Author Topic: Home Farmer cheese recipe... (Read 6951 times)

little blue · « **on:** January 28, 2012, 06:55:54 pm »

... didn't work!
I skimmed the (goats) milk, pasteruised it (second time) added 4 tsp of lemon juice while still hot, like it said in Home Farmer mag (September11 I think)

and... nothing!

No separation of curds & whey, just lemony milk!!

What can I do with it now??
And what went wrong??

Wish I'd just followed my usual recipe with starter & rennet - thought this might be a quicker & easier way

On another note, we did make our first ever butter

Only a little, but still...

Sylvia · « **Reply #1 on:** January 29, 2012, 09:47:02 am »

There is a plant you can use in place of rennet but I will have to look through my books to find it. I remember it's a common weed or wild plant but which one?

Anke · « **Reply #2 on:** January 30, 2012, 05:15:31 pm »

The recipe for lemon cheese that I have has the following quantities: 1.8 ltrs of milk and juice of 2 to 3 lemons (or 1/4 of an American cup), added to hot but not boiling milk. I seem to remember it worked, but we didn't like it...

Crofter · « **Reply #3 on:** January 30, 2012, 09:18:32 pm »

Sylvia

I think the plant you have in mind would be Ladies Bedstraw. It used to be a substitute for rennet I believe.

Dave

ellisr · « **Reply #4 on:** January 31, 2012, 02:32:58 pm »

I have used hot cows milk and lemon or vinegar and that makes cottage cheese my grandma taught me when I was young how to do that

little blue · « **Reply #5 on:** January 31, 2012, 06:46:15 pm »

thanks

will try your recipe Anke - could be that fresh lemons are the vital part....

Sylvia · « **Reply #6 on:** February 02, 2012, 07:49:00 am »

Quote from: Crofter on January 30, 2012, 09:18:32 pm

Sylvia

I think the plant you have in mind would be Ladies Bedstraw. It used to be a substitute for rennet I believe.

Dave

That's the one!

aliceinwonderland · « **Reply #7 on:** February 15, 2012, 11:48:15 pm »

Also the temparature of the milk will make a difference - I've found that between about 80 and 85 degrees celsius is the best point to add the lemon/vinegar. I've made goat's cheese this way, and it was super-easy. It won't form a really solid curd that's easily cuttable like when you make normal cheese, slightly more 'grainy', but it's still pretty good. Just hang it for an afternoon and it should be pretty good. The longer you age it, the more tasty it gets!

Good luck! It's particularly nice if you stir through some chopped up chives and have it on toast for afternoon tea

Alice

little blue · « **Reply #8 on:** February 16, 2012, 09:01:56 am »

thanks Alice ... I suspect I need a more accurate thermometer, mine is a jam one so the readings are a little poor at the lower end of things!
Need a digital one really...

aliceinwonderland · « **Reply #9 on:** February 19, 2012, 02:47:53 am »

I found a milk thermometer in my local homewares/kitchen shop, cost about AU$15 (probably about 10 pounds given the current exchange rate). They're normally used by (inexperienced) barristas in cafes when steaming the milk to make sure it doesn't burn/isn't too cool. A meat thermometer - the kind that the very technical foodies sometimes use to check how rare or overcooked a roast is - would probably work too. anything that shows the range between about 50 and 100 degrees celsius.

again, hope that helps!