Making cheese at home

Recipes, Cooking tips and maybe some 'Home Made' secrets !
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albertajune
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Making cheese at home

Post by albertajune »

I feel like having a go at making some cheeses at home. I can remember my grandmother making her own soft cheese from sour milk which was great. A couple of well known supermarkets sell organic unhomogenised milk and rennet can be bought online. Not a lot of equipment needed either.
I'd be interested to know if anyone here makes it. I know that Manda does and if she reads this, is it worth doing?
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Freeranger
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Re: Making cheese at home

Post by Freeranger »

I've tried crowdie (or paneer Indian equivalent) and don't think I got it right.It tasted of the lime juice I'd used to set it off, and that's not a nice combination. I'd like to learn, though, and especially how to make good old cottage cheese as well as some of the harder ones.
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manda
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Re: Making cheese at home

Post by manda »

June I would say absolutely it's worth it ...if you have the time it will while away a few moments to a few hours if you're so inclined.
Soft cheeses are easy and the time involved isn't huge...once you've got them prepared and to the straining stage then you can leave them to get on with it so they are less labour intensive and don't need much input after that. They don't need much in the way of equipment either.

This link is quite useful as it has 3 ways to make cottage cheese - give slightly different flavours so can decide which you prefer.
Cottage cheese 3 methods

Paneer..... Freeranger I wonder if you put the lemon juice all in one go? Have you tried putting the amount in a little at a time...you may find you don't use as much and so the cheese doesn't get tainted (or maybe if you used lime juice it was too much taste wise...might be worth experimenting)

Harder cheeses on the other hand do need a little more equipment and are more labour intensive and once you start you are committed really but again I think they're worth it because you decide (well hopefully or they can be an epic fail LOL...it happens!!)

This guy David Fankhauser's cheese page is fabulous. He used to have a cheese page at the university where he is a professor (no idea why lol!!) but he is brilliant for making cheese using things around the home or improvising in some way....I started making cheese using his page a lot and it let me decide whether I wanted to keep making it. There are lots of cheese both hard and soft all in one place ....and he also has the way to make clotted cream +f+
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Freeranger
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Re: Making cheese at home

Post by Freeranger »

Brilliant post, Manda. Thank you. I'm going to try again!
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albertajune
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Re: Making cheese at home

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Thank you for the link Manda. I am keen to have a go as I have for some reason gone off supermaket cheese. I am waiting for 2 books on order to arrive then I can get started. Lovely to here from you and hope life is still good. Xx
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Re: Making cheese at home

Post by manda »

Glad they were useful...hopefully they will get things going.... I LOVE making cheese...you have to clear your mind, focus and just "be"....well that's what it's like for me anyway :-D
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albertajune
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Re: Making cheese at home

Post by albertajune »

Manda. Can you recommend a thermometer for cheese making. Been looking on line but they all look so different. Your help will be much appreciated. {hug}
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fabindia
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Re: Making cheese at home

Post by fabindia »

Some good ideas Manda. We certainly need to have a go here in India. We make paneer -but use lemon juice which doesn't taint the cheese at all. Although milk is available in abundance here there no decent cheese - it is all processed cheese - which is pretty awful. Maybe something to do with the climate that stops them making decent cheese.
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manda
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Re: Making cheese at home

Post by manda »

albertajune wrote:Thank you for the link Manda. I am keen to have a go as I have for some reason gone off supermaket cheese. I am waiting for 2 books on order to arrive then I can get started. Lovely to here from you and hope life is still good. Xx


This is what I use June
https://www.amazon.com/Tel-Tru-Stainles ... B00DHO12SK" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Sorry I didn't see this :oops:
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Living our version of the Good Life with 4 dogs, 6 cats, a cow, a few sheep, Angora Goats and ???? chooks.
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albertajune
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Re: Making cheese at home

Post by albertajune »

Already bought the same )t' Thanks Manda x
I am now a widow and live with my memories.
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