If you’ve never made your own cheese before it can be a little daunting. Recipes call for rennet, cultures, special chemicals, certain temperatures, etc. It seems like rocket science, but I’ll let you in on a little secret… You can make your own delicious farm cheese with just three simple ingredients already in your kitchen in less than an hour.
It’s delicious and without all the questionable chemicals, colorings, and preservatives. It’s even simple enough your kids can help and be amazed. Once you master the basic farm cheese recipe, you can make endless variations of flavored cheeses.
Ingredients: 1 gallon Whole Milk (Raw or Pasteurized), 1/2 cup white vinegar, and 2 teaspoons salt. That’s it!
Make Your Own Fresh Farm Cheese:
- On a medium heat, pour the milk into a large pot and bring to a boil. You need to stir a lot or the milk will scorch to the bottom.
- Once it comes to a boil, lower the heat and add the vinegar. It’ll be amazing how quickly the milk solids curdle separating the curds and whey.
- Line a colander with cheese cloth then twist the clothe over the pot with the whey in it to squeeze out excess whey.
- Recrumble the curds and rinse with cold water.
- Sprinkle with the salt and mix thoroughly. Then twist the cloth back up.
- Leave in the colander with a weighted pot on top of cheese until you get the consistency you’re looking for. The longer you press the whey out, the drier and firmer the cheese will be.
Personally, I love adding dried tomatoes and peppers to the cheese and leaving it soft. It’s a delicious spread. We also add bacon crumbles, pimentos, and roasted garlic to name just a few variations. We even use our homemade cheese instead of mozzarella on our pizzas.
You can also “pull” this cheese for a stringy rather than crumbly texture. And don’t dump the leftover whey! There’s a ton of recipes it is yummy in.
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