How to make homemade cheese

Ingredients

The base of the cheese is milk: cow, goat or sheep. You can add cottage cheese, sour cream, kefir, butter to milk. It is best to use farm products with a high fat content: UHT milk will not curdle, and skim milk will simply make a not very tasty cheese.

Excipients are certain bacteria and enzymes that accelerate the process of separating milk into whey and curd. You can buy them in a store or order them online.

Lemon juice, citric acid solution, or vinegar do the same job.

Bacteria and other microorganisms also affect the taste and texture of the cheese. But you can cook it without a special leaven - at the initial stage it is better to do so.

In addition to the main and auxiliary ingredients, you can add additional ingredients: nuts, herbs, mushrooms, vegetables or ham. You can also use spices such as turmeric, which will give the cheese a yellow color.

Technology

Preparation

Cook cheese in clean dishes and on clean work surfaces. If you touch anything foreign, be sure to wash your hands and dry them with a fresh towel.

If you do not follow these rules, harmful bacteria can enter the cheese and spoil it.

In addition, cheese easily absorbs foreign odors, so you don't need to use perfumes before cooking. It is also not worth cooking other dishes in parallel: the cheese can absorb the aromas of the food.

Cooking process

The cheese is made by dividing milk into curd mass and whey. To do this, milk is poured into a non-stick saucepan and brought to a boil. Usually, other dairy products and auxiliary ingredients are added at this stage. Then the milk continues to be heated until the curd mass separates from the whey.

The separated curd mass is filtered through clean cheesecloth and a sieve.

How to make cheese: Strain the mixture through clean cheesecloth and a sieve

After that, the future cheese, still wrapped in a cloth, is pressed down with a load or hung to completely rid it of the whey. In this position, the cheese usually ripens from several hours to a day.

How to make homemade cheese: get rid of the whey

The press produces harder cheeses. It is believed that the heavier the load and the longer the mass lies under it, the denser and richer the cheese will be. It is optimal to use a load of 10 kg or more.

Store homemade cheese in the refrigerator for about a week.

Recipes

Fast homemade cheese

How to Make Homemade Cheese: Quick Homemade Cheese

Ingredients

1 liter of milk;
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons of butter;
1 teaspoon of dry herbs;
1 teaspoon of salt.

Preparation

Bring the milk to a boil and add the rest of the ingredients. When the mixture boils again, remove it from heat, strain through cheesecloth and squeeze. Place the mass under the load. When the cheese has cooled, you can cut it into pieces and serve.

Homemade mascarpone

Ingredients

1 liter of heavy cream;
3 tablespoons lemon juice.

Preparation

Place the cream over medium heat and, stirring occasionally, heat, but do not bring to a boil. As soon as bubbles begin to appear on the surface, remove the pan from the heat and, while stirring, add the lemon juice.

Return the pot to the stove, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes. When the mixture turns into a thick cream, fold it into a sieve covered with gauze.

Leave it on for about an hour or hang overnight. When all the whey is drained, the cheese can be tasted.

Homemade cheese

How to make cheese: Homemade feta cheese

Ingredients

1 liter of milk;
2 tablespoons of salt;
3 eggs;
200 g sour cream.

Preparation

Bring milk to a boil. Without reducing heat, add salt, beaten eggs and sour cream. Cook the mixture, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. When the whey begins to separate, discard the mixture in a colander lined with gauze. Hang the cheese for 3 hours, and then put it under the press for a few more hours.

Hard homemade cheese

Ingredients

3 liters of milk;
2 kg of cottage cheese;
100 g butter;
1 egg;
½ teaspoon of baking soda;
salt to taste.

Preparation

Heat the milk, but do not bring it to a boil. Add curd and stir. After that, reduce heat to low and simmer the mixture, stirring constantly. When the curd mass comes off, put it in a colander lined with gauze or cotton towel.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, put the resulting cheese in it, add the egg, soda and salt. Prepare the mixture, stirring constantly. When it starts to acquire a creamy consistency and turn yellow, remove it from heat. Transfer the cheese to a mold, press down with a load and refrigerate for a few hours or a day.

The resulting cheeses can be served as an independent snack, used for making sandwiches, salads and other dishes. The separated whey can also be put into circulation: for example, to make okroshka or pancakes on it.