Making cheese at home is the entire technological process.

Anyone who has ever lived in a village and had a cow or several goats on their farm knows how to use excess milk. Of course, you can figure out where to use them, for example, make yogurt, butter or cream from them, freeze these products for the winter, or you can process these surpluses into a wonderful and healthy delicacy - homemade cheese. In this article we will try to reveal the secrets of making cheese not only in production, but also at home.

Unless you are the proud owner of livestock, you will have to look for a source of good whole milk, perhaps from a farm or nearby dairy. In the summer, it is possible to purchase milk at a more affordable and sometimes even lower price. Therefore, homemade cheese will be both cheaper, tastier and more nutritious than store-bought cheese, since it contains no preservatives. And if you are a vegetarian, then the cheese you prepare can be improved by adding any vegetables to it.

Cheese retains all the nutritional elements contained in raw milk, but in a concentrated form. Per kilogram of hard cheese there is the same amount of calcium, protein, riboflavin, as well as the same amount of vitamin A as is contained in 10 liters of milk. But the content of vitamin B, which is so necessary for us, even increases after all the technological preparation processes. It should be remembered that cheese ripens well only if its weight is at least half a kilo.

If it is more convenient for you to make cheese in a large batch, then be sure to store the milk for it in the refrigerator. A piece of cheese with 12-15 liters of cow's milk can be made in a regular kitchen.

At first glance, making cheese at home using the proposed method may seem difficult to you, but in fact, creating this high-protein dairy product with your own hands is no more difficult than baking a pie. First, learn the basics of cheese production, and then start preparing individual varieties. Over time, all the subtleties of cheese making will be visible and accessible to you: the stages of milk ripening, the heating time of the cottage cheese, the proportions of salt, etc. all these and many other nuances affect the final taste and structure of the product.

Necessary ingredients for making your own cheese at home.

In this case we will need:

1. Milk;
2. Leaven;
3. Abomasum;
4. Salt;
5. Dye;
6. Flavoring fillers.

In this section, only the three main participants in the cheese process will be described in detail. This is milk, starter and rennet, since everything else is, in principle, optional. Without goat or cow milk there is no way to get the desired product. Sourdough and rennet are necessary for the oxidation of milk, but salt, dyes and fillers may be unnecessary. You may not get the salt right the first time, but then determine for yourself the amount that will make your cheese uniquely tasty. But in general you can’t do without it; salt still adds taste. You can use simple table salt. If you want to add a little color to the cheese, you can add orange food coloring, or enjoy a nice natural creamy color. And absolutely any flavoring fillers can be used. For example, you can immediately add herbs or paprika to the cheese.

Now let’s take a closer look at the main ingredients: milk, starter and rennet.

Whole cow or goat milk can be used to make fatty cheese. You can also use partially skimmed milk. But under no circumstances make cheese from powdered milk, since during preparation it itself undergoes various processing. The healthier the animal, and the fresher and better quality its milk, the better the result you will get when leaving. If the animals were given antibiotics, then three days must pass after this so that the oxidation process in the cheese is not suppressed. Before preparation, pasteurized or raw milk is removed from the refrigerator where it was stored and kept at room temperature until it sours. This can be determined by the sour taste. In the future, the taste and the amount of acid will increase. If you need to mix morning and evening milk, then the earlier one should be cooled very much in the refrigerator (12-15 degrees) so that when mixed with warm fresh milk, a lot of acid does not form. And if you use milk alone, then cool it to 18 degrees, waiting 4 hours after milking. Know that 10 liters of milk yields 1 kg of hard cheese, 1.5 kg of soft cheese and 2 kg of homemade cheese. And the tastier and fresher the milk, the better cheese you will end up with.

You can make the sourdough yourself. For this you will need half a liter of milk. It must be placed in a warm place in the house for a day so that it sours and curdles.

For a more complex and interesting starter we will need a week. First you need to stir 120 grams of yeast in one glass of warm milk. This mixture should stand for a day at room temperature. Then divide it in half and add a glass of warm milk. Stir and leave to settle again for a day. Then do the same for another 6 days, but do not forget that the storage place should be warm. And on the seventh day, add not one, but two glasses of milk. That's it, you can use this starter when making cheese.

As a starter for regular cheese production at home, you can use two glasses of milk, already sour from the previous time, unless of course it was not a month ago. It is better to store such milk for no more than one week.

Abomasum is an industrial product that is obtained from the stomachs of young animals. Milk coagulation occurs within an hour after the enzymes contained in the rennet enter the milk. It is commercially available in the form of tablets and extracts.

Yet in most cases, rennet is an animal product. And many people who eat cheese are vegetarians. They prefer to use unnatural rennet, since it does not require killing animals to obtain it. Therefore, today you can buy new “vegetable” rennet in stores. Although many in the villages prepare cheese without it at all. If you use it, then throw the tablet into milk at room temperature, but if you decide to do without it, then let the milk sour. A curd should form and the whey should separate. You'll have to wait about a day.

As mentioned earlier, some still prefer the taste of homemade cheese made without adding rennet. But, let’s say, this is not always possible. In very hot and high temperatures, milk may spoil before it begins to curdle. But in the cold winter, on the contrary, this curdling process will have to wait longer. Therefore, it’s up to you to choose whether to use rennet or not.

1. Milk ripening.

   First of all, the milk must be heated to 32 degrees, then add 2 cups of starter. Stir for 2-3 minutes. Leave for a day at room temperature. After this, take a sample of the milk: if there is a sour taste, then it’s time to add rennet.

2. Addition of rennet.

   Depending on what kind of rennet you have, you add 0.5 teaspoon or 1 tablet soaked in 0.5 glass of cold water. Stir the resulting mixture for 2-3 minutes and then let it sit in a warm place for 40 minutes until the curdling process begins. If you decide to do without rennet, then keep the milk for another 15-18 hours at room temperature until the same curd and whey appear.

3. Clot division.

   After a curd curd forms in the settled milk and whey appears, it will need to be cut. It is better to perform this procedure with a kitchen knife with a long blade and handle. The knife must naturally be clean and sharp. You need to cut through the entire curd to the bottom of the dish, and on top you should get a checkerboard with 3 by 3 cm squares. How to do it: first cut the curd mass into strips every 3 cm. Next, tilting the knife, make cuts along a line perpendicular to the initial cuts. After this, turn the container 45 degrees and repeat everything again. After this, mix all the cut pieces; if there are large ones in the mass, then they must be cut additionally. It is best to stir with a long-handled wooden spoon. This must be done carefully, but carefully so as not to damage the pieces.

4. Heating the curd curd.

   Pour cold water into a larger container and place a smaller container there. Start heating. This must be done carefully and gradually, increasing the temperature by 2-3 degrees every 5 minutes. Continue heating until the total water temperature is 38 degrees, this should take you a little over half an hour. Maintain this temperature level until your curd mass becomes dense enough. This is determined by your taste. While heating the mass, stir it constantly, but be careful not to stick the cubes together or fall apart. Reduce stirring frequency over time. You can check the density and readiness of the mass as follows: gently squeeze it with your fingers and then release. If it does not stick together, but breaks into several parts, then heating must be stopped. The container must be removed from the hot water. This usually takes 2-2.5 hours after adding rennet to the milk.

   The main thing is to catch the right moment of cheese readiness. If you overcook it and make it very dense, the cheese will end up dry. And if, when squeezing out the whey, it is not dense enough, then the resulting consistency may be liquid and the taste sour.

5. Removing whey.

   The resulting mass must be placed in a large container, inside which gauze or other filter fabric is also placed - we talked in more detail about this equipment here. After this, lift the fabric with the mass placed in it and place it in a prepared colander or some other container with holes. After the main liquid has disappeared, remove the cloth and transfer the cottage cheese to a container. If you tilt it from side to side, more whey residue will come out. Remember to stir to avoid sticking. Now it is more convenient to mix the mass with your hands. The remaining whey can also be used in preparing various dishes or for feeding livestock. When the temperature drops to 32 degrees and the mass acquires a “rubber” density, it is necessary to add salt.

6. Salt.

   With constant stirring, add 1-2 tablespoons of salt. It depends on your taste. After the mass has cooled to 30 degrees, transfer it to a mold that already contains fabric.

7. Squeezing cottage cheese.

   After you have transferred the cheese, wrap the overhanging ends of the cloth. Install the piston, place the container under the press. In the first 10 minutes, the load should be no more than 3-4 bricks. Remove the piston and drain the whey that has accumulated in the container. Then assemble the structure again, but immerse another brick. Repeat the procedure until there are 7-8 bricks on top. After an hour under this load, the cheese will be ready for the next stage.

8. Cheese wrap.

   Remove the weight, disassemble the press, remove the cheese from the mold, turning it over. Remove the cloth from the mass and place the piece in warm water. This is done in order to wash away fat from the surface. Using your hands, carefully smooth the surface of the piece; there should be no cracks or holes left. Wipe until dry. The cheese must be wrapped again in cloth, the pieces should be with a small margin - 5-6 cm on each side: the end of the head, top and bottom. After this, the piece of cheese is again placed in the mold under a press with a load of 7-8 bricks. We wait a day.

9. Drying cheese.

   Disassemble the structure with the press - we will no longer need it. The wrapping cloth must be carefully removed and the surface of the resulting cheese dried. This can be done with a dry cloth. Inspect the head of cheese for cracks or breaks. If present, they can be removed using warm water and a knife or by hand. It is necessary to wash the cheese completely with warm water or whey until it becomes hard. Store the cheese in a cool, dry place for 3-5 days, turning it over and wiping it constantly. A dry cheese crust should form.

10. Filling with paraffin.

    Choose a convenient deep bowl that can hold half the resulting head of cheese. Heat 250 grams of paraffin in it to 80 degrees. Just heat it up not over an open fire, but using a water bath. You need to lower the head of cheese for 10-12 seconds, and then wait 2 minutes until the crust hardens. Then do the same with the second half. The entire cheese should be evenly coated with paraffin.

11. Maturing of cheese.

    Turn the cheese daily. Maintain hygiene in the closet in which it matures, dry and ventilate it every week. Remember that it should be a cool place with a temperature of 5-15 degrees. The aging time for hard cheese should be at least 3 weeks. Although this period may vary for different varieties. The shelf life depends on the coolness of the room. The lower the temperature, the longer the period. And the sharpness in taste appears over time. Before pouring paraffin into the cheese, you can cut it into several parts. This is useful if you are making sr for the first time and don’t know how long you need to keep it in order to get the taste that you like. For example, Colby cheese is aged for 3 months, Cheddar cheese for 6 months, and Romano cheese for about 5 months.