Home made cheese

I have to share this fabulous resource with you- The New England Cheesemaking Supply Company. I saw this DIY intro to cheese kit at my local foodie independent grocery store, Vincenzo's, sometime last year, but I couldn't convince myself to buy it. The price tag of $30 was a bit steep, it seemed to me. But, the thought lingered. I had tried making cheese a few years previously using instructions off the Internet, but the operation failed, and I couldn't figure out why. I asked a few people I knew who liked to cook, but none of their suggestions seemed helpful. So, it remained an unexplained failure.

The local grocery store has a little café, and my husband and I have taken to going there, as their coffee is respectable, their pastries are excellent (so I hear from him), and they have other selections of things I can eat which won't half kill me. One of those treats is cheese. So, a couple weeks ago on one of our visits, I wandered over to the exotic cheese cooler. Applewood smoked cheddar rolled in paprika from England, brie from France, a few things from Scandinavian countries, plus some good home-grown products as well. As I was deciding on which little slice of creamy calories to buy my eyes were drawn to the shelf to the right of the cooler. There sat three or four of those cheesemaking kits that I had seen before. On an impulse I picked one up. It just fit into my Bag of Holding (aka. purse satchel), and I had a little bit of spare cash as my first full EI cheque of the summer had come in.

I bought it. Chris rolled his eyes.

I opened up the package, read the booklet. One of the things that I saw in the instructions was that white vinegar was used in one of the steps. I can't use white vinegar in anything, including the dishwasher, as I'm so extremely sensitive to grains that it makes me sick. Cider vinegar is my only option. I asked around on Facebook on the various medieval re-enactment cooking groups that I belong to, and the opinion came back that it would be an acceptable substitute. I knew from canning that they have the same pH balance. It also made me wonder about commercial cheeses, and if I had been mildly poisoning myself. All the more reason to try making it for myself. Now I had incentive, and then the box proceeded to sit on my kitchen counter for a couple weeks as I got up the courage to try it.

My dad, in support of my cheesemaking efforts brought along a bag of 2% milk and a 1L carton of half and half cream (which also languished in the fridge for a couple weeks, until Chris ran out of his regular milk and started to use that up). He couldn't find the regular homogenized for some reason, but I figured it would be okay. The milk hadn't been ultra-pasteurized (UT) or ultra-high-temperature pasteurized (UHT) like you see in the sterile, shelf-stable cartons.

It wasn't until I was back at work in the school library in the last week of August that I finally decided to go for it. However, I was also home for a couple days because I'd had a molar extracted. Go back to work for a couple days, then take off again to have your face messed with... and stay home with an ice pack and T3 feeling sorry for yourself. I was feeling sorry for myself, so I decided to try making cheese. It might have been the codeine talking. I decided to try feta.

I *know* it was the codeine's fault that I mis-read the directions. Instead of dissolving the rennet tablet in 1/4c water, I got it confused with the 2c for the light brine soaking solution. There were no curds. In fact, it looked just like my last attempt. Tiny little blobs bobbed in a pure-white mixture. I dumped it down the sink, rinsed the pot and utensils, and went and sat on the couch with an ice pack for a bit. I read the directions again, and saw my mistake.

Fine. I'd messed up one batch. This time I was going to make it right. And it was going to work, dammit.

When I had the energy and the hole in my jaw wasn't bugging me so much, I made a trip to the health food grocery store on Bridgeport. Healthy Foods and More. I like the people there. The owners are kind, their employees are funny and helpful, and they have a lot of stuff that I need. Some of the prices even rival the prices I can get through my co-op food buying group from the Ontario Natural Food Co-op. Not all of them, obviously. Some stuff is super-expensive, but if you're canny it can work out. Plus, they have baked goods that my daughter can eat, and a flour-less brownie made with black beans (and lots of sweetener). One of those, and a big can of coconut water is my occasional Friday treat. After one of those I don't often need supper.

Anyways. I found some milk that was on sale, two 1L bottles of organic goat's milk, and two 1L bottles of Guernsey cow milk. I tried the goat's milk first, as it's apparently great for feta.

The nice thing about this recipe is that you don't even need to turn on the stove to make this cheese. Hot water, a clean pot, clean kitchen sink, and the dairy thermometer that came in the kit are all you need to keep it at the right temperature.

I followed the instructions. I made cheese. I cut it into blocks. Raw, it tasted pretty darn good, but it needed to soak for 10-12 hours in a saturated brine solution. That next morning I looked upon my cheese, and it was good. I saw my neighbour walking her three dogs, and ran out to her with the cheese for a first taste-test, wearing my bathrobe with nothing under it, and bare feet. She was pleased to try the first fruits with me.

It was like eating a cheese-textured salt lick.

I thought I had failed yet again. I almost threw it out. One last desperate read through the instructions, and it said that the cheese had to rest at room temperature for a couple days. I gave it one last go, and put the cheese blocks in a plastic container and popped one corner up so it could breathe but would keep out flies (and cats- hopefully).

The next morning it tasted much better, but still too salty. I'm not the biggest fan of salt, so I soaked the cheese in some water to try and leach out some of it. It worked. The cheese was a little squeaky, but the amount of salt left in it was just enough to flavour without taking your tongue off. I shared some with my next-door neighbours, and ate about half of it myself. I figured I was due, since I still couldn't eat solid foods after my tooth came out.

It tastes great with cucumber, and I'm sure it would make an excellent cucumber, tomato and fennel salad.

What I didn't realize when I bought it is that if you follow the directions carefully, you can have about 10lbs (or 4.5kg in metric) of cheese. So, for $2.50 (the average price per packet of starter culture from the kit)+ milk = $8.50 for 1 lb/.45kg of organic goat's milk feta... That's not bad. If I didn't want to go organic it would be even cheaper.