Easy Lemon Cheese

You, yes YOU can make cheese too. Here is an easy cheese recipe that doesn't require any special equipment (The stuff I use is pretty standard fare).

Ingredients:
1 gallon whole milk
Juice from 3 large lemons or 1/2-3/4 cup lemon juice
non-iodized salt
herb of your choice (optional)

1. Heat milk in stainless steel pot or double boiler* to 175 degrees F.

2. Turn off heat, add lemon juice, cover, let sit for 15 minutes. You may need to add more lemon juice if your milk doesn't look curdled enough. Line colander with cheesecloth**

3. Carefully pour milk into the cheesecloth. wrap it up and let the cheese drain*** for a few hours. The longer it drains, the more crumbly it will be. The less drained, it will be creamier like cream cheese. Take notes on what you do because my cheese turns out a little different every time! :)

4. Put cheese in a container that has a good-fitting lid. Mix in salt (1-3 teaspoons--taste it as you add!!!) and chopped herbs. voila!

5. serve with crackers or bread. Or if more crumbly, serve on curry, soups, salads, etc!

P.S. This is not my recipe, it's Ricki Carroll's--the cheesemaking genius. I found this recipe online all over the place so I thought it would be okay to share.

*I have made it in just a stainless steel pot, not using a double boiler. This works fine but I tend to stir it for most of the time it's heating up so that it doesn't burn on the bottom. As for a double boiler, you can use a large stainless steel bowl or pot. You may need to invert a ceramic plate at the bottom of the bigger pot so that the container holding the milk doesn't touch the bottom.

** I bought some cloth diapers at Walmart and sewed 2 together. They work great. I prefer this to an actual cheese cloth because the knit is tighter and you won't loose any precious curds! You can also use butter muslin.

*** You can hang it and let it drain. I don't have a good place for this though. I wrap it up tight, leave it in a colander that is resting in a clean bowl (my sink is rarely clean and I need it for my dirty dishes). I place something like a plate on top of my cheese to help the draining process.

My First Batch of Monteray Jack

For Christmas my in-laws got me a hard cheese-making kit. I have been looking for to making a batch ever since. But we decided it would be best to wait until we got a few necessary accessories. I was very excited when these came in the mail:

(1 lb wax, brush with non-synthetic bristles)

I dropped Noah off at pre-school across the street. Yes, his coat is on backwards. It's a trend he started amongst his posse.


Put Maren in the sunroom


And got to work. 15 cups 1% milk mixed with 1 cup heavy cream. heat it up a little. mix with calcium chloride, rennet, and thermophilic bacteria. lots of waiting around and checking the thermometer. occasional stirring. Cutting the curd. draining the whey. salting. pressing. you know, stuff like that. It was pretty much a whole day process.










Then I had to let the cheese dry on the counter for a day or so. Then wax. It is currently "aging" in my basement. I has to age for at least 2 months before we are suppose to break into it. I don't know if I can handle the suspense. I flip it each day and drain off any juice in the bottom of the bucket.

I feel like I can make a new analogy of faith using the whole cheesemaking process.

"Now, we will compare the word unto a gallon of milk, thermophilic bacteria, rennet, and a little calcium chloride..."