I Made Cheese

Oh. My. Gosh. 

I really did it.  I made soft cheese from the cheese starter I ordered from CheeseSupply.com.    And it totally worked, just like Pocket Farm said it would.  And... I ate some at 4:00 p.m. this afternoon and it's like 9:15 at night, and I'm not DEAD yet!  Yay!   

Really.  Here's how I did it, eventhough the pics at Pocket Farm that I linked to yesterday are better.

She shows you her milk with the thermometer all in it and the stove on an stuff.  I was so freaked that I was even trying it (explanations later) that I forgot to take pictures at that point.  And I had to hold my instant read thermometer in the milk because it doesn't have a cool cord thing or one of those clips.  And I had to really watch it so that the milk got to precisely 86 degrees as stated in the enclosed cheese-making directions since my little thermometer only has notches for 80 and 100 degrees.  Um.  Yeah.  So, no pictures of that part of the process.

So there's my milk, and I had already poured the little packet in -- contained like 12 tan grains of something -- malto dextrin, starter bacteria, rennet.  Two of those I can figure out, one I probably should have Googled before I ate the stuff.  Stirred it up, covered it lightly (shedding season, floating hair, ewww) and went to bed.  Hubby asked if I was going to leave the milk in the pan out all night.  After an affirmative answer, he went on for several minutes about that horror movie, The Blob, and about white bubbling stuff running down the front of the stove and eating the kitchen and then the children in their beds -- he thinks he is very funny and chuckled for quite a while, even in the dark as we were dropping off to sleep.

So, this morning, it was kind of firm (like the directions said it would be).  It smelled and looked a lot like yogurt, but I didn't taste any (see below).  I scooped it into the cheese cloth and hung it up to drip for the 6 hours I'd be at work.  Two different hanging mechanisms here.  Both worked.

When we got home at 3:30 or so, there was a definite smell in the kitchen.  You know the smell.  But when I threw away the water in the pans, (the dripping was finished) the smell went with it.  I opened the pouches and inside were two clumps of cheese -- pure white, tangy smelling, firmish but not rubbery.  I mixed one of them with a little herb mix I had (Pampered Chef Spinach and Smokey Red Pepper dip mix) and tried a bite.  It was really, really good.  So I mixed up one of the two batches with enough of this herb dip mix to color it, put it in the fridge, and went to sing at the Fish Fry (sold out of fish if anyone is interested, and Jenn came to see us sing). 
When I got home, I fixed myself some of this for dinner.  Over exposed, I know, and you can't see the little herby bits, but that cracker is gone and there aren't any more.  Sorry.  [smile -- and it was very good]

An aside:  I and my family are totally city folk, absolutely disconnected from our food chain, and the thought of leaving milk on the counter overnight and eating it skeezes us out so totally and completely that I can't fully explain it.  The thought of canning my own fruit or veggies (not freezing, I get the science of that) is beyond my endurance -- what if I mess it up and it kills me.  You cannot imagine how much it has taken me to eat this.  And even more to LOVE it.  But I do.  Husband?  Not so much.  All of a sudden, he's not "that kind of cheese" kind of guy -- he likes hard cheese now.  The kind you have to age forever.  The kind he's pretty sure I won't attempt to make in our kitchen. 

Yogurt is next.

Comments

[Scout]

Haaaaaaaaaaaaa! This post made me totally crack up!!! Skeezes you out. HA!

[Pat K]

Now I've made yogurt. But cheese would be pretty cool. I love cheese. Cheese with herbs. Hmmmmm.

[Ruth]

I've made yogurt before. It's easy.

[Carole]

I think it's awesome that you tried something new and liked it. Good for you for moving outside your comfort zone!

[Michelle]

Good for you! looks great!
I'd feel iby jibby about leaving milk on the stove overnight too..my cat would drink it.....lol well and of course being a city girl at heart myself....
funny how Dhs can quickly change their minds and they see it being totally justified....lol

[Jennifer]

Congratulations on making your first cheese! Although I have to say, it would be hard for me to eat any of it too.

[Lucia]

If you really want to skeeve out your husband, tell him you're serving squirrel pie for dinner. (You could use chicken, and he'd never know the difference, especially as he'd never touch it.)

[sarahkate]

I would totally eat your stovetop cheese. I do not fear unusual foodstuffs, as long as they are not animal in origin (consuming strange sausages is a hobby of my husband's. I leave questionable meats to him.) My mom and nonna used to can when I was small. I've done it once or twice, but I fear the preasure cooker, so it's not a normal occurence. Anyway, I hope the cheese is yummy, it looks awesome.

[Jenn]

Friday night was fun! Definitely worth re-entering the depths of a church basement. And I, with a degree that had plenty of food science courses, can attest that your cheese should be perfectly fine. And that canning green beans can kill you, so don't try that at home. But jelly is easy and safe! Try that if you get a canning bug.

[Cindy]

I'm so impressed. There's a goat farm in the county where they have cheese making classes. I'm so tempted. I have made yogurt. It is so much better than store-bought. I encourage you. We add Splenda or sugar and fruit or whatever. It is wonderful.

[Lucinda (That other Cindy)]

Cheese! Yum.

Chris' Needle Craft Supplies on Olive near 141 is open until 7 p.m. during the week, by the way. They are having an Anniversary Sale right now, but I'm not sure how long the sale will be going on.

[Liz]

Hey, congrats on making the cheese! The only reason I was able to document with pictures is because I've made chevre many times, and wasn't nervous anymore! Don't fear things like homemade cheese, and definitely give yogurt a try (I have instructions for that on my blog, too). Good eats!