Yogurt-Cultured Hard Cheese

Making cheese is both fun and rewarding, but it is a process that must be carefully followed. A by product of cheese is whey, which is high in protein. I save the whey and have a glass each day (doesn’t taste particularly good though), be careful, it sort rips through you. For the milk, make sure you don’t buy ultra high pasteurized (UHT/UP). This is the most common milk sold in stores, so you probably have to get yours at a store that cares about your health.

Ingredients

  • 2 Gals Fresh Milk – whole milk
  • 2 oz Yogurt – Unflavored Greek diluted with 2 TBS milk
  • 0.25 tsp Rennet – diluted with 4 oz distilled water
  • 2 TBS Cheese Salt – or non-iodized salt like Kosher salt

Process

  1. Mise en place – measure and prepare your ingredients prior to starting.
  2. Heat milk to 90 deg F (32 C), over med heat. Take your time and let the milk slowly warm.
  3. Remove from heat.
  4. Add the diluted yogurt, pouring through a slotted spoon and stirring with an up/down motion of ~1 min.
  5. Cover and allow milk to ferment undisturbed for ~10 mins.
  6. Add diluted rennet to the fermented milk in the same manner as the yogurt, stirring for 1 min.
  7. Place pot in a bath of 90 deg. F water.
  8. Let sit undisturbed until it achieves a clean break (solid curds form a top layer).
  9. Cut the curds into 1″ cubes and let set for 15 mins. Keep bath water temp at 90 deg. F.
  10. Pour off whey (liquid) and heat curds over med heat to 100 deg F.
  11. Ladle off any additional whey that forms.
  12. Line a colander with cheese cloth (at least 2 layers thick) and ladle in curds.
  13. Work in salt with wooden spoon and hands.
  14. Pick up cheese cloth by corners and form a closed sack. Slip cloth bag into a mold or press and apply pressure just to when the whey begins to flow. Leave at that pressure for 12 hours.
  15. Flip cheese in mold/press and reapply pressure until the whey starts to flow. Leave in press for 12 hours.
  16. Remove cheese from cloth and set on a reed or plastic drying pad in a warm place away from sunlight.
  17. Dry cheese a few days flipping 3-4 times per day.
  18. Wipe off mold spots that may occur with a piece of cheese cloth dipped in apple vinegar and dry with a paper towel.
  19. Rub butter over cheese where ever mold spots appear.
  20. Age 3-4 weeks.
  21. Can eat after 3 weeks by scraping away butter. Best if eaten with 12 weeks old.
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