Make your own Cheese!

[not2late]

General hints/tips about making your own cheese..

1. Be sure that your equipment is very clean. Cheesecloth should be boiled then allowed to dry.

2. Get all your ingredients measured and prepared before you start boiling the milk or cream.

3. Be sure to use a pot large enough to prevent boil-overs. Also be sure that the bowl you use to catch the whey is large enough.

4. A kitchen timer or clock might come in handy for some of the recipes.

General Cheese Parts.

Curds are the white globs formed after adding the acid or rennet. This is the stuff that becomes the cheese.

Whey is the liquid. The whey can be drunk or used in recipes for baked goods. If you plan on saving the whey, make sure your collecting bowl is clean.

[not2late]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

Gourmet Magazine April 2006

Ricotta Cheese

2 quarts whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Special equipment: large sieve, fine-mesh cheesecloth

Line a large sieve with a layer of heavy-duty (fine-mesh) cheesecloth and place it over a large bowl.

Slowly bring milk, cream, and salt to a rolling boil in a 6-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. Add lemon juice, then reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring constantly, until the mixture curdles, about 2 minutes.

Pour the mixture into the lined sieve and let it drain 1 hour. After discarding the liquid, chill the ricotta, covered; it will keep in the refrigerator 2 days.

Makes about 2 cups.
Gourmet (magazine) April 2006

Well I tried it. And (drumroll......................................... ............................)

It works! Very well. The cheese is absolutely yummier than the stuff from the store. It's mild, not as wet, has a soft texture, but has enough body that it isn't mushy and has a pronounced milky-creamy-buttery flavor the store-bought doesn't have. It's absolutely the best ricotta I've tasted.

The whey, or liquid, doesn't taste bad either. It's rather sweet (from the milk sugars). So I know the carb count is pretty high. It's drinkable and usable in other foods. but I'm saving the whey and I'll use it the non-low carb baking I do for family and friends.

As for the carb count, I'm using the USDA's counts for whole milk ricotta cheese with is 3.4 something for 1/2 cup. But to be on the safe side, I will count the 1/2 cup as 5 net carbs.

By the way, I used whole milk and heavy cream for this. I didn't try making it with the Carb Down dairy beverage.

My hints about making this stuff..

1. If your milk and cream are refrigerator cold, it will take a while to "slowly" bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. So you might want to start it off on medium-high heat, stirring constantly in order to prevent scorching.

2. The lemon juice. I was able to squeeze 3 tablespoons (plus a few drops more) from a large lemon. Be sure to strain the lemon juice to remove any pulp and seeds.

3. The recipe says to stir the cheese constantly after you've added the lemon juice. I didn't find that necessary on the second batch, because the curds floated to the top of the pot. Although, if you want a finer texture ricotta, stir away because stirring breaks the larger curds into smaller curds.

4. Use a large pot!!!! This is very important because once the milk-cream mixture begins to boil, it foams up and if the pot isn't large enough, the mixture could boil over.

5. Have all the equipment ready to go. That is squeeze and strain the lemon juice, line the strainer with cheesecloth and set it over a large pot of basin, before you begin heating the milk. Once it boils, the recipe goes pretty fast so you might not have time to juice the lemon and get the cheesecloth arranged.

6. Molding the cheese. The first batch I let sit in the strainer and I ended up breaking it up to put into my storage container. The second batch, I gathered the corners of the cheese cloth and gently squeezed the excess whey from the cheese by gently rolling the cheese against the sides of the strainer. That cheese has a sorta round shape, which looks prettier than the batch I smashed into the container.

[not2late]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

MoG googled and found this recipe for Lemon Cheese:
http://www.strausmilk.com/index.php?...pe_detail&id=3

Lemon Cheese

1/2 gallon Straus Milk (any variety)
Juice of 2 lemons
Herbs (fresh dill leaves are a suggestion)

Making cheese at home is not as tough as you think. This is a quick and easy cheese to make and can be used as a cheese spread.



Warm 1/2 gallon of milk to 165 degrees F. Stir often to avoid scorching the milk. Add the juice of two lemons to the milk. Stir and allow to set off the stove for 15 minutes.


The warm milk will separate into a stringy curd and a greenish liquid whey. Line a colander with cheesecloth and pour the curds and whey into the colander. Save the whey for baking bread if you like. Tie four corners of the cheesecloth into a knot and hang the bag of curds to drain for an hour or until it stops dripping.


Remove the cheese from the cloth and place it in a bowl. Add salt to taste - usually about 14 teaspoon. Mix in your favorite herbs if you like. Fresh dill leaves are a great idea. Place the cheese in a covered container and store in the refrigerator. This cheese will keep up to a week. It is a moist spreadable cheese with a hint of lemon taste.

[not2late]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

Another recipe MoG found for Queso Blanco:
http://www.strausmilk.com/index.php?...pe_detail&id=4

Quesco Blanco is a South American cheese that is similar to the Indian cheese, Panir. It makes a great cooking cheese because it does not melt.

gallon Straus Milk (any variety)
1/3 cup vinegar (cider, grain or herb vinegar)

Warm the milk to 195 degrees F. You should have a cooking thermometer. Stir the milk to keep it from scorching. When the milk is at 195 degrees F., stir in the vinegar. Turn the heat off and let the hot milk set for 10 minutes. The milk will quickly coagulate into solid white curd particles and a clear greenish liquid whey.

Line a colander with fine cheesecloth and pour the curds and whey into the colander. Hang the bag of curd to drain for one hour or until the curd has stopped dripping whey. Remove the cheese from the cloth. It will be a solid mass of curd and may be wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in the refrigerator until ready for us.

Queso Blanco can be cut into half-inch cubes and used in a variety of dishes. Because it doesn't melt, it works wonderfully in all types of recipes. Supposedly, it is the only cheese which can be deep-fried without melting. You can add it to soups, stir-fried vegetables or pastas. The cheese will take on the flavor of the surrounding food and spices. By itself, the cheese has a very milk and distinctly sweet taste.

[not2late]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

One for Mascarpone Cheese:

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser...mascarpone.HTM

Ingredients:Equipment:one quart of light cream
Light cream can range between 18 and 30% butterfat. Ideally it should contain 25% butterfat. 1/4 teaspoon tartaric acid

stainless steel double boiler with lid sterile handkerchief sterilized by boiling and hanging to dry thoroughly

1 quart bowl to catch the whey

PROCEDURE:

1) Warm 32 ounces of light cream in a stainless steel double boiler to 185 degrees Fahrenheit (85 Celsius).

2) Dissolve 1/4 teaspoon of tartaric acid in 2 Tbl of water.

3) Stir the dissolved tartaric acid into the hot cream, stir well. It should start to thicken almost immediately. Maintain the 185 F for five minutes, stirring occasionally.

4) Refrigerate covered for 12 hours in the stainless steel inner pot (or transfer to a clean plastic container with lid). The whey should separate somewhat in that time.

5) Transfer to a sterile handkerchief, and suspend over a bowl for 24 hours in the refrigerator to allow the whey to drain out.

6) Transfer the finished mascarpone to a smaller air tight container, store in the refrigerator, use within a week or two.

1. 
   I have received an email from Fil and Pat in Quebec which reports that mascarpone was originally made with lemon juice. I now doubt the authenticity of this, but have wondered where ancient Italians would have gotten tartaric acid... (See intro above.) I have calculated that 1/4 teaspoonful of tartaric acid should be equivalent to approximately 2 tablespoonfuls (30 mL) of lemon juice. Fil and Pat report back that 2 Tbl in a quart of 18% butterfat cream made perfect mascarpone! Yea.

This recipe works. You need to be very patient with it. Be sure to refrigerate it so the cheese separates from the whey.

It has the same texture as mascarpone in the store. The taste is alittle bit "fresher" and richer.

[not2late]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

I'll probably try the mascaprone cheese this weekend because I have the ingredients at home --- I'm going to use lemon juice instead of tartaric acid.

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

I was just gonna ask where you get tartaric acid, but you say you're gonna use lemon juice, is that pretty much the same thing?

[2big4mysize]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

Megs what is strauss milk? can we use regural and add cream/bacteria or something to it to get that kind?

[2big4mysize]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

tartaric acid is found in grapes us3ed for wine and is the stuff in cream of tarter powder used in baking powder.

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

Strauss is just a brand name 2big, you can use any brand you want, the recipe just came from their website.

[not2late]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

MoG: The footnote on the mascarpone recipe says you can sub lemon juice (so I'll try the lemon juice).

2Big the Strauss milk is a brand of milk.

When I did the ricotta last week, I used the stuff from Safeway (they had a special offer---99 cents per gallon with a purchase of $10) I used the whole milk. And it turned out fine. I'm sure if you use the non-homogenized, raw milk, the flavor would be better, but let's face it...that stuff is hard to find!

I'm tempted to try these with the CarbDown, but I'll try them with the regular whole milk first, then do the experiments...

[2big4mysize]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

okay now who is going to be brave and spend the $5 to see if it can be done with the hood stuff? Megs I got a cheese page for making all kinds of homemade cheeses and stuff but they need rennet tablets.

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

OK, here's a really really easy one for Labneh or some call it yogurt cheese. You make it from plain yogurt, there are step by step directions with pics

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser...ban/Labneh.htm

[2big4mysize]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

oh good Megs we will all wait for you to test it out thanks for volunteering

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

okay now who is going to be brave and spend the $5 to see if it can be done with the hood stuff? Megs I got a cheese page for making all kinds of homemade cheeses and stuff but they need rennet tablets.

Not me! I was wondering where you get the renet as well, I betcha that Whole Foods carries it.

Yea Megs, I saw the footnote after I made the post, lemon juice sounds better to me than that other stuff with the scientific name anyway!