Make 12 cheese in 12 months...no experience needed

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rhoadsrage

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So I have dabbled a bit with cheese making on and off but I have always wanted to get a bit more serious about it. So I got inspired by this blog Cheesemaking Help, News and Information: The Year of Cheese with Suzanne McMinn and thought with the help of the cheese pros on here and with other first time cheese makers to stubble along with this would be a good tool to get a 101 education.

So if you want to join in, get the materials and use this forum for questions, confusions and success pics.

The 12 cheeses would be:

Jan. Lactic Cheese
The Joy of Lactic Cheese | Chickens in the Road

Feb. Cultured Butter
Making Better Butter at Home in Your Kitchen

March Coeur a la Creme

Coeur a la Creme! | Chickens in the Road

April 30 Minute Burrata
30-Minute Burrata | Chickens in the Road

May Mozzarella Curd Cheese
A Cheese of My Own | Chickens in the Road

June Quick Caerphilly

Make It Quick with Caerphilly | Chickens in the Road

July Stirred Curd Cheddar

Stirred-Curd Cheddar | Chickens in the Road

August Queso Fresco
Fresh Cheese, Please (Queso Fresco) | Chickens in the Road

Sept. Romano
Making Romano | Chickens in the Road

Oct. Gouda
Got Gouda? | Chickens in the Road

Nov. Munster

Making Munster | Chickens in the Road

Dec. Monterrey Jack
Do You Know Jack? | Chickens in the Road


Of course this is the original plan and anyone can deviate anyway they like that will only add to the learning.

Cheers.
andy
 
Finally getting finished with holidays and family flu to get started on this project. These are the materials that I can't get from the grocery and I think I will have to build a press in the up coming months. Also also added cup cheese to Feb. I used to eat a lot of this in Pennsylvania as a kid but you can't find it in the flatlands. It all looks a bit like greek to me but should be interesting.

Jan Lactic Cheese
1 packet direct set mesophilic starter
3 drops rennet
cheese salt
butter muslin

Feb Cultured butter and cup cheese
buttermilk culture
1 Direct Set Buttermilk packet or 8oz Cultured Buttermilk
1 drop Liquid Rennet



March Coeur a la creme
1 direct set fromagina starter
4 small molds
muslin

April 30 min Burrata
1/2 teaspoon calcium chloride
1 1/2 level teaspoons citric acid
1/4 teaspoon liquid rennet
salt muslin

May Mozzarella
1/2 teaspoon calcium chloride
1 1/2 level teaspoons citric acid
1/4 teaspoon liquid rennet diluted

June Caerphilly
1/4 teaspoon direct-set mesophilic starter
1/4 teaspoon flora danica*
1/2 teaspoon liquid rennet
cheese press
cheese cloth

July Stirred Curd cheddar
1 packet direct-set mesophilic starter
2 drops cheese coloring per gallon,
1/2 teaspoon liquid rennet
cloth and press

August Queso Fresco

1 Pack Direct Set Mesophilic or 4oz Prepared Mesophilic Starter
1/4tsp.plus Liquid Rennet
calcium chloride
2-3T Salt
cheese cloth mold and press



Sept Romano
1 packet direct-set thermophilic starter
1/4 teaspoon lipase powder, dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water
1/2 teaspoon rennet, dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water
cheese salt and water for brine
mold and press


Oct. Gouda
1 packet direct-set mesophilic starter*
1/2 teaspoon liquid rennet
2 pounds cheese salt (for brine) — may be cheese salt or any non-iodized salt
cheese wax
mold and press

Nov. Munster
1 packet direct-set mesophilic starter
4-8 drops cheese coloring
1/2 teaspoon liquid rennet
2 pounds cheese salt for brine
1/2 teaspoon Brevibacterium linens
mold and press and sanitized spray bottle
cheese mats

Dec. Monterrey Jack
1 packet direct-set mesophilic starter or 4 ounces prepared mesophilic starter
1/2 teaspoon liquid rennet (or 1/2 rennet tablet)
1 tablespoon cheese salt
cheese wax
 
So I have tried my hand at a few very simple cheese in the past and I didn't do much reading to prep for this one but it was a great beginner cheese. Just heating the milk to 86 degrees adding the starter and rennet and forget it. It came out great with lots of cheese. We ate it on crackers, it has a bit of a cream cheese but slightly tart character, put it in baked spaghetti, and still have lots left over. When spring comes, and we start to get fresh herbs we will make this quite a bit.

lactic cheese.jpg
 
It is the lactic cheese made from whole milk. It's really creamy like goat cheese.
 
So the cultured butter was and interesting process. I have found that New England Cheesemaking Co. has several different recipes on their website and they vary from what is on the rennet bottle and culture packages and I find it a bit frustrating for a noob. I have heard that their books are much better at explaining things and giving consistent recipes.

On to the butter: I cultured the heavy cream which was only available in ultra pasteurized but that seemed ok because I was adding buttermilk culture to it. I put 1/2 in the food processor and set it to the lowest setting as instructed. They said 10-20 minutes and it would separate. I watched and watched and couldn't get it to separate. When I stopped it at about 12 min. I realized I had passed the separation stage and now everything was emulsified. So the last half of the batch went into the kitchenaid mixer with wisk and that worked much better. The butter was a bit to sticky to fold so it wasn't as creamy and rinsed as well as I had hoped but I think if I chill it a bit before folding and rinsing it will be better next time.

Now what to do with the butter/whey mixture. It makes very creamy eggs and I made the rest of it into Ghee but it had a bit to much milk solids to pull the ghee out so it wall went into chocolate chip cookies and tasted pretty nice.

The picture is the butter I put in my grandparents butter mold but it was a bit to warm/sticky to make a proper shape. Any one have a good technique for molding butter in a wooden mold?

butter.jpg
 
Cup cheese still in the process:

I have searched the internet a couple times for true Pennsylvania dutch cup cheese (which is different than schearcase). The old recipe I have says to use thick sour milk, so I took 1 gallon of whole milk added 2 packets buttermilk culture and 2 drops of veggie rennent and let set for 12 hours.

Then I heated milk to 120 degrees and hung in bag until next day. (See pic.) I crumbled the curd and mixed in 1/2 tsp of baking soda. Is this to change the pH? I put it in a crock and stirred each morning and night for 3 days. It was not "yellow and gummy with a sharp odor" so I put in a little gummy cheese from some Humboldt Fog and I am stirring it until it gets yellow and gummy. I will keep you posted but if anyone has any scientific insight that would be great. My dad, who made it as a kid, thought my grandpa only used the skim milk for this and not whole milk?

And if you have never had cup cheese it is a bit like elmer's glue with a brie character. See picture below.

hanging cup cheese.jpg


cup cheese.jpg
 
How to make Lactic Cheese:

1 gallon whole or skimmed milk
1 packet direct-set mesophilic starter
3 drops liquid rennet diluted in 1/3 cup cool unchlorinated water
cheese salt (optional)

1. Heat the milk to 86 degrees (F). Add the starter and mix thoroughly.
2. Add 1 teaspoon of the diluted rennet and stir gently with an up-and-down motion. Cover and let set, undisturbed, for 12 hours, or until a solid curd forms. I actually waited 24 hours and it was fine. The blog writer said lactic cheese has a big window of time on this step, so there is no rush to putting it in cloth.
3. Gently ladle the curd into a colander lined with butter muslin. I also use disposable cheesecloth for lactic cheese with no problem.Tie the corners of the muslin into a knot and hang the bag to drain for 6-12 hours. (I waited 12 hours for mine.)
4. Place the curds in a bowl and add the salt to taste, if desired.
5. Store in a covered bowl in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. (As I described above, if I don’t use it right away, I freeze it in 8-ounce blocks.)

Yield: About 2 pounds (or slightly more).
Next time I try this I will put in fresh herbs from the garden.
 
I'm doing this a bit blind, and not really sure what I'm doing. But even the mistakes don't taste to bad so post anything you cook up.
 
Very cool! It looks like you're off to a great start. I've had very limited experience/success with cheese making but it still intrigues me. Maybe this will be my inspiration to play around with it more.
 
Did a Mozz the other day, where is said it should look like custard, mine looked like cottage cheese in water...just strained it..everything turned out good,
 
Cool. I have been thinking about doing a mozz, as I haven't done one in ages. Just curious what kind of milk did you use?
 
Great thread! I'm a total newbie so I will be following along till I get the courage to begin:)
 
Ive never made cheese but Im a good cook and love cheese so Im interested in giving it a shot. Where can I find the ingredients to make your lactic cheese and any other cheese really. What kind of aging, if any, would be needed for this cheese? Its hot and humid where I live so I imagine Im limited on what I can make.
 
Ok I'm trying to dig myself out from under "the end of the school year" rock. I'm sorry it has taken so long to keep this project going. I realize from comments and beermails that I need to change a few things. so here is a quick update:
*I will transcribe my notes in detail on each cheese. That way it will give you more insight on what I actually did (right or wrong). and it will help if the links to the original recipes die.
*I will include tasting notes in a more structured way to help with describe the outcomes
* most importantly I will start cranking out some cheeses this weekend to catch up.

Let me know if you want anything else and please post your comments and pics of any of these cheese or variations that you have made.
 
Did the Latic cheese, turned out great. Spiced it up 4 ways. Ground pepper, Dill, red pepper, and garlic, all with sea salt.
ended up adding the whole 1/4 cup of rennet insted of just a teaspoon, just made it stiffer, more like a cream cheese.
 
Nice. I have a good mix of fresh herbs growing and I was thinking of the lactic cheese would be great to blend with fresh herbs and some green garlic.
 
Butter is easy to churn without any cultures. Just use your wisk on the mixer and let the heavy cream (40% butterfat is best) naturally seperate into butter and buttermilk. You then add whatever flavorings, salt, or herbs you want and squeeze the buttermilk out with your hands. When it is solidly compacted, rinse it with water and it will keep for up to 45 days at fridge temps- it freezes well if you can't use it all at once. I yield about 1.5lbs of butter from a half gallon of 40% cream.
 
Finally getting back in the cheese making, now with three little helpers. Here is the Coeur la Creme that I made last weekend.

First ingredients:
1 gallon whole milk
1 Fromogia (DS) from http://www.cheesemaking.com/shop/fromagina-ds-culture-5-pack.html

I just warmed the milk in a pot till it was 86F and added the starter. Let it sit overnight with the lid on then gently ladled it into a butter cloth in a colander. I tied up the corners and let it hang for about 6 hours and it had stopped dripping.

JL785Eo.jpg


I took half of that cheese and mixed it with the following:
4 egg whites whipped to stiff peaks
2 Tbls. sugar
2 Tbls. whole milk

Folded that in then and put it in heart shaped molds. Then I froze those overnight.

Covered with dulce de leche.
KGyH9OF.jpg


Which I see now is on the same plate I used last time. I still have the other 1/2 of the cheese to use but I think I will try it as a savory dip. Perhaps roasted garlic?
 
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