Friday, April 17, 2015

Cheese making in the RV

Chad's Quick and Easy Cheese

(Requires about 4 hours and sitting overnight)

Ingredients
1 gallon whole milk 
1/4 rennet tablet (also known as Fromase) - We purchased it from Amazon.com
1/2 + 1 Tablespoon fine sea salt
1 Tablespoon white vinegar

Other required items
4 women's knee high socks (This works better than cheesecloth and we found it for $1 at the Dollar Store)
thermometer
butter knife
spoon or fork 
large slotted spoon
large pot 
colander


Dissolve rennet in a cup of warm water.  Stir the rennet/water mixture with a spoon or fork.



Put the milk in a large stock pot and heat to 90 degrees.  Stir frequently.  After the milk is heated, add 1/2 Tablespoon of fine sea salt, 1 Tablespoon of white vinegar, and the rennet/water mixture. Stir very thoroughly back and forth for 5 minutes.

  Let sit for about 1 hour. You will notice it will start to become firm.  Check to make sure that the cheese has a "clean break", which means that when you dip your finger in, your finger comes out clean.


Cut the cheese in a grid pattern with a knife.  Make sure that you cut all the way through the cheese to the bottom of the pot.  Let sit for another hour. 



Warm up the mixture over very low heat.  The mixture should now look soupy.
Take one of the knee highs and spread it over a medium sized colander.



Using the slotted spoon, spoon 1/4 of the mixture into the sock in the colander and let the whey drain out.  Hang it above the sink to drain.  Repeat with the other three socks.  Let them drain for a couple hours.


Tie the cheese balls in the socks together.  Twist them to squeeze any remaining whey out.  


Let them sit in salted (1 Tablespoon), ice water for 12 hours.  The water should have enough salt to taste good.


Remove the cheese balls from the water and let sit to drain for 30 min - 1 hour.  Unwrap the cheese from the socks and it should cut nicely and have a nice rich flavor.


Bon appetit!




2 comments:

  1. I realize this was posted long ago, but I just came across it. In my dreaming of having an RV, I was thinking about making cheese. (I am odd that way.) Have you tried this with DRY whole milk? Thank you!

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    Replies
    1. No, we’ve never tried it with DRY whole milk. I don’t think that would work too well. Thanks for visiting and commenting!

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