Turned that Milk into Cheese

We spent a whole day this week playing in the kitchen and making our first farmhouse cheddar in months. We used the non homogenized milk that we describe in the previous post. The pictures tell the story.

Preparing the thermometer

Used a hot plate to avoid having the old canner on the glass-topped range.

Setting up the camcorder. Never know when a video might came in handy.

Used butter muslin, cheese cloth, rennet, and a mesophilic bacteria culture. all purchased from New England Cheesemaking Supply.

Heated the milk. Added the bacteria and rennet. Heating again.

Waiting and waiting. Twiddling our thumbs.

At last.  We cut the curds and separated the whey.

Drained most of the whey into the bowl and hung the curds to finish the draining.

A wider view of the sophisticated draining apparatus.

Cheese is in the cheese press, wrapped in cheese cloth.

Twelve houses later the cheese is out of the press being bandaged in cheese cloth for drying.

Neatness counts.

We'll age this one until the last day of our cheese course at local Santa Fe College. We hope it is good enough to bring to the Tasting on the final day of class. Need to turn it over everyday to keep it lovely shape.

We substituted whey for broth in a recipe for cabbage soup. Yummy!