She works at a winery and her place of work sells cheese kits, rennet, culture, molds etc.
We had a great time and even though this wasn't my very first time making cheese ( made very soft cheese with rennet tablets) it was definitely a learning experience cause I haven't dabbled in it much.
Here you see our colander of curds. We started with 4 litres of milk and are making a harder cheese (cheddar). We are about to add salt and break them up to help drain more whey off the curds.
Here we have added 50lb weights to compress the curds and get more whey (liquid) squeezed out. Dumbbells are good for something!
I had to change my weight.. now it is set at 30 lbs... after an hour the 40lb dumbbell placed on top fell and damaged my sink. Yeah, I wasn't too happy. It is a lot more secure now but not as much weight. I need a cheese press...
This is the excess whey that came off the curds. We are reheating it to 200 degrees, will add vinegar and it will break away more protein and we will make Ricotta cheese.
Here is the Ricotta cheese hanging in the Muslin bag draining the excess whey. Once done with the whey you can feed it to animals or dump it. One suggestion we read was add a juice powder to it (such as Koolaid or gatoraid) and drink it. Great energy and high protein drink!
Tomorrow I will take the weight off the Cheddar and pull the cheese out of the form (mold), rub some salt on it, sit it on a wooden board covered in cheese cloth for 2-4 days. I will then "paint" or "dip" it in wax and let sit for a month before eating.
As for the Ricotta cheese. It is a softer, crumbly cheese and I will make sure it is drained well and put it in a Tupperware container for good eats!
I'll try and remember to put pictures up of the end result.
WOW! I'm SUPER impressed!! hehe, and kinda wish I could have been there to learn.... awesomeness :)
ReplyDeleteWOW. That was cool. I LOVE stuff like this.
ReplyDeleteHey, where do you get the cheese curds? I'm always on the lookout for them. Blake loves them and you could find them in Ontario no problem. Here, it's another story. I saw them at Coop once but they don't always stock them. I've also seen them at a specialty shop, but wasn't willing to forfeit my right arm and leg to buy them.
Cheers
jo
PS: do you wear a dutch cap and shoes when you make cheese? HAHAHAHA
Very cool!!! you'll have to give us a review when the cheese is ready. I love curds. Or squeaky cheese as I call them :)
ReplyDelete