Say Cheese PLEASE! {part 3 of 3}

Making cheese at home is more than a pleasure; it reduces our food costs, encourages us to utilize more of our own resources, and adds a whole new dimension to our lives.

We want to go into detail about the process we use for different cheeses, so this blog will not be our last cheese blog……..because of copyright laws, we can’t share the actual recipes……but we don’t always follow the recipes exactly either!

Take Feta, fabulously edible, tantalizing and aromatic!  This is one of many that we use and in all honesty, use often.  Feta freezes well, crumbles nicely and can be added to other cheese combinations to add a slight tang, even though it doesn’t melt as well as Provolone, etc.  

So let’s talk Feta cheese!!!!

What ingredients we use:

• 2 gallons raw milk 
  
• Feta Culture
  
• Lipase Powder
  
• Vegetable Rennet Tablet
  
• Kosher Salt
  
• Well Water (to dissolve Feta/Lipase)
  

​What equipment we use:

• 2 large pots (smaller one fits inside)
  
• 2 Thermometers
  
• Glass Measuring cup
  
• Stainless Steel Measuring spoons
  
• Slotted Spoon
  
• Cheese knife (or other long knife)
  
• Colander
  
• Cheese cloth
  
• 2 PVC molds
  
• 2 empty glass jars filled with lead shot (for weight)
  
• Glass casserole dish & wire rack (to allow drainage)
  
• Drying rack.

e set our pots together, with a smaller one inside the larger (our double boiler method). We fill enough water in the larger outside pot up to 1” it’s rim. Now when filling, we make sure we hold the inner pot down to its handles. This prevents us from over filling the outer pot and making a mess when we add the milk!  Believe us, we did it too when we started out!

We than add our 2 gallons of raw goats milk to the inner pot and turn on our stove to middle range…..we place one thermometer in between the two pots and one inside to monitor the temperature of the milk.  Because our pots are so close in size – it doesn’t take long so absolutely watch the temperatures!

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For Feta, we warm it to around 86* degrees.  At this point we take a ½ cup of cold water; adding a Feta culture (mesophilic type) and lipase powder (give it the tang we all love). We mix it until it dissolves than add it to our warmed milk, cover and let it ripen for 1 hour. 

NOTE: Want a stronger Feta than your first batch? Just add more lipase powder when you make it again!

TROUBLESHOOTING: Milk got to hot! Simply place the smaller pot in cold water and stir until it’s the right temperature again – Take hot water (1-2 cups at a time) from your outer pot and add the same amount of cold water back, stirring until you get back down to the right temperature.

After an hour, using another ½ cup of cold water; we add ½ of our rennet tablet to dissolve. This usually takes about 20 minutes. We than add it to our ripened milk and stir for a minute using a slotted spoon. Again we wait for an hour for the curds to form.

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Once set, we cut the curds….cutting across in one direction, than the opposite. We than use the knife to cut at 45 degree angles using opposite directions. Our goal is to get the curds cut into ½ inch to 1 inch cubes/pieces.  After we cut the curds, we let it rest for 10 minutes.
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After the 10 minutes we start very gently stirring the curds, from the bottom up, every 5 minutes for 20 minutes – keeping the curds at around 86* degrees. Once done, we drain the curds into a colander for 5-10 minutes.  

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After it drains, we divide the curds into two cheese clothes. Grab the four corners of each and form a bag. We tie each bag and hang the cheese overnight to drain with a bowl underneath to catch any whey dripping.
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Now this is where we change everything and don’t follow any recipe for Feta. We take the drained curds from the cheese cloth, break them up into small pieces. We add our Kosher salt and mix well.

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Now we place the curds (equal amounts) into to PVC molds, place them to drain using our rack & casserole dish. We place our lead shot filled quart jars into the molds to press the Feta at 6-7 pounds of weight overnight. When done, we pull the PVC molds up and let the jars drop the cheese. We than cut the cheese into nice 1” thick rounds. 

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We than place the sliced rounds on our drying rack to dry overnight, turning at least once half way through. Once they have dried for a short period we seal them into freezer bags and freeze, of course leaving some out to enjoy right away!

To enjoy, we just break up the round with a fork and place in a bowl. So what cheese next you think? Provolone maybe?

                             Just say cheese please!

Blessings
Brenda Lee

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