Home Made Cottage Cheese
August 27, 2004
Kevin emailed me a wonderful site about home made cheeses. Check it out at Jack Schmidling Productions I started reading it and soon became enraptured with the idea of making cheese. I love cheese. I come from a long line of cheese lovers. I have been known to eat blocks of extra mature cheddar. Now I know that that's too much information but I can't help myself. I adore cheese.
That’s why the thought of home made cheese became so appealing. Now instead of just buying the ready made piece of art, I would be involved with the creation from beginning to end. It would be my creation.
After reading the site and various others I soon realized that there was more to cheese making than I had originally thought. Who knew that some hard cheeses needed 6 months to mature before you could even nibble? I mean I know at the supermarket some cheese are labeled “6 months mature” or whatever. But I don’t think I could withstand knowing that somewhere close by, in easy reach there would be a cheese, slowly and deliciously maturing for me. To be honest I don’t think I could stay away for 6 months. The other small snag was that hard cheeses require a cheese press. This started to seem a little too much effort for me.
This is what I wanted: a cheese recipe that wasn’t too complicated, that didn’t require the wholesale sterilization of my house (Felix, our Siamese cat would have hysterics), that would allow for instant consumption- no 6 months wait for me! I found it here.
1 Gallon 2% Milk
½ Cup Vinegar
Salt to taste.
Heat milk to about 190F. I bought a candy thermometer. If you don’t have – this temperature is reached just before the milk begins to boil. Turn off heat and add the vinegar. Allow to cool. When cool separate the curds and whey using a colander. Add salt to taste and mix. The cottage cheese is ready to eat. Store in fridge.
See photo album for series of photo’s and some comments. We were really pleased with the way this came out. It is certainly smoother than commercial cottage cheese. I decided that we needed to use the cottage recipe at once. So I made salmon salad.
Lettuce
Cooked Atlantic salmon
Home made cottage cheese
Capers
Slice of turkey lunch meat chopped.
Cherry tomatoes.
Chives - chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Lemon to squeeze over salad.
Avocado peeled and cut up
Orange Bell Peppers chopped
Our lettuce, chives and cherry tomatoes are from Kevin’s veggie garden. We have had an excellent season this year. Our squashes are enormous. Kevin has a marvelous squash dish he makes. I am trying to convince him to post that.. so watch this space.
For more information about home made cheese making check out the Cheese Supply