As I ponder my kitchen, which is a total wreck, I see an opportunity to
prepare something delicious. Even though I have no sink, or counter
tops, or anything, I do have the chance to make some cheese. If you
can make something while remodeling your kitchen, then you know it's easy
to do!
If you are lucky enough to own a dairy animal, then you probably have
excess milk on your hands and wonder, "What could I do with this extra
milk?" Extra milk can be processed into delicious cheeses. It
is fun, easy, and doesn't require a lot of expensive equipment to get
started. As you will see, you don't even need a kitchen, although I
do highly recommend one. You can also use store-bought milk for the
cheese I am making today, Fromage Blanc.
To get started, you need a dairy thermometer, a starter culture, some
rennet, a colander, slotted spoon and a stainless steel or graniteware
pot. A clean flour sack towel bought locally will do for straining
your curds, and in just a few hours you can be in artisan-cheese heaven.
Your spouse will be amazed, and your friends will suddenly return all your
calls. Even your family will start to think you are a pretty darned
handy person to have around. Christmas and Thanksgiving will be
joyous events where everyone likes YOU best because of the fantastic
cheese you bring.
But before you enter into dairy bliss, there may be some strange terms in
there. Curds, culture, rennet and molds may seem like unsavory
things to be avoided, but in fact these are the things from which cheese
is made. Cheese is actually a living organism that continues to grow
and change as it ages. There are delightfully easy soft cheeses,
such as Fromage Blanc, to terribly complex mold cheeses such as the blue
cheeses. But, all of these beautiful and nutritious cheeses can be
made at home, and with some practice and patience you can make that
perishable milk into a cheese that will keep and age for many, many
months. What better way to make an occasion special than to bring
out a wheel of Gouda that has been aging?
A culture is needed to ripen the flavor and establish the correct bacteria
to turn milk into cheese. These bacteria make the flavor, the
slightly tangy, sour, or sharp flavors you are accustomed to when you
taste cheese. There are two types of culture commonly used in cheese
making, mesophilic and thermophilic. Before your eyes cross, relax,
they are the same as cultured buttermilk and yogurt. Buttermilk, or
mesophilic cultures react well to low temperatures and are best suited to
cheeses such as Monterrey Jack, Fromage Blanc, and many, many more.
Thermophilic cultures are better suited to cheeses that you want to heat
up a little more, like cheddars and many others. The bottom line is
that you need a culture to make a cheese of any kind. Today, I am
using a mesophilic, or buttermilk culture. This can usually be
bought in the dairy section in the store. Be sneaky about it, and
get the carton from the very back, it will be fresher. Getting a
culture is easy as they are readably available in many local groceries.
There are several types of cheese that the
home-cheese-maker can make. Yogurts, soft cheeses and even pressed cheeses
such as Monterrey Jack are good cheeses that you can make yourself after
just a bit of practice. You do not need an expensive cheese press; in fact
you can make a press, or just press the cheese in a cloth. All of
these cheeses use this same culture, but you need more than the culture to
make cheese. You also need rennet. Rennet is an animal product
derived from calves’ stomachs. You can get Junket brand tablets at
your local store, or if you do not eat this kind of animal product, you
can purchase vegetarian rennet from a cheese supply store. With one
culture and some rennet, you can make several types of cheeses.
Dairy thermometers are inexpensive and easy to order online, but you may
have trouble finding one in a local store. Gourmet shops, kitchen
supply stores, brewery supply and farm stores are a good place to look,
but ordering will be easier, and with the price of gas for many rural
people, cheaper as well. They range in price from $6 to $20 and come
in a variety of types. The dial type is a good one, inexpensive and
easy to use, mine was $9.95. You need to be able to tell the
temperatures of the milk very precisely and in a very wide temperature
range, so a dairy thermometer is essential.
