Would you like to impress your friends and family at the next dinner party that you are hosting? Make this simple homemade cheese! It’s so easy that you will be wondering why you haven’t made this before!!!
I made this with goats milk. However you can also make it with cows milk or sheep’s milk. I have not tried it with any alternative milks, though you are welcome to give it a try!
Instead of using a rennet, I am using lemon juice (which is acidic ) to help the milk curdle and separate the whey from what will become cheese. You can also use vinegar, though I favor the hints of citrus that the lemon leaves behind in the cheese. The rennet is the enzymes produced in the mammals stomach that is used to separate the curds from the whey.
Ingredients:
1 container goats milk (52 oz. or 1.57 Liters)
Juice of 2 lemons
Cheese cloth, nut milk bag, or flour sack towels
Directions:
Bring your milk to a simmer, stirring every so often. Just as you see the bubbles on the sides of your pot form and move, turn the heat off and remove from it from the hot burner.
Squeeze the juice of two lemons into the now hot milk, and stir it with a wooden spoon. Let it rest for 30 minutes to an hour.
You will notice the separation of the milk curds from the whey.
Line a strainer with either a cheese cloth of a flour sack towel, and pour it through. Your cheesecloth will catch all the curds.
Twist the fabric around it and gently squeeze out more of the whey.
hanging it to strain.
Next you will need a tall stock pot (or even bucket) so that you can hang the wrapped curds over, that will collect any excess whey still mixed with your curds. I use a flour sack towel and secure the towel around a wooden spoon, and create a way to hang the curds in order to strain them.
I allow this to strain in the refrigerator for twelve hours or so. Overnight is best. You will notice that it has now become a tight ball, and no more liquid is draining.
Unwrap it and remove. At this point you can choose to mix in a little salt, pepper, or herbs. I chose to leave this one plain, as I will dress it up before serving.
This is a fresh cheese, and texture is going to be similar to a drier ricotta style cheese. It will keep for about a week in the refrigerator , like most other fresh cheeses.
What to do with the whey:
The whey is very nutrient rich. You can use a variety of ways! Keep it in the refrigerator. Freeze it in ice cube trays.
soup and stock
in smoothies (whey protein)
as plant food (dilute it with water; it is very rich)
mix a little with pet food
in livestock feed
replace some of your liquid in baked goods
in pancakes
…use your imagination
Serve it with warm bread, keto rolls, on celery sticks. Drizzle some olive oil over it & sprinkle some fresh oregano or thyme on it.
Simply enjoy it!
Kali Oreksi!!!!
on xenia street 