HOW TO MAKE CHEESE

Have you ever thought of making cheese at home? If so, you are right to read this blog. Here I will explain how to make cheese at home.

Step 1: Start with fresh and warm milk

The better and fresher the milk you use, the more delicious your cheese will be. I like buying my milk the same day I make it into cheese.

Step 2: Boil the milk

There are many ways to make cheese but the first 'split in the road' is how you acidify milk. One way is to remove acid (vinegar or citric acid) directly into the milk to get the correct acidity. This process (called direct acidification) causes cheese like ricotta and mascarpone. Another way to acidify milk is to add culture, or live bacteria. Given the time, warmth and lack of competing bacteria, this culture will eat lactose in milk, turning it into lactic acid.

Step 3: Add Coagulants

The most common coagulant is rennet, the name for an enzyme that causes proteins in milk to be interconnected. However, the word 'rennet' is rather blurred. Rennet can mean 'traditional rennet' originating from the stomach of an animal. This can mean rennet 'bacteria', sometimes also subtly called 'vegetable rennet', which is derived from recombinant bacteria (using DNA from cells in the stomach of young cattle). Or rennet can come from mushrooms ('microbial' rennet). Using the more general and accurate term 'coagulant', we can add a coagulant 'plant' which can be a sap from a fig tree or milk thistle.

Mix the coagulant into the liquid milk and wait for the gel to form.

Step 4: Gel Strength Test

When you have given enough time to work on the protein in milk, the milk will change from liquid to gel. You can test the 'maturity' of the gel by pressing (with clean hands) onto the surface of the milk.

Step 5: Cut the curds

The next step is to cut the curd from the giant lump into smaller cubes or chunks. You can do this with 'cheese harp', with a knife or even with a shaker. The size you cut the curd will dramatically affect the amount of moisture stored in your final cheese; the smaller the initial cut, the cheese will be drier (and older). And vice versa.

Step 6: Stir, Cook & Wash curds

For a few minutes or even the next hour (depending on the recipe), you will stir the curds in the barrel. Maybe, you will light a fire and cook the curds when you stir. During this phase, the most important thing that happens is that the acid continues to develop inside the curd and, from your stirring motion, the curd dries. The more you cook and the more you stir, the drier your cheese dries.

Washing is the process of removing part of the whey from the barrel and replacing it with water. This produces cheese and cheese paste that is softer, sweeter, and more elastic.

Step 7: Drain the curds

Finally, it's time to separate the curds from whey. You might take this almost final step by simply throwing the contents of the pan into the filter at the sink. You may wait 10 minutes to let the curd settle down then press the curd together at the bottom of the pot before bringing it up and out of the pot in the slice. In general, we work fast at this point in the process because we want to save heat into the curd, encouraging them to reunite to form fine smooth wheels. If we wait too long, the curds become cold and the cheese falls apart.

Step 8: Salt and Cheese Age

After the curd is separated from whey, you can add salt. Or, you can move the curd to the final shape (or basket) and press the cheese into the wheel before salting. If the cheese is marinated, properly acidified and has the right water content in it, cheese can be something more complex. Or it can be eaten immediately - the same time it is made.

Source: https://www.instructables.com/id/Basic-Steps-of-How-to-Make-Cheese/

Picture: Google