope this helps.
Dave
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Wow you can make hard cheese at home, do you mean like the square block of mild and mature like you buy in supermarkets, if so, i would love the recipe for it.
Donny
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Me too. I've tried crowdie and that was very very tasty!
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Meeeee Tooo
I would love to make cheese and butter, but am a complete novice! ???
Haven't looked in my books yet - too busy, but have all HFW books, and John Seymours and so will look after next week - but any info or pointers will be gratefully received -
I have been asked if I would make a marscapone or Mozarella as we have a cheese specialist who wants us to get into providing it for him - is it possible to make these cheeses at home??? ???
We are already thinking it might be a good way forward as I eat loadsa cheese. ;D ;D ;D
Julie
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Hi
We have tried a few times to make hard cheese with the milk from our jersey cow but it just keeps going wrong, tastes and smells horrid. We use rennet and a starter and the recipe from John Seymour - does anyone know any better recipes or have any suggestions?
Thanks
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The way we do it is:-
Take 9 litres of milk and place in a pan. Heat it to 66 degree Centigrade and hold at that temp for 30 mins. Place the pan in cold water in a sink/bath to cool quickly to 29.C. Remove from the water and add about 5 tablespoons of starter. Stir in well and keep warm for 30 mins. Correct the temp to 30.C. Dilute 4ml rennet in the same amount of cooled boiled water, add to the milk and stir very well. Top stir for a few minutes ( just trail the tips of your fingers through the surface of the milk) this stops the cream rising and being lost in the whey. Cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place till the curd sets (about 45 mins). When the curd is firm cut it with a long bladed knife, both ways vertically and then diagonally to cut into cubes. Aim to make the cubes about 20mm or so, it's not critical. Now place the pan on a gentle heat source (we use the smallest gas ring set to minimum) and stir the curds with your hand gently. The idea is to keep them moving without breaking them up too much. Stir for 40 mins (yes, I know, it sounds ages) and during that time raise the temp to 45.C. When the temp is reached and time is up, turn off the heat and stir quickly for a few seconds then allow to settle for about 15 mins.
You should now have a lump of curd in the bottom of the pan and a lot of whey. Ladle or drain off the whey into a bucket and give it to your pigs (but don't tell DEFRA!). Take the lump of curd and cut it into slice about 20mm thick and stack them up wrapped in a piece of muslin on a tray to drain. (slope the tray so the whey runs off). After 15 mins re-stack in a different order and wrap up again. Then after another 15 mins repeat. The curd should now be drained enough and if you break it, it should look a little like cooked chicken breast.
Now break the curd into cherry sized pieces and sprinkle on 2 dessertspoons of salt. Mix well in and then line the mould of your cheese press with clean damp muslin. Pack the salted curd into the mould, fold the cloth over the top and put on a follower. Press very lightly for 1 hour, increase pressure to about 1/2 the maximum and leave another hour then increase to maximum. Leave 24 hours. Take the cheese out of the mould rinse the cloth and replace it in the mould the other way up. Press for 24 hours. Remove from the mould and remove the cloth. dip the cheese in hot water at 66 degrees for 1 minute then place on a cheese mat to form a skin (rind).
After 12 hours or so melt some cheese wax over boiling water and dip the cheese in it to cover and seal it. We find it pays to dip it twice to get a good covering. Put it away at about 12 degrees C for at least 3 months, 6 is better.
12 degrees.C is not easy to acheive in summer so we use an old fridge set to minimum and plugged in through a time so it only come on for an hour 4 time a day. This seems to work.
We have only done this with Goats milk as the cow only calved a week ago, but is works consistantly.
If you are tempted to try your cheese before 3 months you'll find it pretty mild and tasteless. After6 or 7 months, when you bite it, it bites back!
Give it a go, it sounds harder than it is.
Dave
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Wow, thankyou so much for that, do you have details of where you get your rennet and starter?
Also what is the difference in taste of cheese made with either goats milk or cow milk, i know the taste of the milk differs so would expect the cheese to aswell.
Many Thanks
Donny
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Thank you for that recipe crofter - will try it sometime soon
Julie
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Rennet, starters and all kinds of equipment can be delivered from:
http://www.smallholdersupplies.co.uk
http://www.cheesemaking.co.uk
And I think, Ascott smallholding
(Sorry, not hyperlinks, it wont play today!)
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Hi northfifeduckling
To make most cheese you usually need two things to add to the milk.
Rennet - this is an enzyme that comes from the lining of a calf's stomach (you can get vegan rennet too). This causes the proteins in the milk to knit together (curdle) forming curds and whey.
Acid - this can come from things such as vinegar or lemon juice. But normally this comes form a 'starter' bacteria that is added to the milk. The bacteria digest the lactose (sugar) in the milk and turn it into lactic acid. The acid helps with the curdling and also helps develop the flavours of the cheese. Different starter bacteria can give slightly different flavours.
There are some cheeses that only use rennet (haloumi) and some that only use acid ricotta. you'll find that most cheeses use both.
A really good website for cheese making is www.cheeseforum.org. It has a great forum on cheese and lots of ideas for the beginner.
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by the way, if you are starting out making cheese I'd go for something simple and that you can eat straight away. Cheddar and the like are great but probably not for a first timer. Try mascarpone or ricotta first.
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Sorry I have not had time to read all the mail on this subject an apologies if someone has already suggested this (read AS at work). I tried making cheese at home. The first one was very successful. The starter was fresh and I sterilized all my equipment with winemaking sterilizer. The next one was not so successful. Forgot to sterilize stuff and the starter was from the freezer. I used an ice cube tray. Someone has suggested icecube bags. I think this is essential to keep the starter useable. Unfortunately, I don't have a supply of millk so had to buy my milk in from Tesco. I also used double cream from Tesco to make a cream cheese, very nice. :cat: :chook:
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Thanks for all the suggestions! So far I've not been successful in finding a diary farm locally, the first hurdle! They all seem to have given up over the last years. I am determined to find one, as I don't see the point in doing it with supermarket milk. :&>
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Unfortunately all the farmers around me are in a co-operative and so are not allowed to sell milk to individuals. Also they have to make sure it is pastuerised before selling it on. Can't sell raw milk. :cat: :chook:
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you wonder how the French make unpastuerized cheese and why milk straight from the cow is sold in HEALTH FOOD SHOPS in Germany. I used to go to the farmer as a child and have my bottles filled (and I'm not that old!!), we then boiled it up at home. Maybe I'll find a smallholder with goats, that would do me just fine ;D
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I followed Richard Mabeys recipe from "The Full English Cassoulet" for Corsican Curd cheese, it recommended Lemon juice as the curdler, but I found this to only curdle a little, so I used white wine vinegar, using enough until I'd separated the curd from the whey, I have also tried cider vinegar too but I thought the overall taste was better with the white wine vinegar, I washed the cheese gently afterwards whilst it drained to wash off any strong taste.
Hope it works well for you too.
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you wonder how the French make unpastuerized cheese and why milk straight from the cow is sold in HEALTH FOOD SHOPS in Germany. I used to go to the farmer as a child and have my bottles filled (and I'm not that old!!), we then boiled it up at home. Maybe I'll find a smallholder with goats, that would do me just fine ;D
Beth and her Mum? Balingall!