The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Food & crafts => Food processing => Topic started by: Bionic on August 11, 2016, 12:17:28 pm
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My last attempt at making cheese was a complete disaster and it all went in the bin.
The pain of my failure is disappearing so I have decided to give it another go.
Apart from milk and rennet what are the essentials I need for making a cheddar type cheese?
Can someone also advise if it makes any difference to use liquid rennet or tablet form
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Hi Bionic
What recipe are you using? For a typical cheddar you will need a cheddar starter. Most cheddars use a mesophilic culture which is added to milk heated to 30 Celcius, this cannot stand higher temps. If you use thermophilic culture it can go in over 30 Celcius up to 60 I think. The culture is essentially there to provide the cheese with essential bacteria which helps it to age better, we use mesophilic starter. You can get these from dairy/cheese equipment suppliers in packets which you can either measure out and put in sealable bags in the freezer or buy in small amounts and store, always in the freezer. If you measure it out from big packets then vacume seal the bags and put straight back in the freezer. You can either use liquid or tablet form it doesn't matter, a lot of home cheesemakers use tablet form, personally I prefer using the liquid form. Hope this helps and all the best with the next lot. This is a recipe I am attempting to follow for small amounts
http://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/recipe/cheese-recipes/cheddar-cheese-recipe/ (http://www.culturesforhealth.com/learn/recipe/cheese-recipes/cheddar-cheese-recipe/)
Otherwise I would have to seriously divide my own cheddar recipe into smaller numbers, I usually used to make 200ltrs of the stuff, so immagine trying to divide that into smaller batches for homemade stuff instead, it would take forever! :roflanim:
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I haven't picked out a recipe yet but the one you sent does look good. Thanks
Need to do a bit more investigating on the necessities before I place some orders for bits and pieces.
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Sally, Cheddar is one of the more complex recipes. How about starting with simpler cheeses and working up to Cheddar?
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Sally, Cheddar is one of the more complex recipes. How about starting with simpler cheeses and working up to Cheddar?
What would be easier? I am ok with cream cheese or brie type cheeses but hate any goats cheese
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here is something which might be interesting to try.....
https://bitofearthfarm.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/make-the-easiest-homemade-cheese/
I always found cheddar very easy to make, but you will need heavy weights or a cheese press.
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Hi sally
Cheese making is one of the topics suggested for our new smallholder group (keep first Wed eve of month free!) .... guess who used to teach it at college many moons ago! We used same rennet for soft and hard cheese.
What went wrong with last batch?
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Sally, Cheddar is one of the more complex recipes. How about starting with simpler cheeses and working up to Cheddar?
What would be easier? I am ok with cream cheese or brie type cheeses but hate any goats cheese
Sounds like you've got local expertise in Linda! But I'd start with a simple acid (curd) cheese, then a Camembert type, then a semi-hard. Not sure I'd really bother with cheddaring for a home cheese, although I have done it and enjoyed it, and you can't get quite that texture any other way. (Though they don't cheddar when they make the block 'Cheddar' cheese, which knocked me for 6 when I found out!)
I found the Rita Ash book (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Self-sufficiency-Cheesemaking-Rita-Ash/dp/1847734618) to be very understandable and easy to follow.
I was hoping [member=1]Dan[/member] might pop in; the cheeses he's been making looked wonderful.
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I was hoping [member=1]Dan[/member] might pop in; the cheeses he's been making looked wonderful.
He will, I'm sure. We tried the Caerphilly tonight - wee bit dry but very tasty and a nice rind :thumbsup:
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Hi sally
Cheese making is one of the topics suggested for our new smallholder group (keep first Wed eve of month free!) .... guess who used to teach it at college many moons ago! We used same rennet for soft and hard cheese.
What went wrong with last batch?
It was a fair while back so I can't quite remember what happened. I just remember it all went in the bin.
Will you be back for the first Wed in Sept?
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I'm back from Africa but am in London for work. Annette n Emma are doing something that eve at Cwmdu.
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Rennet (whether liquid or tablet make sure it's in date and has been stored at the right temperature) and optionally a starter culture, plus if you're using pasteurised, homogenised milk you'll need calcium chloride to get a decent firm curd.
For equipment, at a minimum: a decent digital thermometer, cheese mats (expensive but last forever), hoops if you want to make cheeses like Camembert. A double-boiler or bains marie can be useful so you have good temperature control. Cheese cloth. A press if you want to make harder cheeses.
Based on my experience I'd suggest starting with soft cheeses - fresh cheeses you can eat right away like Paneer or Queso Fresco, or bloomy rind cheeses like Camembert, which you can eat within a few weeks, or cream cheese which you can flavour with all sorts of things. That way you learn the basic steps (which are the same for many cheeses up to curd set) and have immediate results you can taste and enjoy.
I like cheesemaking.com a lot, sign-up for their emails and you'll get 2 volumes of their recipe book emailed as a PDF. I used their Camembert recipe and the results were really good:
http://www.cheesemaking.com/Camembert.html (http://www.cheesemaking.com/Camembert.html)
The downside of pressed cheeses is the amount of extra equipment you need for consistent results. And for cheddar the length of time you have to wait before knowing if it's a success (months), assuming everything goes well up to the point of ageing. You also need the right environment to age it in.
Re starter cultures - although the recipes will tell you to use this or that starter, I've used Flora Danica for all my cheeses to date, adding penicillium candidum for the Camembert to develop the right rind mould. As long as it's the right type of culture (mesophilic vs thermophilic) you'll be fine - maybe not the *exact* same as you're used to, but that's half the fun of doing it yourself.
They are expensive, but you can make them up and freeze them - I use ice cube trays, then turn them out into tubs. Should be good for up to 12 months.
HTH, I've loved making cheese this year and plan to continue with shop-bought milk now we've stopped milking.
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Dan, thanks for all the info. I have been impressed by the pics of your cheese I had seen recently.
There is definitely a lot to this though and yes, seems like I need to start with a soft cheese.
Let the fun begin......
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Good luck - keep us posted! :thumbsup:
(and bless you all :roflanim:)
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Don't hold your breath t won't be for a while yet
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I hope that it works out for you [member=8989]Bionic[/member] I made fresh cheese once, complete disaster. However I am thinking of trying again.....
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What shop bought milk would you recommend Dan?
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What shop bought milk would you recommend Dan?
For decent cheese you need a decent butterfat content. 'Whole' milk in the supermarket has to have a minimum fat content of 3.5%, which will make acceptable cheese but nothing special.
Channel Island milk has a fat content around 5%, but it's more expensive. It'll make creamier and more yellow cheese. We just saw it in Asda at £1 per litre.
From my limited experience you'll get about a 10% yield, so a 1kg Cheddar will cost £10 in Channel Island milk, which isn't bad - about the same cost as generic label mature cheddar in the supermarket.
Useful yield table here: http://cheeseforum.org/articles/wiki-milk-cheese-yield/ (http://cheeseforum.org/articles/wiki-milk-cheese-yield/)
A long-winded way of saying I'll probably use a mix of whole milk and Channel Island milk. :D
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Interesting! What's special about Channel Island milk then, and where do you buy it from?
Do Jersey cows give a higher cream %?
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Interesting! What's special about Channel Island milk then, and where do you buy it from?
Do Jersey cows give a higher cream %?
According to stats guersey cattle give a butterfat % of 5, whereas in the US they only give 4%. Could be to do with the fact the guersey cattle over here give A2 Milk whereas the ones in America are A1, could be a factor? Jersey milk on the other hand is 4.9 %. Have a read of this, quite conflicting info though
http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/dairy_cow_breeds.html (http://www.raw-milk-facts.com/dairy_cow_breeds.html)
The best milks for cheesemaking are buffalo and sheep though, as buffalo having 8% butterfat gives a lot of cheese, the more butterfat the more cheese you will have. Again with sheep the different breeds will give higher and lower than each other, friesland being the lowest % and the more traditional breeds having a higher %. Not sure what % dorsets have of butterfat in milk, but I hear they're cracking milkers
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I have recently seen a farm near me advertising milk. The sign isn't very enlightening just MILK and an arrow but someone has told me that they might have a Jersey herd. I will have to go and investigate
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It is a jersey herd Sally .... I've only just seen their milk sign today. At college we just used blue top supermarket stuff but jersey milk is great.
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The best milks for cheesemaking are buffalo and sheep though, as buffalo having 8% butterfat gives a lot of cheese, the more butterfat the more cheese you will have.
Ah, high butterfat is the better for yield. For flavour it depends on many factors, primarily species (of course), breed and diet.
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From my 'book larning' stage, I picked up that another factor is the size of the fat globules. Apparently, Jersey milk is *not* ideal for hard cheese from this point of view - although plenty of folks make good hard cheese from Jersey milk ;)
The figures for butterfat by breed are intriguing. As a hand milker of pedigree (and purebred but not pedigree) house Jerseys, I can say that the apparent butterfat content varies wildly according to stage of lactation, the weather, the season, how the grass has been growing that year, what forage is being fed, what cake is being fed, etc etc etc. The figures are perhaps normalised in some way, perhaps an average from all the milk recordings of all the cattle of that breed, or something.
However, when buying shop milk, you presumeably get an averaged product.
And on that topic, I would personally say that you want to avoid homogenised milk, which has messed around with the fat globules. It's not always easy to find unhomogenised milk these days, so seeking out a local producer is probably a good place to start. And at least one of the Channel Islands milk products is unhomogenised - called Gold Top or something, I think - still has the cream on top ;)
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Actually, I don't *know* that homogenised milk won't make good cheese. It might even be better, you might get less whey (more yield)!
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Actually, I don't *know* that homogenised milk won't make good cheese. It might even be better, you might get less whey (more yield)!
The addition of calcium chloride helps address the calcium-depleting effects of homogenisation. If you use pasteurised, homogenised milk without it you're likely to have a slow coagulation and weak curd. Raw is best though. :)
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I did hear that you shouldn't use homogenised milk for cheesemaking, by a lot of people, I am not sure whether this is to do with texture or taste. Here may be something useful
http://curd-nerd.com/milk-for-cheese-making/ (http://curd-nerd.com/milk-for-cheese-making/)
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What I see the biggest challenge with hard cheese is having the correct fridge ie high temp high humidity unless you have a cave. My next step is to buy a cheese fridge.
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What I see the biggest challenge with hard cheese is having the correct fridge ie high temp high humidity unless you have a cave. My next step is to buy a cheese fridge.
I converted an old fridge using an STC-1000 controller - can be bought cheaply from eBay and other places, and if I can wire it up anyone can! A pic here:
http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/diary/winnie-royal-highland-show-cheese-cave/ (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/diary/winnie-royal-highland-show-cheese-cave/)
HTH.
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Been making cheese for the last 5 years now regularly making soft cheeses, brie type ones and also a variety of hard cheeses. Some of the hard one are more of an acquired taste than others, but in general all edible - Gouda is quite easy, if laborious nd long recipe with lots of stirring.
My cheese press is just a stand with two upright (ex-Ikea towel holders) bars screwed into a wooden base plate, and another wooden top plate/plank comes down and then I am using gym weights (the ones that have to be added to weight lifting bars). You will however need a couple of moulds/followers and have found that the site advertised is not always the size that fits the curds...
I am still on the lookout for a good cheesemaking course, that is not just the basic one-day course and is on at a time of year I can actually be away for a few days... not found one yet. Until then, my newest (and so far best) book is Gianaclis Caldwell's "Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking" - a rare US book that can be read and understood by Europeans (it has metric measurements/deg C in all the recipes!!!!).
Cheesemaking is kind of addictive...