[Cheese] List Activity

[Jack Schmidling]

Albert Ortiz wrote:
> I know.  I do buy cream whenever i try to make a batch of cheese.  The only
> starter that i have readly available is yogurt, plain and with active
> cultures.  Im still waiting for a batch of stuff that i ordered from
> Leeners.com.  That said, i seem to be unable to make the milk ripe 
> enough to
> create decent curds

You should be able to make cheese with yogurt in a pinch but you must 
realize that with store milk, the curd will be very soft.  A great deal 
of care in handling is required or it will break up and make soup.

You have not indicated what or how you are making it but one usually 
lets the milk ripen at 87f for about an hour with the culture only.

You then add the rennet and stir for no more than 3 minutes and let it 
rest for about 45 minutes or an hour.  At this point, it should be 
reasonably firm and ready to cut.  Fresh milk will be about like Jellow 
but store milk much softer.

After carefully cutting the curd, it must be heated slowly to about 100f 
and carefully stirred to distribute the heat.  After about 15 minuted, 
the curd will firm up and become indistinguishable from fresh milk 
curds.  It's that first 15 minutes that makes or breaks the cheese and 
over stirring will destroy it.

js

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