A Cheesy New Year Achievment

As anyone who knows me will tell you, I am a cheese fanatic. I could never have too much of the stuff and would quite happily eat it at every meal, if not every day, which I nearly do!
I enjoy my cheese any way, from hard mature, to smelly blue, to camembert soft, to smoked or aged, from creamy to cottage, or ricotta to mascarpone, I love it in all it's forms, that is except for the hideous mass produced 'plastic fantastic' that is foisted on an uneducated consumer and dares to call itself 'cheese'! and anyone who has ever tasted a true cheese made with love and care in the artisan fashion could not possibly tolerate such travesties!

I have always toyed with the idea of making my own cheese at home. Sadly in the past, time never gave me the opportunity, but for this new year I decided that it was something I should make a serious attempt to achieve!

After doing much research online, reading various articles and excerpts from my myriad of cheese books, and watching YouTube videos, there is a great one here.... click here for Alison Brien's fun and informative cheesy channel!
I came to my first cheese making attempt via a recipe from....would you believe it.....a Hare Krishna cookery book! Yes, it's true, no word of a lie!
It never ceases to amaze me where the inspiration for my next recipe can come from, but there you go, the Hare Krishna's have got it going on when it comes to making a quick soft cheese at home!

This is such simple recipe using an easy method that anyone and their granny could replicate at home! and for a first cheese making attempt it's good not to have to worry about thermometers and rennet quantities and all that sort of thing.
As I am a bit of a goats cheese connoisseur, I couldn't resist having a go at making goats cheese.
Unfortunately I don't know anyone who keeps goats, or anywhere that I could get my hands on raw goats milk, so I had to make do with a shop bought goats milk which was pasteurized.......I think the fact that the milk was pasteurized and homogenized affected the flavour of the final product as there wasn't much of that distinctive flavor that goats milk usually has!


So to make your own cheese......

you will need:

1 litre milk .....goats, sheep or cows, as you like
150 g full fat, natural organic yogurt......we are talking real yogurt here!


how to make your cheese.....

• place your milk in a really deep sauce pan...... as we are going to be practically boiling the milk it will need space to rise and you will need room to stir without slopping it over the sides
• heat the milk until it begins to foam and bubble at the edge of the saucepan
• now you need to work quickly.....as soon as the milk foams, turn the heat down and add the yogurt, stirring slowly with a spoon or wooden spatula in one direction only
• after 15 -20 seconds take the saucepan off the heat, stir gently for another minute until large lumps of curd begin to form
• put a lid on the saucepan and set aside for about 10 minutes
• take a round bottom sieve or a colander big enough to hold all your cheese curds but that has very fine holes and place it over a bowl or jug to keep it steady
• begin by spooning the larger curds into the sieve /colander, then pour the remaining whey and curds into the sieve
• if you want to add any salt or cracked black pepper or freshly chopped herbs or garlic etc. then now is the time to do it.
• let the cheese curd drain for about half an hour or so, depending on how firm you want your cheese.......I left mine to drain for 20 minutes
• now divide your cheese curds into molds, or if you don't have any molds you can press them into ramekin dishes or even small shot glasses.....I used small ramekin dishes, pressing the curd in firmly, waiting a few moments and then turning them upside down onto some kitchen paper to soak up any excess liquid
• leave the cheese to cool then store in a suitable container and refrigerate

You can add lots of different flavorings to your cheese, from herbs and spices to even vegetables such as peppers or chopped chilli....play around with flavors but remember once added to store your cheese for a few days to give the flavors time to develop. 

I stored my cheese in the fridge for 3 days then enjoyed one crottin oven baked on a sliced of toasted sourdough with a little red onion, some cranberry chutney and a simple leaf salad with a balsamic and dijon mustard dressing. 

My remaining piece of cheese I have bathed in olive oil and added some fresh rosemary from the garden. I will store it for a few days to let the flavors mingle then sample and see how that went....I'm sure I'll let you know.

I discovered that if you stir the cheese too vigorously the curd will be quite small and not as soft as they can be, stir gently and leave the curds quite large, your cheese will be smoother.

There are lots of varying cheese molds on the market and it is relatively easy to buy molds and cheesecloth online.

Once you have this simple recipe under your belt you might like to try expanding your repertoire and using rennet and different types of milk....who knows you may come up with your own style of cheese and become an artisan producer!

Cheese making is an expensive business......making a good cheese that is! For my 1 litre of milk I ended up with just under 200g of cheese which I made into two 'crottins'.

I think if people really knew the cost and effort behind making a good cheese there would be more appreciation of this great art and less grumbling over the price in the cheese-mongers or market!

  

Nutritionally cheese is very healthful and fabulous! A good hand made, flavorsome cheese is worth every penny and per kilo it is cheaper than meat.......so let's eat more cheese!