Say Cheese!

[Backwoods_Bob]

I thought I share how I make cheese. It is really quite simple and easy to do. It's a good way to preserve milk if you find yourself with a gallon or two on hand and the power goes out. It can be done with fresh or sour milk. I use goat milk, but I'm sure this method would work with cows milk, even two percent milk. So if you care to try it out, buy and extra gallon or two and have a go at it!
First, sterilize your pot by putting in a half inch of water, cover it, and bring it to a nice boil.
Now throw out the water and bring two gallons of milk to a boil. This can take twenty minutes on my gas stove.

- This is my sophisticated cheese press, and some finished cheese.
You can't see it in the picture, but the can has lots of small holes drilled in the bottom and lower sides. -
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o320/etdbob/food/P1010283.jpg


When the milk comes to a boil, add 1/4 cup of lemon juice and 1/4 cup of vinegar. Stir, and the curds should form pretty fast. If they don't, add more lemon juice or vinegar. You can use all vinegar or lemon juice, but I like to use a mix of both. To much vinegar can produce a rubbery cheese. The basic rule of thumb is 1/4 cup of either per gallon of milk, but be ready to add a bit more.

- This is what it looks like when the curds form -
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o320/etdbob/food/P1010284.jpg
You can use any type of vinegar, and it will indeed make a difference on the final flavor of the cheese. Experiment!

Turn off the heat, and strain the cheese. Use a big strainer lined with cheese cloth, a clean handkerchief or bandana.
Sorry, you can't make ricotta cheese from the left over whey like you can with cheese made with rennet, but it doesn't matter.
making cheese this way wastes nothing. The whey should be very thin and watery, and possibly even have a slight greenish tint.

- Straining the curds -
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o320/etdbob/food/P1010288.jpg

The whey can be fed to animals ( one of my goats will drink it all right down ) or you can cook with it or water plants with it.

Let the cheese drain for ten minutes, and throw it back into your pot. Now add a tablespoon of salt, and mix it up good. Many recopies call for a tablespoon of salt per gallon of milk, but I find that is double the amount I like to use.

At this point the cheese is ready to be eaten as cottage cheese. It is excellent cooked up in a lasagna.

- After it is strained and salted -
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o320/etdbob/food/P1010291.jpg

Or, you can easily press it into rounds with a home made cheese press. Wrap the cheese in a cloth, and stick it in the press. Put a handy weight on top. After pressing for a day or two, it's ready.
Slice and eat it as it is, and store it in the refrigerator.
The cheese can be easily aged. Leave it on the counter for a few days so it will develop a rind. Then wax or oil it. I tend to let it develop a rind, oil it with any vegetable oil and let it sit a week or two, then wax it.
I used to just oil the cheese, but I once had four oiled wheels infested with maggots, so I don't try to age them to long that way, but some folk manage it just fine.

- The press in action -
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o320/etdbob/food/P1010293.jpg

Aged for three to six months, you'll have something like a good parmesan. Most likely. I have had two inflate like Swiss cheese, and I have heard of them turning out like blue cheese. It all depends upon the microbes that like to infect the cheese where you live.

- Waxing a wheel -
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o320/etdbob/food/P1010306.jpg

[bookwormom]

thanks for posting, and with pictures, too. I like your cheese press. Right now I do not get enough milk to have extra for cheese making.

[WileyCoyote]

Ditto, BW Bob!
I thot you had to have rennet to solidify cheese?

[Backwoods_Bob]

Wiley,
Rennet certainly does work, but so does any mild acid like vinegar or lemon juice.

You get some very different cheeses using different methods though. I do sometimes make cheese with rennet tablets and butter milk, but this way is the simplest and most reliable.

[Katrina-Sisu]

Thanks for this!

One question, when you wax the cheese..do you use just beeswax or a special type?

Katrina

[Backwoods_Bob]

Katrina,
I use ordinary clean parafin wax. I imagine beeswax would work fine, but it's a bit expensive.

Most of the wax I use is recycled from candles, but be sure to use only clean non-scented wax.

I have recently had good luck just rubbing coarse salt onto the dryed wheel and letting it age that way.

I've had mixed results aging 'em with just oil. wax seems to work well if you seal the cheese good.

[Katrina-Sisu]

Thanks very much Bob! :)

Katrina

[nancy1340]

A very good tutorial. Thanks

[pcrowder]

WOW! Great pictures and tutorial! Thanks so much!

[MYellowRose]

Thanks so much Bob! If we ever get to where we can buy milk again, other than powdered milk, I'll try this as we love cheese.

[Backwoods_Bob]

Actually MYellowRose,
You can even make cheese this way using powderd milk.

[MadTripper]

Bob,

Are you up for moving this to the how to section? Perhaps one of the mods could take the original post and move it.

Tripper

[bee_pipes]

We tried our hand at cheese making. Nothing nearly as simple as your setup. The Barbara Kingsolver book "Animal, Mineral, Vegetable" got us started with 30 minute mozarella. She recommended an outfit in New England that has cheese making supplies. It's sort of a yuppie kind of outfit with expensive gear way out of my price range, but their book is excellent for recipes for different type of cheeses. The local Menonnite market carries rennet. So far, we have just made mozzarella for pizzas. Some of it turned out like ricotta, but I was pretty happy with the results. I could be happy with just cheddar, mozarella and pepperjack.

Milk is one of the things we need to go outside the house to get, and it got me to thinking about adding dairy to our inventory. There's just me and my wife, with occasional visitors. I'm the only milk drinker, the rest is used for cooking. I can really suck the stuff down when we have a fresh cake, brownies, stuff like that. Cows are too big, require too much space, or cost too much for smaller breeds like dexters. I read about the people on this site picking up bargains on dexters and turn green with envy. They also produce way more milk than we could use. Goats are always out there, but it takes a little effort to keep them contained. Sheep are easier to keep contained and have twice the solids of cow and goat milk, meaning a given quantity of milk will yield twice the cheese. I also like the taste of lamb, compared to goat meat. We're still hemming and hawing, but it looks like goats may be the decision. The dwarfs have a higher milkfat content and are easier to manage, so that may be what we wind up with. They are pretty easy to come by in this part of the country.

Cheese, yogurt, butter, buttermilk and other dairy products are definitely on the horizon, and adding a new type of meat to our products would be welcomed. One of this winter's projects is to build a shed and get electric fence in place...

Thanks for the simple how-to Bob. Way to cut right to the meat of the matter and keep it simple.

Regards,
Pat

[Backwoods_Bob]

bee_pipes,
I know we do love our goats. They are great compainions for walks in the woods and fun to have around the homestead.

"Containing" them can be a problem, but it isn't a big deal if they get out. When the horses get out they run away. When the goats get out they show up on the front porch, peek in the door and ask if we can come out and play.

Good woven field fence seems to work good, with cattle panels for smaller pens and sections cut from cattle panels for gates.

I dunno if the difference in milk between breeds and between goats and sheep is really all that important.
Just drink the milk from any animal before you buy that animal! Some animals are just sour.

I don't like minature goats because I figure they gotta be harder to milk.

We have alpines -

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o320/etdbob/animals/P1040022.jpg

The little ones are so cute!
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o320/etdbob/animals/P1010098.jpg

But you must be able to butcher the littles ones sooner or later, and that can be hard.

Anyway, back to cheese making - Goat cheese does not melt. i dunno why, but it sure don't, and this limits it's uses for many folk. something to consider when selecting animals.

[bee_pipes]

Yeah, been looking into it a little more. Turns out sheep's milk has a wang to the taste and is not often drunk.

You're right - the dwarfs are more difficult to milk because of the smaller teats - nothing to grab ahold of. There are crosses out there - mini nubian and kinders. We have room for larger goats, but its a matter of resources. The smaller crosses mean less feed and less milk - an adequate supply for just the two of us, but are easier to milk. Found a goat forum and have been reading and asking questions.
http://thegoatspot.freeforums.org/index.php

I think rather than going nuts on enclosing the goats - someone will eventually get loose - I might be better off ensuring the fruit trees are well protected when they do escape. Kathleen Sanderson wrote an article that appeared in BHM #95 about kinders. http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/sanderson95.html
The setup she has for a hootch and pen looks simple enough too. Cattle pannels, like you said.

Do you keep a buck for breeding? How many goats do you have? I'd sure like to hear more about them - maybe in the livestock section? This is sort of getting off topic for the recipe section. More photos too, if you can. Would like to see your setup - or do they live in a larger barn with other animals? Got a ball park on feed per goat?
I never knew that about goat cheese. Have you tried any other recipes, or just the one at the beginning of the thread? I know with cheddar, the sharper it is, the more it separates, and the milder it is, the creamier when it melts.

Do you separate cream and make butter? I guess this is all livestock stuff again.

Regards,
Pat