Recipe: Homemade Cheese Recipes for Soli

Homemade Fresh Curd Cheese

Lemon juice can be used to curdle milk, to make a fresh, soft, creamy-textured, unripened cheese.

1.15 litre (2 pt) 5 cups milk
juice 2 lemons

Put the milk into a bowl and stir in the lemon juice.

Leave it for 24 hours or until it separates and looks like curds and whey.

Scald and cool an old glass cloth or piece of cheesecloth or fine muslin.

Stand a colander in a dish and lay the cloth on top.

Pour in the curds and whey and gather the edges of the cloth together.

Hang the cheese to drip for 24 hours.

Mix it together and put it into a container.

serving amount:
makes 175-225 g (6-8oz) or 3/4 - 1 cup cheese.
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How to Make Soft Cheese recipe

2.5 litres fresh or slightly soured milk
4 tsp rennet essence
salt
double or single cream

for the flavouring:
Finely ground, coarsely ground or crushed whole spices.
or
finely chopped herbs, eg chives.
or
Well drained chopped fruit.

Warm the milk to tepid (30-35 C approx) and pour into a bowl.

Stir in the rennet essence and leave at room temperature until a curd forms; the time will depend on the temperature of the milk and the surroundings.

Line a metal sieve with a scalded piece of muslin about 25cm square, and stand it over a bowl.

Tip the curded milk gently into the cloth.

Bring the corners of the cloth together, tie securely with string, and hang above the bowl to catch the dripping whey.

Leave for 6-8 hours, or longer if a fairly thick cloth is used.

Open the bag, and scrape down any curd on the sides of the cloth into the main mass.

Cut any solid curd into small pieces.

Re-tie the bag, and rehang it to continue draining.

Repeat the scraping down and cutting once or twice more until the cheese reaches the required consistency.

This can be judged by pressing the bag gently.

Turn the curd into a bowl, and mix in salt to taste lightly but thoroughly.

Blend in any cream and flavouring used.

If the cheese is then softer than required, return it to the cloth bag and rehang for 2-3 hours.

Form the cheese into pats or turn into pots or cartons.

Cover, and chill until required.

Use within 36 hours or within 24 hours if flavoured with fresh solid flavourings such as herbs.

serving amount:makes 400 g
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BLUE CHEESE
Source: David B. Fankhauser, Ph.D./ Professor of Biology and Chemistry/ U.C. Clermont College/ Batavia OH 45103

I developed this recipe to try to duplicate an excellent blue cheese available in the United States called "Saga Blue." It starts with a simple "Farmer's Cheese" (Neufch tel should also do fine as a starting curd). An inoculum of Penicillium from a cheese you are duplicating is added to the curd, and aeration holes are created so that air can enter the cheese. Temperature and humidity need to be controlled so that aging proceeds at the correct rate, and the cheese does not dry out, nor "weep" with moisture.

I have adhered to my principle of trying to keep the equipment and materials as simple and readily available as possible, so I hope you won't mind, for instance, using a phillips screwdriver to create the holes in the curd...

EQUIPMENT SUPPLIES:
blender (suspending inoculum can be done by hand)
cheese press
sterile clean handkerchiefs (sterilized by boiling water in it for 5 minutes prior to use)
thermometer reading in the 0-40 C (50-100 F) range
large philips screwdriver or other sterilizable rod
"Cool box" (refrigerator set to 10 C (50 F) Drained curds from "Farmer's Cheese"
1 teaspoon of uncontaminated "Saga Blue" cheese (or other selected blue cheese to use as an inoculum)

PROCEDURE FOR MAKING BLUE CHEESE:
1. Start with cold drained curds from "Farmer's Cheese" made from two gallons of milk. (It was drained in the refrigerator)

2. Sprinkle on 2 teaspoons of salt, mix in to form pea-sized crumbles.

3. In a blender, blend 1 teaspoon of uncontaminated blue cheese (I used "Saga Blue") with 1/4 cup of cool clean water to create a smooth suspension of cheese (the inoculum).

4. Pour the inoculum over the salted curds, toss to mix thoroughly.


5. Line the press with a sterile handkerchief (sterilized by boiling), and load the curd. Press lightly so that the curd are not compressed together, but instead retain air spaces within the cheese.

6. Leave in the press overnight

7. The next morning, remove from the press, and create air hole by inserting a sterilized rod, about 1/4 inch in diameter (6 mm) through the cheese every inch or so. This is to allow air to enter the cheese which is necessary for growth of the mold. [I used a phillips screwdriver which had been dipped in Vodka. One could also boil to sterilize. You do NOT want to introduce bacterial contamination in these air holes.]

8. Rub the surface lightly with salt, and place the aerated cheese on a dry sterile handkerchief. Fold the cloth over to lightly cover.

9. Place on a non corrosive rack to encourage air circulation around the cheese.

10. Place the cheese on the rack in a "cool box" which will hold the temperature around 10 C (50 F). Here I am using a refrigerator in our basement which stays around this temperature during the late winter when I made this cheese. If you can turn the thermostat high enough to maintain this temperature, that will work fine.

11. Monitor the temperature and humidity. The temperature should be around 10 C, and the humidity around 70%. You can elevate the humidity with a pan of water in the bottom of the "cool box." Since the cheese will be aged unwaxed, this high humidity is important so that the cheese does not dry out. On the other hand, if it is "dripping wet" so that the cheese "weeps," the cheese will spoil.

12. Turn the cheese daily, replace the handkerchief with a dry sterile one if it appears wet.

13. After a week or ten days, a white "bloom" appears on the surface of the cheese. Note that the holes I made are filled with the bloom. They should have been larger so that air would not be excluded from the interior of the cheese. Indeed, after a month and a half, the outside had developed a white with green bloom, but the interior (I cut it open), lacked any green. I replaced it in the "cool box" and within two weeks, the interior exhibited the characteristic coloring.

14. Here is the finished blue cheese after two months. Note the marbling of the interior with Penicillium. It could doubtless be aged longer, but it is utterly delicious as it is.

15. Here is a closer look at the bloom on the rind, and the appearance of the sliced cheese. Wish you could taste it.
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BAKER'S CHEESE

Baker's cheese is made from skimed milk so it is a natural for powdered milk. This is the procedure for about a pound of cheese from a gallon of milk.

1. Mix up a gallon of milk from powder. I used one gallon of water and 388 gr powdered milk. Alternatively, use a gallon of 1% milk.

2. Heat to 90F and add 1/8 tsp EZAL culture or whatever you use as equivalent.

3. A few drops of rennet in 1/4 cup water is added to milk.

4. Let sit for 8 hrs if you can keep the temp at about 90F or overnight at room temp. Actual target is pH of 4.5 if you have a way to measure it.

5. Pour curds and whey into cheesecloth lined colander and then hang up to drain for 15 minutes.

6. Press bag lightly between boards and drain until "moist but not wet". This take about 2 hrs.

The cheese can then be refrigerated till needed. It is also, one of the few cheeses that freezes well.
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Stirred-Curd Cheddar Cheese

Heat milk to 90 degrees, add culture (1/2c buttermilk per 2 gals milk) Cover and hold at 90 degrees for 45 minutes.

Add rennet, hold at 90 degrees for 45 minutes.

Cut curds and let sit 15 minutes.

Stir curds and warm to 100 degrees over the next 30 minutes.

Hold for 30 minutes at 100 degrees.

Drain curds and put back in pot. Add salt (1T per gallon milk) and stir to mix it in, separating curds.

Allow curds to sit at 100 degrees for 1 hour (stir when necessary to keep curds from sticking together)

Press curds and allow to dry 2-3 days

Wax curd and age (2-6 months, even longer for sharp cheese).
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Swiss Cream Cheese
Source: Glengarry Cheesemaking & Dairy Supply
Batch size: 2 or 3 litres, skim or whole milk, full cream or raw milk, from cow or goat
Expected yield: 20% by volume. From 3 litres of whole milk, you would get 600 grams of cheese. (approximate 1 1/3 pounds). The yield goes down as the fat content of the milk drops.

Room temperature: 20-24 degrees C. (68 - 75 degrees F.)

i n g r e d i e n t s:
2 -3 litres skim or whole milk (goat or cow), full cream or raw milk (2 - 3.25 quarts)
200 ml mesophilic culture (10% by volume) or 1/4 tsp mesophilic powder culture for 2 litres or 1/2 tsp for 3 litres, or 1/4 tsp mesophilic pellets (Hensen R703)
2-3 drops of liquid Rennet

In a clean pot, pasteurize milk at 62 C or 145 F and hold for 20 mn, if using raw milk

Cool milk down to 20-24 C in a cool water bath

Add 200 ml mesophilic culture (10% by volume) or 1/4 tsp mesophilic powder culture for 2 litres or 1/2 tsp for 3 litres, or 1/4 tsp mesophilic pellets (Hensen R703). Mix well into the milk.

Add 2-3 drops of liquid rennet and stir well.

Cover the pot and allow the milk to set at room temperature until a firm curd forms. It will take 14-16 hrs.

Once a firm curd has formed and one can see some clear whey on the top of the curd, pour the entire curd into a cheesecloth draining bag and let drip for 8-12 hrs until bag feels slightly damp.

Remove the cream cheese from the bag and store in a clean container, salt and herb to taste. You can use fresh or dry herbs. Product will keep for 2 weeks in the refrigerator.