Cheese makers of the world unite!!

[Jakejakeyjakejake]

If this is in the wrong place can it be moved

Any cheese makers in the vine I could do with a little advice

Jake



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[Alison]

I've made a bit but by no means an expert. What are you trying to make?

[teakdesk]

I've made a bit but by no means an expert. What are you trying to make?

I'm waiting for this thread to take off since cheese making is something I've always fancied. The only time I tried making a hard cheeee I couldn't get the right temperature for maturing it and my efforts ended in mould even though the cheese was very salty after regular washes!

It all got eaten though!

[RedThorn]

Cannot help with the hard cheeses at all, had reasonable success with hallumi, ricotta and feta, but by no means even moderately proficient ....

[Jakejakeyjakejake]

Good that there's been some interest does anybody use shop brought milk and if so what in assuming full fat ??


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[marchogaeth]

I want to make paneer (link is an eg) and am wondering if homogenized milk with work (either at all or with limited yield) and I assume that might apply to cheese, too? So Redthorn, did you use shop milk or was it "straight"?

[teakdesk]

I've always used big bottles of supermarket full fat milk for soft or hard cheeses.

I've made paneer which was nice, not as good as my local shop but satisfying. Worth a try!


I'd advise getting some cheese muslin before making cheese (with a large mesh since the close mesh muslin is too close for straining) but I've always improvised presses and other equipment from normal kitchen stuff. A cold box with an icepack is good for cold temperatures that are higher than the fridge (10 to 12 degC is often needed).

[Alison]

You need non-homogenised for most cheese making otherwise it won't separate properly (there are exceptions) which is very difficult to get hold of from normal shops. My milkman will deliver it and I can also buy raw milk from a farm.

[Fleurisa]

Hubby made Paneer from milk bought at the supermarket, worked really well

[Alison]

Hubby made Paneer from milk bought at the supermarket, worked really well

Yes, it's fine for some cheeses but you can't make the likes of camembert, cheddar or mozzarella types if it's been homogenised.

[teakdesk]

You need non-homogenised for most cheese making otherwise it won't separate properly (there are exceptions) which is very difficult to get hold of from normal shops. My milkman will deliver it and I can also buy raw milk from a farm.

Hi Alison, I might goggle this later but I'll ask you directly first, hope you don't mind.

When I was young we could buy raw, unpasteurised milk or pasteurised milk or cream enriched milk or homogenised milk and probably others

I know that supermarket milk nowadays has been "homogenised" after separating off the cream to leave the correct fat % for the milk type and doesn't naturally separate.

My question is, is the old homogenised milk the same as 4% supermarket homogenised milk or was it more homogenised in the past?

I have tried to make hard cheese a few times, mostly getting eaten before going properly hard, with 4% supermarket milk and added cream on at least one occasion. I've only got to the eating stage properly with a hard cheese on one occasion, when it suffered mould, but can't remember the recipe! you've got me interested again by mentioning raw milk... will probably try again this autumn when the temperature of the house is more suited to cheeses.

[RedThorn]

I want to make paneer (link is an eg) and am wondering if homogenized milk with work (either at all or with limited yield) and I assume that might apply to cheese, too? So Redthorn, did you use shop milk or was it "straight"?

In aus you could buy pasteurised un-homogenised milk.....

[Alison]

Hi Alison, I might goggle this later but I'll ask you directly first, hope you don't mind.

When I was young we could buy raw, unpasteurised milk or pasteurised milk or cream enriched milk or homogenised milk and probably others

I know that supermarket milk nowadays has been "homogenised" after separating off the cream to leave the correct fat % for the milk type and doesn't naturally separate.

My question is, is the old homogenised milk the same as 4% supermarket homogenised milk or was it more homogenised in the past?

I have tried to make hard cheese a few times, mostly getting eaten before going properly hard, with 4% supermarket milk and added cream on at least one occasion. I've only got to the eating stage properly with a hard cheese on one occasion, when it suffered mould, but can't remember the recipe! you've got me interested again by mentioning raw milk... will probably try again this autumn when the temperature of the house is more suited to cheeses.

Dunno, the milk we had as kids wasn't homogenised at all (my nan used to like the cream off the top) and I'm not too sure when it changed. The stuff we get from the milkman is all pasteurised and you can get it homogenised as standard and non if ask and order in advance. Some shops do sell it too but you really have to look. Do seem to remember you can use homogenised (possibly skimmed) with cream added but never tried that. Sorry I can't help more, got me wondering now.

[teakdesk]

Dunno, the milk we had as kids wasn't homogenised at all

One of my first "jobs" as a young teenager was being sent to stay with my cousin (older than me) who had offered to stand in for his self-employed milkman neighbour so could go on holiday.

We were up at 3am and at the dairy by 3:30am to load the flat back.

I'd never come across homogenised milk before then (it had a red foil top) and couldn't resist a taste... we were allowed to drink any bottles whose top got damaged so a bottle of homogenised quite unexpectedly got its top damaged... the taste was AWFUL!!! but my cousin made me drink the lot to stop it happening again!

[marchogaeth]

If we are on a nostalgia trip; I'm old enough to have milked cows and put the milk in churns. then in the morning we would nip round each one and take some of the cream off the top for own use. When the new fangled bulk tank came in we used to turn off the paddles about once a week to do the same and then give it all a quick stir before the tanker came! I don't know if it's still true but certainly when I finished officially farming, milk was 10 times cleaner when it left the farm than it was after it had been pasteurized in the factories because of the way the fat and protein separated out as it was moved in bulk.

I don't really drink milk these days so haven't taken that much notice of the different sorts available, however, I am interested to see that you can get it at the farm gate Alison as one of the final madnesses I remember is being advised not to let farm workers have "raw milk" in case they caught anything and sued! So some sanity has prevailed.