is making cheese economical or more of a hobby?

[bkov]

is making cheese economical or more of a hobby?

 

[Picobrew]

is making cheese economical or more of a hobby?

I have been wondering the same thing, because milk seems so expensive. I like to make pizza, so the price of fresh moz and ricotta is what I'm thinking of. I am going to try to make both of those soon as they seem easy.

 

[Yooper]

It's definitely not economical in my case. I pay $7 a gallon for fresh raw goat's milk. That makes about 1 pound of cheese. I also bought the rennet, cheesecloth, cheese salt, citric acid, cultures, cheese wax, press, etc, so I am paying about $7.50 per pound of fresh mozzarella. Same with the ricotta and feta. However, it's fantastic.

This weekend I'll be making some monteray jack cheese. I don't know how much it is per pound in the store, but at over $7.50 per pound and at least two months of aging, I doubt that's economical either!

 

[RC0032]

Link to cheese making details? How-to, where to buy, etc?

 

[flyangler18]

Link to cheese making details? How-to, where to buy, etc?

CheeseMaking - Online Store

 

[Yooper]

Here's where I got most of my stuff: Cheese Making Books

The bottom recipe is how I make my feta: Cheesemaking Recipes for Semi Hard Cheese

 

[k1v1116]

If you get cheap milk it can be inexpensive, for me 1lb mozz is about $7-8 depending on were I get it and that's just the square block of stuff at the supermarket not even fresh, 1 gallon of milk costs about $3.50 of course its not organic goat milk or anything like that. So for me to make basic mozz its close to half price and still better quality that anything I can get at a supermarket.

 

[Tenchiro]

It isn't any cheaper than buying cheese but like brewing it is fun. We just made our first batch this weekend and while it wasn't quite Mozzarella it was good.

 

[zoebisch01]

If you make high end cheeses it will be. For standard grocery store cheeses, no unless you raise your own dairy goats/cows. Even then I doubt it would be more economically feasible (the milk part).

 

[Yooper]

But, as others said, it's fun and it's GOOD! The raw goat's milk comes to me only because I have an interest in the herd- that's why it's legal. Even so, it's $7 a gallon. Honestly, though, the fresh mozzarella is so worth it, and the feta is fantastic. My husband loves the ricotta- I make it from the whey leftover from the other cheeses, and he likes it creamy and puts it on his morning whole wheat toast. It's kind of like a cream cheese, the way I make it.
You can also use much less salt than what's in commercial cheeses, and add herbs and seasonings as you make it, too.

Tonight I'm having some garlic ricotta on triscuits from ricotta made yesterday.

 

[Glubki]

Even raising goats and cows isn't very economical unless you go large scale when you factor in the cost of feed, vet bills, labor, housing etc... that is why good cheese can cost more than $8-10 a lb.

 

[Laurel]

I'd be perfectly happy paying $8-10/lb for good cheese. Many times it costs $25-40/lb for nice cheeses. But I don't make those kinds, I just stick to fresh ones that are easy.

 

[Glubki]

$25 to $40 a pound? It better sing and dance and leave me with a warm tingly feeling the next morning for that price...

 

[Tusch]

The $24-40 per lb stuff is also sold by the 1-5oz kind of packages. My father often enjoys some bleu that is $35/lb and its not like he spent $35 but he also isn't letting just anyone try it unless they know they're gonna like it haha.

I have been looking to get into cheese making myself. Been reading up on it and plan to do some beginner cheeses this summer and move into bleu, I found some very good tutorials on the processes online.

 

[JVD_X]

My husband loves the ricotta- I make it from the whey leftover from the other cheeses, and he likes it creamy and puts it on his morning whole wheat toast. It's kind of like a cream cheese, the way I make it.
You can also use much less salt than what's in commercial cheeses, and add herbs and seasonings as you make it, too.

Tonight I'm having some garlic ricotta on triscuits from ricotta made yesterday.

My god yooperbrew... that sounds amazing.

 

[Laurel]

I made mozz yesterday for about $2.50/lb. It can be more economical.

 

[pizzaman]

I found this site the other day: Cheese Making for Beginners

I'll be buying a pack of rennet tomorrow to make a small batch of mozzarella following his recipe here: My Documents\media files\www\cheese\mozzarella_joyces

 

[r2eng]

Thanks everyone for the good info... I am a mozzarella snob, and only use whole-milk: not the crap skim stuff found at the supermegalowmart. I may have to try some homemade mozzarella!

 

[Absolut_Ninja]

Here's where I got most of my stuff: Cheese Making Books

The bottom recipe is how I make my feta: Cheesemaking Recipes for Semi Hard Cheese

My wife LOVES fetsa; if she sees this post I will have more work around the house to do....
But I do love cooking and I think I may try this soon myself anyway.

 

[iamjonsharp]

A hobby...a delicious, delicious, hobby. Although, we get milk when it's on manager special at the grocery, when it's $1.50 to $2.00 a gallon, and it still makes some tasty cheese. Granted haven't tried it with fresh raw milk yet...

 

[Evets]

This is the mozzarella I made about an hour ago. I'm lucky in that I get fresh raw milk for $2.50 a gallon here. I can also get raw goat milk but I haven't tried it yet.

 

[zac]

I'm jealous.

I have all the stuff to make cheese, just haven't got the fortitude to try it yet.

 

[Kittyfeet]

I've made a few cheeses recently and it was fun. I buy the cheapo milk at megalomart, so it's probably cost effective for me. I'm still waiting for the day I have time to make lasagna with my homemade cheese, and a Milwaukee Cheesecake.
And here's some great recipes for lots of different cheeses (sorry if the linky's been posted already): GourmetSleuth - How To Make Cheese - Cheese Making Recipes

 

[bkov]

is costco milk ok?

 

[pizzaman]

is costco milk ok?

Milk is milk when you're making cheese. The fresher/rawer it is the better, but you can use any old store bought milk to make cheese.

 

[flyangler18]

Milk is milk when you're making cheese. The fresher/rawer it is the better, but you can use any old store bought milk to make cheese.

Not entirely true - as many brands of milk that are only marked 'pasteurized' make in fact be 'ultra pasteurized'. UP milk won't form a curd. I wish I could get my hands on some raw cow's and goat's milk, but I haven't been successful so far; I've been using Swiss Valley Farms whole milk with excellent results thus far.

 

[Yooper]

Not entirely true - as many brands of milk that are only marked 'pasteurized' make in fact be 'ultra pasteurized'. UP milk won't form a curd. I wish I could get my hands on some raw cow's and goat's milk, but I haven't been successful so far; I've been using Swiss Valley Farms whole milk with excellent results thus far.

Very true. Not just pasteurized, but store bought milk is homogenized, too, which changes the protein structure. That's what keeps the cream from rising to the top in store bought milk. Well, it changes the curd formation too, so some people add calcium chloride to the milk at the same time as the cultures, to sort of normalize the protein.

I am using goat's milk- because that's what my source is. I use CaCl in it, because of the way the protein is structured.

It's true that store bought milk is pretty similiar, except for the UHP stuff that Flyangler mentioned. You can't use it to make cheese.

I've read many articles about using powdered milk with some added whipping cream, if your only source is UHP milk. It's supposed to work just fine, but I haven't tried it.

Whole milk gives a very creamy higher fat cheese. Skim milk or low fat milk would give a lower fat cheese. The goat's milk I use is about 4% milk fat, maybe a bit more. It's definitely NOT a low fat way to make it!

 

[avaserfi]

I found a local source of raw goat milk so I ordered a mozerella/ricotta kit from AHS. Can't wait to get started.

Anyone have some quick tips for a beginner? The process seems fairly easy.

 

[caspio]

I found a local source of raw goat milk so I ordered a mozerella/ricotta kit from AHS. Can't wait to get started.

Anyone have some quick tips for a beginner? The process seems fairly easy.

It depends on the mozzarella recipe you're following, but most all of them have you heat the curds until you can stretch them like taffy. That temperature is above where I can comfortably hold them with my bare hands. On my first batch I tried doing it with spoons, but the texture just wasn't right. The second time around, I wore gloves that were thick enough to let me handle the hot cheese without any issues. That one actually came out looking and tasting the way it was supposed to.

 

[AnonyBrew]

If you make high end cheeses it will be. For standard grocery store cheeses, no unless you raise your own dairy goats/cows. Even then I doubt it would be more economically feasible (the milk part).

Sorry for being off topic.

Zoebisch! I'm flying up to State College this Thursday & plan to meet up with Pjj2ba. I tried to send you a PM but your inbox is FULL. Send me a PM if you want to meet up.