Home made cheddar

[topograph]

So after 4 months of aging, we cut open our first attempt at a home made cheddar. It tasted like...cheddar! Holy cow! I made cheese! Now if I could only convince my husband this means I need a cow...

[shave_ice]

Very cool! I recently read Animal Vegetable Miracle and it made me want to try making cheese. Also, I want a goat to make my own soft cheeses. []I love the goat cheeses they sell at Makuu market.

[mangobingo]

Awesome! Want to share how you did it? Good luck with the cow...

[topograph]

Bought the book "Home Cheese Making" by Rikki Carroll then visited her web site www.cheesemaking.com to buy the rennet and starter; my husband made a cheese press with wood and springs, and we calibrated it with a luggage scale; we made molds of various sizee from food grade round things. Then we made cheese with store bought pasteurized milk. It's a long process- takes ~ 4 hours to make (we're trying Monterey Jack as I speak) and then needs to be aged at a specific temperature. To age it, we bought a tiny digitally controlled wine cooler that we can set in the 50s. And then you wait 4 months or so.

[topograph]

We also make our own alcohol for our camping stove. We experiment with additives such as cloves and lemons, and keep it in mason jars and let it age for a few months before using it.

[unknownjulie]

topograph, this sounds like an awesome accomplishment! If I hadnt been previously "indisposed" over on the EBT rant I would have commented sooner. If you can get some goat milk from someone, you'd have a lot of interest for this at the various markets. OR, you might be able to trade it for some freerange, dressed, chicken meat. They are both labor intensive, time consumming products. Can you use raw unpasturized milk, or can this be dangerous? (potential foodborne pathogens)

[topograph]

You could use raw milk from just about any source, just would need to adjust the recipes due to the variable levels of fat. I doubt I would ever try to do this commercially, it is extremely time consuming, but great for keeping busy while actually ending up with a useful product.

[EightFingers]

Is making your own as cost effective as buying in a store? Or is the flavor so good that it's worth it no matter the price of the milk?

[james weatherford]

We have the cow and the milk.
Email me thru PW.

[rainyjim]

quote:

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Originally posted by james weatherford

We have the cow and the milk.
Email me thru PW.

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^this is the best part of punaweb. Brought a smile to my face! Way to be cool James W.