Sour Milk to Fresh Cheese in About 30 Minutes

We have a small refrigerator that we bought when we were remodeling our kitchen several years ago. When we finished the kitchen we kept the small fridge for that extra gallon of milk you need with growing boys in the house, beer, sodas and other assorted things.  A few weeks ago we put an extra gallon of milk in it and then forgot it was there.  I found it earlier this week and decided rather than throw it away, I would find a use for it. I found a recipe on the Internet that pointed me in the right path to home cheese making. i decided to change it a little to see if I could put my own special touch on cheese making.

First I poured the sour milk in a large sauce pan and heated it slowly. I didn't use a thermometer but I heated it gradually bringing the heat of the milk up to a very warm temperature but no where near boiling. The heating process is done in order to separate the curd from the whey. You will know when the separation occurs...the curd looks like like large chunks of cottage cheese and the whey is a yellowish translucent liquid. Whey looks nothing like milk so you will know when it has separated and ready to remove from the heat. Don't heat it too long because that will result in a bitter end product I am told.

Ytyttt

I then removed the curds and whey from the heat and waited about five minutes. I didn't have any cheesecloth so I got a cloth napkin and placed it in a strainer and placed the strainer in a large mixing bowl. I then slowly poured the contents of the pot into the cloth lined strainer.  I picked the napkin up and allowed the mixture to drip.  I squeezed it some to remove some of the liquid so my cheeze would be a little harder. Then I took a string and twisted the cheese inside the napkin, tied a string around the napkin and then tied it to a cabinet knob and suspended it over the bowl for twenty minutes to let it drain a little more. 

After twenty minutes I formed the  crumbly cheese into a ball and placed it in a microwave proof dish and heated for five minutes on about 40%. I then removed it from it from the microwave after letting it cool or a few seconds, kneaded it until it was one piece and no longer crumbly.  I then formed it into a ball and dipped it into the whey for a second or two.  Then I placed in a simple brine made of two cups of water and two tablespoons of table salt. After about a minute, I removed it from the brine and placed it in a container in the refrigerator.  A waited about an hour and tasted it ... Pretty good for the first time. If you want a feta-like cheese you can store it in the brine. 

Now what can you do with the whey? Don't waste it.  I mixed it with chicken feed and fed it to our chickens and they loved it. 

Ok, now you know...making cheese is easy and quick.  I think I am about to cut a small piece and enjoy it with a glass of homemade mead.

Until next time...John