[Cheese] mexican cheese, raw milk, rennet etc

[Linda Conroy]

<P>Greetings. A few comments:</P>
<P>1. about the mexican&nbsp; cheese, Rikki Carrols book Home Cheese Making has a recipe for this cheese, she curdles it with vinegar. I have made it and it turns out great. </P>
<P>2. about milk; I use only farm fresh (raw) milk. The few times I have used parteurized milk, the cheese came out ok, but the curd was not as firm as the raw milk curd. Also milk from the store is not fresh, it has been through a long process before it gets to the store. </P>
<P>3. When making a hard cheese you would not let the culture sit in the milk for 15 hours, I have not seen a recipe that calls for this kind of time frame. If you want to make hard cheese again I would get Rikki Carrol's book Home Cheese Making-her recipes in my opinion are the most reliable for beginning cheese makers. The one thing I ignore in her book, is pasteurizing the milk, so I leave out the calcium choloride.</P>
<P>4. Rennet, I too would suggest using liquid rennet I find it much more reliable. </P>
<P>5. On my website <A href="http://www.moonwiseherbs.com">www.moonwiseherbs.com</A> I have a simple cheese page, I talk about raw milk, and also offer a simple farmers cheese recipe, which I find very simple to make. It is a fresh cheese, similar to the Mexican cheese, but you use rennet instead of vinegar.</P>
<P>6. Also I have Jack's cheese press and while the press itself it great, I purchased a different mold, which has holes in it. I use this mold with his press and that works best for me. (no offense Jack, I am sure it works fine for others the way it is, but I prefer it this way)</P>
<P>Hope that is helpful.</P>
<P>Linda</P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>

Blessings,
Linda
www.moonwiseherbs.com

Communication is to relationship what breath is to life. -Virginia Satir