How to Make a Simple Little Cheese
Oct 26, 2011, Updated Sep 30, 2017
I’ve been a fan of New England Cheesemaking Supply ever since I picked up a copy of Ricki Carroll’s book, Home Cheese Making
We at New England Cheesemaking Supply Company are proud to support you in your pledge to eat healthy food. Andrew has been one of our guest bloggers several times and we’re big fans of his website.
We want to take this opportunity to tell you that you don’t have to be a gourmet cook to make your own cheese. In fact, our mission is to make it very easy for you. We have many recipes in our book, on our DVD, at our website, in our blog, and in our monthly “Moosletter.”
In fact, just recently we received a recipe from one of our customers, Nancy Ferland, which will be featured in our November Moosletter. It’s basically an American version of queso blanco (South America) and panir (India).
This recipe is absolutely foolproof! The only equipment you may not have is cheesecloth, but you can use an old pillow case or even a paper towel. Any milk (except ultra-pasteurized) will work.
So, try it and we think you’ll be hooked. Then you can come to our website at cheesemaking.com, and we’ll have you aging your own Camemberts in no time!
Simple Little Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 gallon Goat or Cow Milk
- 1 cup White Vinegar
- 2-4 tsp. Sea Salt
Instructions
- Put milk in stainless pot, sprinkle on the salt and stir it well.
- Heat to 190 degrees F.
- Remove pot from heat and quickly stir in the vinegar, making sure it's well blended; let set for 20 to 30 minutes (checking to make sure it is good and curdled).
- Line colander with cheesecloth, pour milk through (whey should be yellow and a little cloudy).
- Bring up the corners of cheesecloth and squeeze as much whey out as possible; I let it sit hanging from the edge of the pot at this point for maybe 15 to 20 minutes to make sure all the whey has dripped out.
- Open the cheesecloth and you will have a lovely ball of cheese. Put it in a covered crock in the fridge until chilled.
- You can use it as a spread, or in salad like feta, or crumbled like queso fresca in enchiladas or tacos, or instead of ricotta in lasagna or manicotti. We have even made a rustic cheese/pear pie with this cheese when we couldn't find mascarpone locally, letting the mixed filling sit in the fridge overnight to soften it up a bit and make it a bit smoother. You can also use it as the base for filling for cheese danish pastry.
- We like to stir herbs, nuts, roasted peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, etc into it when it’s still liquid (it’s easier to stir that way) and this makes a great spread for crackers as an appetizer. Hope you enjoy this nice little cheese!
Notes
Nutrition
Photos by George Wesley and Bonita Dannells.
Very good! Excellent on wedge salad!
Can I use a different vinegar. For instance I make my own pear and Apple vinegar
Yes, it should work fine with any vinegar (or another acid, like lemon juice). If it’s less acidic than typical white vinegar (5%, if memory serves), you may just need to use a little more.
What percentage of fat is needed for milk (2%, whole, etc)?
Looks great! Can’t wait to make it!
Thanks in advance.
It should work fine, regardless of the fat content. Whole milk will yield a richer, creamier cheese while non-fat milk will make a much drier, more crumbly cheese… and 2% will be somewhere in between. Just be sure not to use ultra-pasteurized milk, as it’s not suitable for cheesemaking.
Hello. I am trying to use up my frozen breastmilk and would like to make some dishes for baby. Would this work with breastmilk?
I don’t see why not! Though you may need to experiment a bit with the variables – especially the quantity of vinegar.
the liquid that is left from making the cheese is now buttermilk,use it in cooking, its great stuff
I made this cheese today. My cheese seems to be a bit dry. Could I have squeezed too much liquid out of it?
Hi Kim –
That sounds like exactly what happened. If you try it again, just drain/squeeze it a little less. You can always give it a taste and drain it longer if need be!
Me and my son have just made this cheese and it’s really nice.
But there is loads of whey left, any suggestions on what to do with it?
Here are some ideas on what to do with the leftover whey:
http://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2014/05/36-ways-to-use-whey-and-5-ways-to-make-it/
Good day all my name is Theuns de Winnaar,I live in South Africa
and will definitly try the recipe.HAPPY CHEESE MAKING TO ALL.
Does it need to be sea salt? Or does it even need salt, if so, how does it help?
I had the day off and came across your recipe. I made it exactly as it was written (in a smaller quantity) and it came out great! I can’t wait to experiment with different herbs and things I can mix in!
Great recipe, and super easy!
P.S I used the pillow case and it worked great! 🙂