Cheese-making

[Rico]

Thanks, Nina - I have read that in a place or two, but the recipe calls specifically for pasteurized goats milk and omits any mention of calcium chloride - I've refrained from getting any for that reason; it seems like a too-obvious ingredient to accidentally leave out, right?

[andiesenji]

You do need calcium chloride for pasteurized milk - actually the ultra-homogenized stuff - because otherwise curds will not be firm and your results will be a grainy mix which is unsuitable for making cheese.

I've been making my own cream cheese, chevre, and other fresh cheeses for decades and also made some aged cheeses in the past but no longer. At my age it is easier to order the good stuff.

I sold my big cheese press with which I could press several small cheeses or one large cheese so I no longer have the equipment for pressing them.

Edited June 26, 2013 by heidih (log)

[Rico]

Okay, so I'm adding Calcium Chloride to the Cabecou - what I've read seems to have volume ratios, but I'm gathering that as small an amount as 1/8 teaspoon should do it for 2 quarts of goat milk ... will report back unless soon instructed otherwise.

Meanwhile, though, my frustration got the best of me and I strayed. I made some mozzarella with a gallon of raw milk from a farm I'm lucky to have very near my house. Quick and easy, and paired with a tomato just pulled from the vine out back, it made for a nice lunch and a necessary success on this cheesemaking quest ...

Edited June 26, 2013 by Rico (log)

[nickrey]

Make sure you dissolve the calcium chloride in water before adding. I use a 32% solution.

Good looking mozzarella.

Edited June 26, 2013 by nickrey (log)

[Rico]

Thanks, Nick. It's nice to know I can at least fall back to mozzarella when I need a confidence boost.

I added the calcium chloride (dissolved in chlorine-free water), the culture, 2 drops rennet (also dissolved in chlorine-free water), and stirred gently. Didn't see any changes immediately. Should I have? The recipe says to wait 18 hours for the curds, so I imagine I shouldn't be worried.

Right?

[nickrey]

Thanks, Nick. It's nice to know I can at least fall back to mozzarella when I need a confidence boost.

I added the calcium chloride (dissolved in chlorine-free water), the culture, 2 drops rennet (also dissolved in chlorine-free water), and stirred gently. Didn't see any changes immediately. Should I have? The recipe says to wait 18 hours for the curds, so I imagine I shouldn't be worried.

Right?

With the calcium chloride it probably won't take 18 hours.

As Andiesenji said, it is likely homogenisation that is your problem. This blasts the fat particles into little bits and makes it really hard for them to knit together as curds; doubly so as it is goat's milk which doesn't form a curd anywhere near as easily as sheep or cow milk.

[Rico]

Okay, the calcium chloride seemed to work, but I didn't take into account my own lack of foresight when placing the ripening milk on top of the washing machine - much to my horror, I found the machine running not an hour later, giving the milk a good shake and ensuring no large curds formed.

So now I'm ordering more of the culture the recipe calls for, and have found myself wondering also about this Crescenza recipe - she says this is a cheese that is traditionally made from raw milk and is left overnight to ripen. Her recipe, however, calls for pasteurized milk, calcium chloride, and rennet. This leads me to a few questions ...

If I can get raw milk, should I just gently heat it to desired temp, add the cultures and let them do their thing?

If I get pasteurized milk, it's likely only going to be ultra-pasteurized. I can't seem to find the low-temp-pasteurized stuff anywhere. Would that mean I'd need to add extra calcium chloride to the 1/4 teaspoon the recipe calls for (to 1/4 teaspoon regular-strength liquid rennet)?

And last, how does calcium chloride affect cultures, if at all?

[nickrey]

I made up some feta a few days ago and followed my normal recipe, draining the cheese in a mould, then placing on a rack to drain, then drying for a few days. At this stage, I put it in a 23% brine solution for the time recommended in Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking. I then put it in a 10% brine solution and into the fridge to cool down as I intended vacuum sealing the cheese in bags.

The cheese felt a bit spongy and not like feta but I felt that brine maturing it would make it more like traditional feta.

On vacuum sealing it this morning, I noticed an interesting phenomenon that I thought I'd share.

When the vacuum was drawing out the air prior to sealing a lot of air bubbles came out of the cheese. When the seal was made and the vacuum released, the cheese compressed and suddenly became the texture that I associate with feta.

I haven't cut it open yet as I want to let it mature for a while in the brine. Will post a picture here when I do.

My reason for posting this here is that after normal draining and some drying, it may be worthwhile experimenting with using a vacuum to modify the texture of appropriate cheeses. I use the same technique with fruits such as watermelon to give a very interesting texture.

Has anyone else tried this with cheesemaking?

[Bill Klapp]

I do not make cheese, so nothing to add on that, but I will say that vacuum-sealing some purchased cheeses can utterly destroy the flavor and texture. It depends upon the cheese, I suspect (Parmigiano and other hard cheeses survive well enough), but I recently had two scamorze rendered inedible via vacuum-sealing...

[nickrey]

It is vacuum sealed in brine. It's different from just sealing your purchased cheese.

We had Greek Salad tonight so I cut some of the feta. Here is a cross section.

[Bill Klapp]

I felt sure that was true. Just offering the purchased cheese warning as an aside...

[lesliec]

Looks good, Nick. I'd eat it ...

How different, do you think, is the effect of vacuum sealing compared to placing a weight on the cheese? I realise you were intending to keep the cheese in the brine rather than squashing it to make it denser so it can't be a direct comparison; just interested in an opinion.

Blessed are the cheesemakers.

[nickrey]

For Feta, I'd still let it drain through turning as is my normal process. Then I'll use this as a finishing process. Probably the best way to do this will be to compress without the brine a few times without sealing and remove any liquid that is expelled. Then I'd add the brine, do it again, and seal.

Edited November 11, 2013 by nickrey (log)

[arjunkane]

I really do certainly not make mozzarella dairy product, thus almost nothing to include upon of which, although I'll state of which vacuum-sealing a few obtained cheeses can easily completely ruin this flavor and also consistency. This will depend after this mozzarella dairy product, I believe although I recently got a couple scamorze caused to become inedible through vacuum-sealing.

[glennbech]

Hi,

I made a nice soft cheese today from about 2 liters of whole milk. My plan was to use the curd further - to produce a mozzarella. I saw a basic recipe on youtube where the curd is added to 60c water. I tried this, and my curd dissolved into the water! Fail!

What went wrong?

[andiesenji]

Did you add any calcium chloride to the milk? If you are using regular supermarket milk, ultra pasteurized, you have to add calcium chloride to get a curd that is strong enough.

Here's a link to a page that explains it.

I also add a cup of heavy cream to each liter of "regular" milk to get a better end product and I save the whey to make ricotta - adding a bit of whole milk or half and half to the whey to increase the yield.

[nickrey]

Was the milk homogenised? If so, the fat globules are too dispersed to come together as a coherent curd. I think most people making cheese have done this once.

[glennbech]

Was the milk homogenised? If so, the fat globules are too dispersed to come together as a coherent curd. I think most people making cheese have done this once.

Definitly homognised milk yes. The curd was not very lumpy, but I strained it through a cheesecloth and the soft cheese firmed up good when I chilled it. Is it a problem making Mozerella from curd when the milk is homogenized?

[glennbech]

Did you add any calcium chloride to the milk? If you are using regular supermarket milk, ultra pasteurized, you have to add calcium chloride to get a curd that is strong enough.

Here's a link to a page that explains it.

I also add a cup of heavy cream to each liter of "regular" milk to get a better end product and I save the whey to make ricotta - adding a bit of whole milk or half and half to the whey to increase the yield.

Doh. The blogger fails to mention how much Calcium Chloride to add as a factor of the milk. Do you know?

[andiesenji]

Did you add any calcium chloride to the milk? If you are using regular supermarket milk, ultra pasteurized, you have to add calcium chloride to get a curd that is strong enough.

Here's a link to a page that explains it.

I also add a cup of heavy cream to each liter of "regular" milk to get a better end product and I save the whey to make ricotta - adding a bit of whole milk or half and half to the whey to increase the yield.

Doh. The blogger fails to mention how much Calcium Chloride to add as a factor of the milk. Do you know?

Sorry - I buy the liquid from New England Cheesemaking and I use 1/4 teaspoon per gallon as suggested but am not rigorous about it - sometimes a few drops more get into it.

They also suggest not using it for mozzarella, but I have and it certainly works better with it than without. Soft cheeses are okay without it but as I said, I like to use the whey to make ricotta and that ONLY works with the use of the calcium.

[nickrey]

Was the milk homogenised? If so, the fat globules are too dispersed to come together as a coherent curd. I think most people making cheese have done this once.

Definitly homognised milk yes. The curd was not very lumpy, but I strained it through a cheesecloth and the soft cheese firmed up good when I chilled it. Is it a problem making Mozerella from curd when the milk is homogenized?

That was your problem

Use non-homogenised milk and it will work.

[annabelle]

Aren't most cheeses produced with an ersatz rennet these days? 

[Plantes Vertes]

I have no idea about the percentages of cheese that use ersatz rather than natural rennet (from my experience this differs greatly from country to country), but real Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano PDO is made with natural rennet as far as I know.

[cyalexa]

I'm new to cheesemaking and am about to make my first mozzarella. I found a source of unpasteurized milk (no small feat in Oklahoma, and it's not too far from my house!). It is not homogenized. Do I need to make any adjustments to address the tendency for the cream to rise to the top? 

[andiesenji]

Just mix it well with a whisk before adding the coagulating agent.