Making Cheese

[TheFuzzy]

Folks,

I'm about to order rennet. Does anyone have an opinion about Animal vs. Non-animal vs. GMO (I'm tempted to get it just for the un-PC value), in anything they've actually made?

My cheesemaking teacher came out fairly strongly in favor of animal rennet, although we used non-animal in the class.

Also, is there any value to the mozzarella culture which many cheesemaking suppliers sell?

[TheFuzzy]

All,

Just as a warning, the "ricotta" recipe in last month's Saveur magazine is bad. You'll end up with milk porrige.

[Chris Hennes]

All,

Just as a warning, the "ricotta" recipe in last month's Saveur magazine is bad.  You'll end up with milk porrige.

←

Was there anything in particular different about it? Was this the article that began with the author talking about how easy she (he?) thought this would be, and then it turned out much more difficult? I don't have the issue handy, unfortunately, so I can't compare it to my other ricotta recipes.

[jvalentino]

Here's the link for the Saveur recipe-

http://saveur.com/article/Mise-en-Place/Ho...Ricotta-At-Home

I've only used buttermilk as a coagulant, but wanted to switch to rennet. Do you think it was just a matter of too much liquid mixed with it or something else?

Jeff

[andiesenji]

All,

Just as a warning, the "ricotta" recipe in last month's Saveur magazine is bad.  You'll end up with milk porrige.

←

Was there anything in particular different about it? Was this the article that began with the author talking about how easy she (he?) thought this would be, and then it turned out much more difficult? I don't have the issue handy, unfortunately, so I can't compare it to my other ricotta recipes.

←

If you are using commercial milk (the ultra-pasteurized stuff), you MUST add calcium chloride to it or you will not get the proper curd formation no matter what kind of coagulant you use.

Check the ingredients at this site.

[TheFuzzy]

Was there anything in particular different about it? Was this the article that began with the author talking about how easy she (he?) thought this would be, and then it turned out much more difficult? I don't have the issue handy, unfortunately, so I can't compare it to my other ricotta recipes.

←

Yeah, apparently it's a bad idea to heat mild for a rennet-set cheese to 200F (ricotta is normally acid-set). You're basically ultra-pasturizing the cheese yourself; the curds won't coagulate well (according to Jim at Cheesemaking.com, as well as my own experience). I went through about 4 yards of cheesecloth sieving and squeezing to get any cheese out of it at all -- and in the end was able to salvage only about 8oz out of over a gallon of premium raw milk. That 8oz tasted pretty good, but wow, the expense ... $21 for less than a pound of cheese!

Also, the time for coagulation and the amount of rennet are both wrong as well as the possible yield, which says to me that the Saveur staff never actually tested the recipe as written.

Anyone recommend a particular cheesemaking book?

Edited September 5, 2008 by TheFuzzy (log)

[Adam Balic]

One thing that I'm curious about in this recipe is that it isn't ricotta as I thought I new it, basically is cottage cheese or curd cheese. My understanding was that "ricotta" implied a bit more then that.

Even when I have made it using whole milk, rather then whey, the curds were heated then skimmed out and placed in a mould.

[dougal]

Agreed, Adam.

The point about "ricotta" is that its re-cooked (ri-cotta) whey. Not curd. It is a means of extracting value from the leftovers after primary (curd) cheesemaking.

Dr Fankhauser gives one such method:

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/Chees.../RICOTTA_00.HTM

[Chris Hennes]

The book I have, "Home Cheese Making" by Ricki Carroll, has two recipes for "ricotta" -- one of them is called "Whole-Milk Ricotta" and says this:

Traditionally, ricotta is made by reheating the whey after making cheese from ewe's milk. ... This simple variation uses whole milk from the grocery store instead of whey; the resulting ricotta has a good flavor and a high yield.

In this recipe she heats the whole milk with citric acid to between 185 and 195, stirring frequently. As soon as the curds and whey separate the pot is removed from the heat and sits for ten minutes. Then it is ladled through butter muslin. She says you should get 1.5-2 pounds from a gallon of whole milk. Her traditional recipe calls for heating the whey and cider vinegar to 200F and yields 1 cup from 2 gallons of fresh whey.

[Adam Balic]

Quite, the Saveur article's recipe is simple drained curd. I'm pretty sure that the heating step will give a different flavour and texture to the final product.

So what the Saveur article is saying is "We tried various methods for making whole milk ricotta and found we actually prefer cottage cheese."

[toweringpine]

I once made cheese from powdered milk while on a long canoe trip. I doubt it would be worth doing at home where you could do much better but fresh cheese on day ten of the trip made the world a little cheerier!

[TheFuzzy]

So what the Saveur article is saying is "We tried various methods for making whole milk ricotta and found we actually prefer cottage cheese."

←

Well, where I say that the recipe is a failure is that they heat the milk without citric acid, then use rennet to coagulate it (not acid), and instruct you to give the rennet only 10 minutes. The result was that I got less than half the yield from my $16/gallon milk than expected, because the curds didn't form well and couldn't be sieved out.

The fancy cottage cheese I ended up with was very good ... but not worth over $16/lbs. And the amount of work actually required was much greater than described (using large amounts of cheesecloth and squeezing out the whey, several times).

Ricotta, ultimately, is simply very-small-curd cottage cheese.

So, again ... book recommendations? Is the Ricki Carroll book the best for a home cheesemaker, or is another one?

Edited September 6, 2008 by TheFuzzy (log)

[Chris Hennes]

So, again ... book recommendations?  Is the Ricki Carroll book the best for a home cheesemaker, or is another one?

←

I can't say whether it is "the best" since it's the only one I've got, but I find her fresh cheese recipes quite reliable, and they mostly hew to traditional ways of making the products, or at least discuss the divergences. My biggest tip for you is one you've just discovered for yourself: don't use expensive milk on recipes you have never made before . If fresh cheese is all you are looking for, though, the Carroll book is going to be overkill for you, since a lot of it discusses aged cheese. I have yet to make one successfully, in three tries, but I haven't given up just yet.

[TheFuzzy]

Chris,

OK, thanks. Ordered it through my local bookstore. We'll see.

Aged cheese would be fun, but realistically, I have no space (SF apartment). However, if I can make my own ricotta, paneer, queso fresco, etc., I'll be pretty happy. And the microwave mozzarella.

[dougal]

...

So, again ... book recommendations?  Is the Ricki Carroll book the best for a home cheesemaker, or is another one?

←

Before buying any book, I'd suggest first familiarising yourself with the excellent material on Dr Fankhauser's site

http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/cheese.html

His suggestion for a DIY cheese press does depend largely on the availability of something like his pan.

IMHO, it would generally be simpler to build one's own press in the style of a 'Dutch Press', with a pivoted lever arm.

http://www.ascott-dairy.co.uk/acatalog/Dut...Press-DP43.html

One thing to beware of, if you start pressing cheese, is the prevalence of superficially specific - but actually vague or misleading - recipe advice regarding the pressing force.

What matters is the pressure applied to the top of the cheese. Not the force applied!

For a specific diameter of 'hoop' (mould), the pressure produced will be proportional to the force applied. Change the hoop size (radius or diameter, the height doesn't matter), and the same specified force gives a different pressure!

And with the Dutch Press, the weight is hung from the end of the lever arm. Consequently, with different presses, one needs to be aware of the lever lengths (or rather proportions) to calculate the force that the lever delivers to each press's piston.

I've seen so many cheese recipes that specify a weight to apply, without explicitly mentioning the hoop size or even the type of press. If you aren't using the same type and size of press that the writer assumes, your result will be very different.

The pressures required are actually pretty gentle, of the order of a couple of psi, but you might not realise that from reading of "50lb weights" in some farm-scale recipes!

The thing is that a constant gentle pressure needs to be applied for several hours - so a simple screw press is probably the least suitable type - because it doesn't follow the shrinking cheese.

Particularly with small presses, an occasional small tap or vibration will help to overcome friction (or stiction!) in the cylinder and any joints, and allow the proper pressure to be applied to the cheese.

The big eye-opener for me was just how much milk one needed to get an appreciable weight of curd. So a very large saucepan is the starting point...

Edited September 9, 2008 by dougal (log)

[Sony]

Hello all,

I hope there's someone out there with experience making goat cheese (soft or chevre-style).....is it possible to make this at home without rennet? I've seen a few recipes floating out there that use mostly goat's milk, some buttermilk, but all include liquid or tablet rennet.

Please advise if it's not necessary and another coagulant (e.g. lemon juice, vinegar) can be used. I'd like to make cheese for a friend with dietary restrictions this weekend and am not sure I'd be able to get my hands on vegetarian rennet as quickly as I'd like.

Thanks!

[andiesenji]

Hello all,

I hope there's someone out there with experience making goat cheese (soft or chevre-style).....is it possible to make this at home without rennet? I've seen a few recipes floating out there that use mostly goat's milk, some buttermilk, but all include liquid or tablet rennet.

Please advise if it's not necessary and another coagulant (e.g. lemon juice, vinegar) can be used. I'd like to make cheese for a friend with dietary restrictions this weekend and am not sure I'd be able to get my hands on vegetarian rennet as quickly as I'd like.

Thanks!

←

I have made a lot of goat cheese. It is easy.

You do need both a culture and a coagulant, otherwise it won't taste like anything but cottage cheese and won't form a strong curd.

Excellent instructions are HERE and there is explanation of the how and why.

You can also find some answers here. as well as supplies and etc.

The experts know what they are doing and won't steer you wrong.

I don't know where you are located but any health food store will have vegetarian rennet and will probably have a culture that will work - you can use one of the yogurt cultures in a pinch.

explaned here

Edited September 11, 2008 by andiesenji (log)

[Sony]

Thank you so much, andiesenji! This sounds like a fun project for the weekend.

[joesan]

I was getting all fired up to make some mozzarella but then I read a couple of posts upthread that say they ended up only with tasteless string cheese. Can anybody confirm that it is worth making any of the 30 minute mozzarella recipes?

Dr Frank looks like he knows what he is talking about but the process to make his mozzarella looks quite involved. Not that it may not be worth taking a more involved approach only that the idea of making mozzarella in 30 minutes is appealing.

What do you think - worth it or not?

[andiesenji]

Note my previous posts on using store-bought milk.

It will not make good cheese because of the process of "ultra-pasteurization" and homogenization.

You must add something to it to change the way the protein chains react. It isn't difficult or time-consuming, but you do have to compensate for the way it is processed.

Read the following, especially the section at the bottom about combining powdered milk with cream.

milk and cheese help

I use calcium chloride and citric acid (I simply use the "sour salt" found in any market in the section where you find Jewish/kosher foods).

I use Ricki's recipe for 30-minute mozzarella

and I use Alta Dena milk because it is a "local" dairy in southern California.

I have in the past gotten milk from a friend locally who has cows (also goats and sheep) and I have a home pasteurizer and process the milk myself prior to making cheese with it.

When I need to use milk with a higher butterfat content, I add manufacturers cream, also Alta Dena and NOT ultra-pasteurized.

[joesan]

Thanks for the pointers - you always seem like a man that knows what he's doing!

Ultra-pastuerization is not a problem for me as I am in Europe and have access to pretty un-adulterated, and even raw milk that is completely as nature intended.

Given that the quality of the milk will be good - I still wonder will the short-hand process produce something mozzarella-like or string cheese-like (albeit fresh-tasting!)?

[andiesenji]

Thanks for the pointers - you always seem like a man that knows what he's doing!

Ultra-pastuerization is not a problem for me as I am in Europe and have access to pretty un-adulterated, and even raw milk that is completely as nature intended.

Given that the quality of the milk will be good - I still wonder will the short-hand process produce something mozzarella-like or string cheese-like (albeit fresh-tasting!)?

←

Yes it will, just as shown in Ricki's demonstration photos. It will stretch to a yard or more.

I prefer to form small balls and brine them for at least 24 hours before slicing and serving with sliced tomato and sweet onions on fresh-baked sourdough bread and topped with fresh basil and drizzled with a very green and fruity olive oil.

[TheFuzzy]

All,

Well, Ricki's book just paid for itself. In her general advice, one thing she notes is that tap water with high colorination can prevent your rennet from working effectively.

Guess what San Francisco tap water has in it?

So the advice is to dilute your rennet in distilled/plain filtered water.

Regarding milk, once you have a recipe you're confident with, there are premium milks which will make your cheese better, particularly if you're making a "fresh" cheese such as queso fresco, panir or whole milk ricotta.

Folks in the Bay Area swear by Straus organic milk, which is flash pastuerized but not homogenized. Best for cheesemaking is their cream top milk, which is truly whole milk. $7 per half gallon, including a $1 deposit on their reusable glass bottles.

At the very high end, Organic Pastures sells raw bottled milk: not homogenized, not pastuerized, just filtered. Note that they do skim the cream and sell it separately, though, forcing you to buy milk + cream to get the whole deal. $8 for a half gallon.

I'd expect that there are similar milks available in New York state, as well as anywhere they have both cows and gourmets and/or health food nuts. Note that if you do use raw milk, it has to be pastuerized for some recipes where the native milk bacteria would interfere with the culured cheese bacteria (according to Ricki Carroll).

Edited September 15, 2008 by TheFuzzy (log)

[dougal]

...  In her general advice, one thing she notes is that tap water with high colorination can prevent your rennet from working effectively.

Guess what San Francisco tap water has in it?

So the advice is to dilute your rennet in distilled/plain filtered water.

...

←

The veggie rennet that I have used does not require 'dilution'. It is simply added dropwise to the incubated milk. Hence the question of what water to dilute it (and thus the cheese) with has never arisen.

I believe virtually all tapwater around the world is chlorinated to some extent.

But I do wonder if Bay Area water really is highly chlorinated?

Its just that I don't recall hearing of this being an SF problem in sourdough discussion. Sourdough cultures are shaped by their environment and can be rather sensitive to chlorination. And with SF's sourdough traditions, I'd have expected to have heard rather a lot about that specific SF problem, if it existed.

[rooftop1000]

I have heard that leaving tap water in a pitcher or something for 12 hours will be enough time for the chlorine to gas off...people do that for their fish tanks also

I dunno I have a private well (G-d knows whats in there but no Chlorine)

tracey

Edited September 16, 2008 by rooftop1000 (log)