The Big Cheese

Something I've been wanting to try for several years, after accidentally finding a recipe, was making my own cheese. After mastering yogurt, it became more of a possibility and I even looked around to find some information on it.

I've come to the conclusion since that any dairy product that we all really enjoy and is ridiculous expensive, is probably not much more than soured milk. I'll let you know if I find differently. :)

I came across a site called the Cheese Wizard not too long ago and he has several recipes. One of them was for Queso cheese. I perked up right away. Have I mentioned I am a cheese enchilada addict?

I was waiting for the rennet I ordered to come in and this didn't require it. Plus he suggests that beginner cheesemakers try this one first to get the hang of things. So I did. And of course I documented the whole thing.

Apparently, cheese recipes vary more in milk temperatures than ingredients. There are some that require more varied ingredients but for the most part the recipes require pretty much the same stuff. What seems to make it a different cheese is how long at a certain temperature and how the curds are treated afterward.

Of course, the first thing you do is heat the milk.

Then you have to prepare your colander/strainer with a very intensive process. You carefully lay cheese cloth over it. Yeah, so I can do this so far.

Following the recipe was no problem. I can heat milk. But at the end of the heating time, it still just looked like sour milk to me. I figured I had messed it up and that it would pour right through into the drain bowl. In which case, we would have had some rolls or biscuits that night with dinner. Sour milk makes really great breads. Never throw it out.

I am still SHOCKED that it didn't go right through.

In fact, I could already see the cheese forming. I was seriously astonished when it didn't pour right through. I thought 'curds' and assumed that they were like cottage cheese size but I guess they don't have to be.


Then you gather the ends of the cheese cloth, tie them in a knot and let it hang for several hours until it is done dripping. You can already see how it is coming together.


It made a very soft cheese. This is what it looked like coming out of the cheese cloth. I know. It makes you want a scoop of vanilla ice cream, right?


And here it is in shredded form:

It was soft so I should have stuck it in the freezer for about a half an hour before shredding it. It wasn't quite what I was hoping for. I'm not sure what kind of cheese Mexican restaurants use in their enchiladas. This was more like Ricotta. No enchiladas survived, but I think I'll keep trying. We're not really fans of Ricotta.

I did make a small quantity of white cheese dip which my son pretty much hoarded and put on everything on his plate. I think he may have liked it.

Now I want to try Mozzarella and Cheddar. I'll let you know how they turn out.