[Cheese] Using raw milk

[Jack Schmidling]

Doug Snyder wrote:
> Those are cultures that help create specific flavor (among other  
> things).  You would use them whether using raw milk or pasteurized  
> milk.  You can absolutely make cheese without them.....

I thought so too until I tried it.

My first unpasteurized milk cheese was a total loss.  After 5 hours, the 
pH was exactly where it was when I started it.

I then did a bit more research and learned that it is nearly impossible 
to make good cheese without external cultures.  Not because of flavor 
but because there just is not enough native flora to get things going in 
a reasonable amount of time.

The old dairy maid would always use a starter from yesterday's cheese to 
get the current one going.  The native flora will add character and 
flavor to a cheese but should not be counted on to produce the proper 
acidification of a fresh batch of cheese.

The sourdough analogy is not a good one because it also requires a 
culture to get started.  One can, with lots of luck, create a culture by 
just exposing the nutrient to the atmosphere but it is a very 
inefficient way to do it.  If one gets lucky and produces a usable 
culture, one would keep this going by regular nurturing and use this as 
the starter for future batches.

One can purchase a cheese culture and nurture it for years and never buy 
  again but it is risky business and the stuff is cheap enough.  It is 
not worth gambling the raw materials and time to save a few pennies.

js

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