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About the Recipe
Homemade cheese is fun and delicious!
Ingredients
Rennet tablet (or liquid)
¼ cup cool non-chlorinated water
1-gallon fresh milk (or ¾ gallon prepared powdered milk with one pint of ***heavy cream)
2 teaspoons citric acid
Stainless steel pot (or any non-aluminum or non-cast iron pot)
Heavy duty kitchen gloves
Preparation
Crush ¼ rennet tablet in a ¼ cup cool, *chlorine free water and stir to dissolve.
Pour the milk in your pot and heat on medium heat.
Sprinkle 2 level teaspoons of citric acid powder in milk and stir gently. It will start to curdle. (If you don’t have citric acid, use vinegar)
Heat milk slowly to 88F° and once the milk has reached that temperature, add the rennet solution, and continue to stir slowly until the milk reaches 105F°. Turn off heat.
The curds and whey will now be clearly separated. Scoop out the curds and ladle them into a microwavable bowl. Press the curds gently together with your hand (wear gloves because it will be hot) and pour off as much whey as possible.
**Microwave your curds on high for 1 minute and drain excess whey. Work your cheese quickly with a spoon or hands (with the gloves on) into a ball until it starts to cool. Repeat this process two more times setting the microwave for 35 seconds each time. Continue to drain excess whey while working the cheese into a nice little ball.
The last time, when your cheese is almost too hot to touch, knead it quickly like bread dough until smooth. At this point, if it stretches like taffy it is done.
When your cheese is smooth and shiny it is ready to eat. Refrigerate or freeze until used.
FYI-The rennet is used to help the cheese coagulate and to help it hold together when it is stretched making it stronger. If too much rennet is used, the cheese can become very rubbery.
*If you don’t have distilled water or non-chlorinated water, just boil your water for 15 minutes to remove the chlorine. Chlorine is meant to kill bacteria and you don’t want to inhibit the growth of the cheese bacteria.
**If you don’t want to use the microwave, heat the whey to 175F° and store the cheese in it until it is heated up enough to work with. And repeat the process as stated above.
***In a pinch, you can replace the heavy whipping cream with olive oil, but the cheese will be a bit rubberier, and the taste is just a little different than with the cream, but it is acceptable.