Making Cheese at Home

I must confess that most of the projects at Red Bucket Farm are of my own doing. I don't usually need any help coming up with another new idea. So I'm pleased to report that I'm passing along some of my inquisitiveness to the next generation. My college freshman came home on fall break with a desire to make cheese.

The first cheese project arrived before we had all the correct ingredients. Not to be daunted, my ingenious teen found a recipe using everyday grocery items--a gallon of 1% milk, a few eggs, a quart of buttermilk and a little salt correctly heated, blended, separated, strained and pressed to create a mild flavored hard cheese, photographed above and below. The recipe and instructions came from www.tammyrecipes.com.

The next project occurred after a trip to the brew shop, where we acquired vegetable rennet (in tablet form) and citric acid (a powder). My cheese maker used one gallon of whole milk, plus the rennet, citric acid and pinch of salt to create a beautiful mozzarella cheese.  After heating the milk to separate the curds from the whey, she salted and kneaded the cheese in the same manner as bread dough. It made two softball-sized balls of cheese. We ate it with homemade pasta and tomato sauce. Mild and delicious! This recipe came from www.cheesemaking.com.

What's next? Perhaps at Thanksgiving break I'll make sure we have enough goat milk to make feta cheese. The rennet tablets are in the refrigerator awaiting the next burst of cheese making activity.