Today is Food Day Continued...

Making cheese...

I must confess that this is not my recipe.  I use Peggy B.'s cheese recipe as related to me by my sister.  And the flavor is the "Classic Ranch Dressing" recipe from "The Diet Rebel's Cookbok," authored by Jillayne Clements and Michelle Stewart.  However, this IS me showing you how I do it!


Basic Tool Needed:  Stainless steel saucepan, stirring spoon, cheesecloth (my mom, sis, and myself all prefer the flour sack towels to the cheesecloth), and a strainer.

 Basic Recipe Ingredients:  One gallon of milk (mine is skimmed raw cows milk, but you can use store-bought, whole, or whatever kind of milk you want), 1 heaping tablespoon of salt, plus your seasonings, and a 1/2 cup of vinegar.

The seasonings I used are: 3 teaspoons dried parsley flakes, 1 teaspoon dried dill weed, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and a 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper.

Heat the milk, salt, and seasonings at a medium heating temperature (I set my electric burner at a "6") to 185 degrees (I use my meat thermometer, I believe you can also use a candy thermometer).  This takes some time.  I started my cheese after I started my butter, and made breakfast while this was heating.

Once the cheese reaches 185 degrees (mine was closer to 200 degrees...whoops...no biggy, it just scalded my milk a little, the cheese was fine) add the 1/2 cup vinegar.

It ONLY TAKES ABOUT 5 SECONDS to curdle (this picture isn't very good, but there's little chunks in thin liquid).  The first time I made cheese I waited until it looked like cheese and the finished result was extremely dry and crumbly.  It was not a very desirable texture, although it was still great crumbled over some salad. 

Pour the curdled milk and cheese into the cheesecloth or flour sack towel that has been spread inside the strainer.  Allow the whey to drain through the strainer down the drain (unless someone has a suggestion on how to use flavored whey?) and your cheese is what is left in the cheesecloth.  Gather the cheesecloth and twist tightly above the cheese and hang to allow the whey to continue to drip away from the cheese. 

I twist mine around a spoon and hang over the divider in my clean sink.  My sink doesn't LOOK clean at this point, but it was clean before I started, and the film you see is from the whey (I'm not very tidy when pouring...it's HOT!) It's easier than trying to find someplace else sanitary and out of the way to hang.  You can let it hang for as long as you like.  We like to eat our cheese warm with crackers, but it also refrigerates well.  This is so delicious in eggs, over salad, or just sliced and eaten plain!