Make your own Cheese!

[2big4mysize]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

glad they said it would be greenish cause my yougurt cheese whey isn't green and I'd have freekout seeing it turning green

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

No kidding 2big, I'm glad they said that too! I would have thought that I had made some kind of poison cheese! Yuck!

[2big4mysize]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

yep me too "a new strain of bacteria kills elderly couple was found in homemade cheese ball headlines would be running theough my head cause if this works I can make sodiun free cheeses for my heart patient neghbors to enjoy again.

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

OH,that would be so cool 2big! Just make sure that everything is sterile! We have had people get very sick around here from making their own cheeses, last summer I belive it was, but...they were all Mexican Immigrants and the paper said they were making Queso Fresco like they used to back home, w/o worrying about sanitation.

I think if you are careful and make sure eveything is clean you're fine!

[2big4mysize]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

queso fresco is easy to contaminate with listeria

[not2late]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

Just posting to say that I'm going to make the mascarpone today.

BTW, when I made the ricotta cheese, the whey was yellowish in color---maybe it has something to do with the lemon juice?

Anyhoo, I'll report back after I make this cheese.

[Barbde]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

Let us know Megs. I have mascarpone and ricotta and queso fresco in the frig already, so I am holding off on cheese making for now.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

I'm doing lemon and will see how green it is.

edited to add

it looks just like the whey from making yogurt cheese pale yellow no green in there for me. Maybe they goit some metal reaction in their pots cause I used a glass bowl and nuked the milk so i ddin't have to worry about scorching the milk should Mother interup the process.

[Elizellen]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

I found this website while looking for something else (good old google) which has lots of interesting reccipes for making cheese
http://www.cheesemaking.com/text-cPath-37_57_93.php

[not2late]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

I'm in the middle of the mascarpone, now.

Here's pics of the remains of the ricotta I made last week. Also it fries---just like queso blanco does and I've included a pic of that.


Homemade ricotta cheese.

You can see how much 'drier' this is than the stuff in the store. The texture is between cream cheese and fresh mozzarrella.



Fried Homemade ricotta cheese. It kept its shape and texture. It didn't "melt" like I thought it might. The outside is alittle too brown because I left it alittle too long. Oh well, it was yummy nonetheless.

So the ricotta cheese recipe is a keeper, imo. And for the folks who can't find queso blanco or the other frying cheeses, it's a good homemade alternative.

It is alittle bland, so you might want to add alittle more salt before you pour the curds into the cheesecloth-strainer.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

Hey MOd I was reading making chees on Elizellen's site and saw the queso blanco so i checked out the Prepared Mesophilic Starter to see what it is and while googling it found that rennet is now commercially sysnthesized and not from cow tummies so you coyuld use it. http://schmidling.netfirms.com/making.htm

if you want to get fancy that site has 35 recipes for known cheeses http://schmidling.netfirms.com/cres.htm but you got to buy the correct bacteria to flavor them with too.

My cup of milk lemon cheese has delivered about a golfball of cheese that is very soft I'll see if it will "fry" or melt

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

Wow Megs, your ricotta looks awesome! Man that is so cool that you can fry it! I never would have thought it would work! I can't wait to see the mascarpone!

I haven't made mine yet, been busy doing a little cleaning and reading...I really should get in there and do it! Your's looks so good!

[MotherOfGizmo]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

OK, I made 1/2 batch of the lemon cheese, its draining now. That was cool, and so easy, I'm excited, I hope it comes out good! Its raining out right now and it looks like8 o'clock at nite! Its not even 4:30, I hope the rain lets up so I can go out and snip some fresh dill to mix into it.

Anybody else got pics to show yet?

[2big4mysize]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

the lemon one turned brown in the pan but didn't get melted in the in side. it was like eatting a big cottage cheese curd with the liquid rinsed off in texture.

[not2late]

Re: Make your own Cheese!

Hmmmm...the mascarpone thickened, but not enough to strain anything out. Right now the consistency is like an egg custard. Oh well...I've put it into the refrigerator and I'll check on it later. If it never thickens sufficiently, I'll make it into ice cream

2Big, the frying cheeses don't get very melted/gooey on the inside when they are fried.